Since last Thursday's issue, the menhaden package crossed the line. HB 757 went to Governor Landry on Tuesday after both chambers enrolled and signed Monday. HB 872 and HB 886 both cleared House concurrence Wednesday at 94 to 0. The depth-contour bill is still dead from April, but the three surviving transparency and enforcement bills are functionally done with the legislature.

This weekend is the opposite of last weekend's spring-tide setup. First Quarter moon Saturday, tidal range cut nearly in half, lighter current top to bottom. Memorial Day traffic at the marinas. Cajun Canyons boats start rolling in Tuesday.

Redfish. Reel Shot Guide Service (Brandon Carter and Jon Carter) posted four Venice Marina trips between May 14 and May 20, captions like "Double limits" and "another great box of fish," with a Wednesday-morning Mississippi delta run capping the week. Reel Shot is inshore-only, so double limits reads slot reds plus specks. The river is rising again this week, so the clean-water pockets Frenette described last Tuesday have narrowed. Sight-fishing the cuts still works, you just push deeper for the visibility. Slot 18 to 27, four per person, bulls catch-and-release per LDWF.

Speckled trout. Neap tides change the pattern from last weekend. Light current means the long-point structure at the passes won't concentrate fish as tightly. Spread off the tips. Three-eighths-ounce jigs tight-lined where you find them, popping cork with live shrimp or Strike King Rage Swimmer where you don't. Limit 15, slot 13 to 20, max 2 over 20.

Tripletail. No fresh named-captain report this week, but Frenette's "many big tripletail already showed up" from May 14 still holds the pattern. Sight-cast around buoys and floating debris in the passes. Capt. Louis Rossignol of Venice Guide Service captioned a Monday video "The fishing sucked, but the scenery was off the charts." Worth weighing that against the Reel Shot win photos.

Mangrove snapper. Water's into the 81-degree range this week. The nearshore mangrove bite at the rocks and rigs starts coming together at that temperature. Year-round season, 5 per day, 12-inch minimum.

Red snapper. LDWF published Louisiana's first 2026 landings number Monday: 8,307 pounds in the first three days of the season, 0.9 percent of the 882,439-pound allocation. Split 5,990 pounds state charter and 2,317 pounds private. The May 1 opener had a late-season cold front grinding through Venice, so the number is depressed. Memorial Day and the June 1 federal for-hire opener will push the pace up. Four-fish limit, 16-inch minimum, same boat ride for state and federal waters under the private-rec season.

Yellowfin. Second week in a row, no fresh reports surfacing. Weather's fine, but the fleet is mostly waiting on Cajun Canyons. That should change by next Thursday once those boats are working.

Swordfish. Neap tides mean lighter drift than last weekend. Lead weights drop, presentation cleans up. Daytime drops out at South Pass over the deep canyons are a lot easier this weekend than last. Squid or eel for bait, lights to about 1,500 feet.

Billfish. No fresh reports. The fleet is converging on Cajun Canyons next week (full tournament details in From the Dock).

Amberjack. Still closed in federal waters through August 31.

The menhaden vote chain that issue #5 framed as half-finished closed out in the past five days. HB 757, the buffer-zone fine bill, was transmitted to Governor Landry on Tuesday May 19 after the House Speaker and Senate President signed the enrolled copy Monday. As of Wednesday evening the bill is sitting on the governor's desk awaiting signature. HB 872 (AIS tracking) and HB 886 (harvest transparency) both passed House concurrence votes 94 to 0 on Wednesday afternoon with Senate amendments incorporated. Both are functionally done with the legislature. HB 855, the 22-foot depth-contour bill that was the substantive bycatch fix Venice captains actually wanted, is still dead from the April 14 House floor vote.

