The watches became warnings overnight, and Isaias is a hurricane. Venice is under a Tropical Storm Warning and a Storm Surge Warning, and both Venice marine zones are under a Hurricane Warning. The Hurricane Center's 4 a.m. advisory has Isaias at 80 mph, about 420 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the river. It's moving east-northeast near 9 mph, forecast to strengthen more into Friday, with landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday. So offshore is off through Saturday, and the rest of this is the practical read: the lines on the boat, the two seasons that still close next week, the Big Game club's season settled, and a correction I owe Brent Roy.

Redfish and trout. Reel Shot posted Friday that "Trout are in full transition mode so we've been picking on the redfish….and some tripletail too," no numbers, no place named. Cajun Culture Fishing Adventures put a FishingBooker report up Friday for last Thursday's trip, tagged redfish and black drum: "Best bite I have been on in awhile. First stop of the day and They where done with a 3 man limit at 7:30." FishN LA's field report in Louisiana Sportsman on Tuesday: "October fishing has been excellent in Venice, Louisiana. Despite some wind and rain, we're finding good numbers of speckled trout along with plenty of redfish throughout the marsh." Those are the week's dated Venice trout items, Reel Shot's post and FishN LA's two reports.

Yellowfin and amberjack. FishN LA's two reports carry the week's only dated Venice offshore lines, and Tuesday's reads: "Offshore, when the weather gives us a window, we've been catching yellowfin tuna and amberjack". There's no window now, and amberjack's the one with the clock on it. Federal water is open to 12:01 a.m. on October 14, one fish per person a day, 34 inches minimum fork length, so Tuesday is the last federal day, and a charter captain and crew bag is zero. Inside nine miles, LDWF's regs page still says the 14th and its pamphlet says the 31st, and as of Wednesday morning LDWF hadn't put out anything this year to settle it. Red snapper is closed and gag closed last week. Nobody posted a dated Venice swordfish, wahoo, mahi or blackfin this week, and nothing dated on flounder or sheepshead either; flounder's last possession day is Wednesday the 14th, and LDWF put out the reminder Wednesday.

Both sponsor spots in this issue are empty. Last Thursday's went to 1,881 inboxes, and 1,121 of them opened it. If there's a Venice business you'd send a buddy to, the captain you keep going back to or the place that cleans and ships your fish, forward this to the owner. I answer the replies myself.

Isaias first, and the land side of it, from the Hurricane Center's 4 a.m. advisory this morning. Peak surge, if it comes at high tide, could put 3 to 5 feet of water above ground from the mouth of the Mississippi to Ocean Springs, with the deepest water along the immediate coast near and east of wherever it comes ashore. Tropical storm conditions are expected in the warning areas Friday and Friday night. Hurricane conditions are expected Friday night into early Saturday in the Hurricane Warning area on land, which starts at Ocean Springs, east of us. Rain from Friday through the weekend is forecast at 3 to 7 inches, locally up to 10 inches, from far southeast Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle; the water numbers are in The Outlook. Neither Venice Marina nor Cypress Cove had posted a word about hauling or closing on their Facebook Pages before 5 Thursday morning.

Now last week's loops. The river: last week's email printed the September 30 forecast, "a crest of 4.8 on the 6th and 7th, and back to 4.0 by the 13th," and the web note printed the October 1 forecast, "cresting about 6.2 on the 7th and 8th, and not back to 4 until the 28th." Carrollton's daily high held around 5 feet Friday through Tuesday, then read 5.3 feet at 1 p.m. Wednesday, the week's highest so far, so it's rising. The forecast NWS issued at 10 Wednesday morning is the one to watch: a dip to about 4.5 feet today, then up to 7 feet Friday, the number that matters. After that it's forecast back near 4.5 feet by Tuesday the 13th. The rain: there's no Venice gauge, so the nearest read is the Belle Chasse airport gauge, just under 4 inches Friday through Monday, and the radar estimate for the Venice grid cell is about the same, 3.8 inches for the 2nd through the 5th. I printed "1 to 3 inches and up to 5 in spots," and both land inside that. The water: Southwest Pass averaged 83 degrees Wednesday, the lowest daily average since June 27. That's under the 85-to-87 degree band I printed last week.

The Big Game club's season is settled, and it's posted the standings on its Facebook Page: Tenacious first with 7,145 points, Miss Mary 3,444 points, Miss Paula V 3,288 points. The club calls Tenacious "A first time, first place," with "no captain or omni-sonar, just the tenacity to fish all 10 tournaments while burning $6 diesel." The closer, September 4 and 5, went to Miss Paula V with 902 points and the tournament's only billfish, a blue marlin released, and the club says the highlight of the weekend "was the rainbow that seemed to end at Port Eads," which is the photo. The fleet's season, in the club's post: 36 blue marlin and 10 white marlin released, 62 eligible tuna weighed.

The CPRA meeting on the passes was scheduled for Tuesday at the Big Game club, and I've seen nothing since on how it went; the project, dredging Pass a Loutre, South Pass, Southeast Pass and a portion of the Pilottown Anchorage with the spoil going to marsh, was still in engineering and design when the Louisiana Illuminator wrote it up in September.

FishN LA, Venice. A storm week is a book-ahead week, so the pick is the only outfit with a dated offshore line this week and a weather policy in writing. FishNLA Fishing Charters and Lodging runs out of 237 Sports Marina Road in Venice, half days of 4 hours and full days of 6 to 8 hours, gear and tackle included. Its FAQ says the weather call gets made as close to the trip as possible, "but if it will be unsafe to run, WE will refund your deposit or move your booking to another date, whichever you prefer." Tuesday's report is signed Capt. Jason Dozier. The lodge sleeps seven, a remodeled two-bedroom house minutes from where the trip leaves, with a full kitchen and a bait freezer. On Captain Experiences, the Venice inshore trip is $1,000 for one to three anglers, with 15 percent down and the balance due the day of the trip; CE's listing says you won't lose the deposit if weather cancels the trip and you can cancel up to 14 days out, and the trip is new there, no reviews yet. Direct is 504-732-7822.

Marsh trout and reds out of Venice, with the weather cancel covered: Book FishN LA on Captain Experiences

(We earn a small commission if you book through this link, at no extra cost to you. It keeps this report free.)

Storm lines. I've never run this one here, and this is the week. BoatUS's hurricane guidance, as Soundings published it, starts with "If possible, haul your boat." If the boat stays in the water, the guidance is longer and larger dock lines, protected against chafe, "arranged to allow the boat to rise on the surge and still remain in position." On the line itself, the useful part is the mix. "Polyester lines stretch less than nylon but are more resistant to chafing," so BoatUS's recipe is polyester from the cleat through the chock, joined to nylon out to the piling or mooring, which puts the chafe resistance where the line rubs and the stretch where it takes the load. No brand and no price on this one.

The marine side is the coastal waters forecast NWS New Orleans issued at 4:13 this morning, in knots; inside is out to 20 nautical miles, outside is 20 to 60 nautical miles. Today the inside zone carries tropical storm conditions possible, hurricane conditions too. Both zones are on northeast 20 to 25 knots, going east and higher this afternoon. Seas 5 to 7 feet inside and building this afternoon, 8 to 10 feet outside. Friday is the storm day, "Tropical storm conditions expected with hurricane conditions possible" on both zones. Inside, east 25 to 35 knots with gusts to 60 knots by afternoon. Seas 10 to 14 feet. Outside, northeast 35 to 45 knots with gusts to 70 knots. Seas 16 to 21 feet and building. Saturday the wind is still up, southwest 25 to 30 knots with gusts to 50 knots in the morning. Seas 6 to 9 feet inside and more outside, easing after midnight. Sunday and Monday are the light days, 5 to 10 knots on seas of 2 to 3 feet. On land, the Venice point forecast updated 4:11 this morning, in mph, has northeast 15 to 25 mph with a chance of storms today, "Tropical storm conditions expected" Friday, "Tropical storm conditions possible" Friday night and Saturday, and sunny Sunday and Monday on 10 mph or less.

The tide's flat under all of it. Pilottown's predicted range is about 2 inches today, October's second-flattest day, and it rebuilds a few inches a day to about a foot by Monday. The moon crosses the equator this evening, which is why it's flat; new moon is Saturday at 10:50 a.m., first quarter the 18th. That's astronomy, and the wind will hold water above all of it. Water temperature and the river are in The Week in Venice.

The read: nothing today through Saturday on these products, inside or out. Inside is under a Hurricane Warning on northeast 20 to 25 knots today and more by afternoon, so the marsh is off too. Sunday and Monday are the only post-storm fishing reads in here, and they're entirely track-dependent. The calendar is why they count: amberjack's last federal day is Tuesday the 13th and flounder's last day is Wednesday the 14th, so a Sunday-to-Tuesday window, if the track leaves one, is amberjack's last, and flounder gets Wednesday too.

A correction, and Brent Roy gets the plain version. Roy, who owns Venice Charters Unlimited, wrote in after last week's Book It: he runs live bait on every charter, cleans fish and allows beer, so the lines saying otherwise were wrong (the no-restroom line stood; it's a bay boat), and Jesse Bishop hasn't been with the company in three years. Those lines came off the Captain Experiences listing, which still showed them Wednesday, and I printed them as his policy without checking with him. Roy didn't set up that listing and didn't know it existed, so the CE link that ran with the section is pulled from the archive. Book with him direct at venicecharters.com.

The Redfish Classic Championship fished Friday only. The organizer posted "This series will not launch anyone into bad weather, period," then cut it to a one-day shootout, four fish under 27 inches, with 18 teams on the launch order. LaFrance/Hess won it with a 32.02-pound four-fish stringer, and the organizer's post says the "Weather held out till about 500 pm." The top 10 in points plus the champion get invites to the Redfish World Championships, 11 in all.

Isaias doesn't move the regs. Amberjack leaves federal water at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday the 14th and flounder possession ends at the close of that same day, which puts both last days midweek, after the storm.

If you've got a boat in a slip or on a lift anywhere from Myrtle Grove to Venice and the marina has told you what it's doing this week, reply and tell me what they said. Same if a yard gave you a haul-out line. Names stay out of it unless you say otherwise.

Joey

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