This is a real win for the conservation side after years of nothing-passes sessions. It's also a smaller win than the headline suggests. The bill in front of Landry carries $2,500-to-$7,500 fines per buffer-zone violation, cut down in committee from the larger range Rep. Cox put in his original draft. The depth-contour bill that would have moved the purse-seine boats farther offshore is dead. What survives is more transparency, more tracking, and a sharper buffer-zone fine. That's worth something. It's not the package the strongest reform advocates wanted.

LDWF also dropped the season's first weekly landings number Monday. Three days of opener data is too short a window to predict closure, especially with the cold front that hit the May 1 weekend. The pace from here will look different.

Reel Shot Guide Service, Capt. Brandon Carter and Capt. Jon Carter. Brothers running an inshore-only operation out of Venice Marina, trophy speckled trout and redfish. Brandon built the operation, Jon came up under him. Four trips with limit photos in the May 14 to 20 window. Inshore is the play this weekend with neap tides flattening the drift, and Memorial Day traffic will fill their dates fast. Book direct at reelshotfishing.com. FishingBooker carries the Venice inshore affiliate path if you prefer that platform.

On the offshore side, the Cypress Cove fleet is in pre-tournament mode. Mexican Gulf Fishing Company (Capt. Kevin Beach), Tuna Town Fishing (Capt. Josh Bodenheimer), and Fish Venice Charters (Capt. Eddie Brown) all run boats out of there. Call early to get a Saturday slot before the SE wind builds toward 3 feet on Sunday.

Descending devices. Federal regulations require one on board for any reef-fish trip, and LDWF specifically called them out in Monday's red snapper landings release. A snapper pulled from 100-plus feet has a swim bladder full of expanded gas and won't survive a surface release. A descender clips to the lip, weights the fish back to depth, releases it.

SeaQualizer is the spring-loaded auto-release version and runs around forty dollars for the 100-150-200 model that covers most Venice depths. Shelton Fish Descender uses a pinch-release line. Blacktip Catch and Release is the budget option. Bass Pro, Tackle Warehouse, and West Marine all stock at least one.

While you're at it, the LDWF Recreational Offshore Landing Permit is required for state-waters reef-fish trips, free, savable to LA Wallet. Out-of-state crew coming down for Memorial Day or June, get it set up before you leave the parking lot.

Thursday and Saturday are the cleanest days top to bottom. SE 5 to 10 knots, seas 2 feet. Friday breezier at S 10 with 2 to 3. Sunday and Monday tighten to SE 10 to 15 with 3 feet offshore, still fishable, just choppier than the bookends.

First Quarter moon Saturday May 23 at 6:10 AM. Tidal range at Pilottown drops to about 1 foot, roughly half of the Super New Moon push that closed out last week. Light-current setup, the opposite of last weekend's spring-tide push through the cuts.

Mississippi at Venice is at 1.96 feet and rising as of Wednesday evening, up roughly half a foot over the past week.

Southwest Pass buoy ran 76.1 degrees on May 14 and 81.5 on May 20. Five degrees of warming in a week.

No active fronts in the issue window. High pressure dominates through Memorial Day per NOAA's synopsis. No named tropical systems in the Gulf or Caribbean.

Menhaden bills, sources for the record. HB 757 (Sent to Governor, May 19). HB 872 (concurred 94-0, May 20). HB 886 (concurred 94-0, May 20).

Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic fishes May 28 to 30 from Cypress Cove. Captains meeting 10 AM Thursday. Late registration closes 7:30 PM Wednesday May 27 at $6,800 base. 55-boat cap. Live scoring at cajuncanyons.catchstat.com when fishing starts. Source: comefishla.com.

Federal for-hire red snapper opens June 1. 147 days, runs through October 26. Source: NOAA bulletin.

Memorial Day rental signal at Venice Marina. Mason Mayeux listed a new houseboat in the Venice Marina FB group on May 19 at $230 a night, fish cleaning station, Starlink, sleeps a crew. The marinas are absorbing real holiday-weekend out-of-state demand.

Next week, whether Governor Landry signed HB 757, the second weekly red snapper landings number (Memorial Day's pace), and the Cajun Canyons leaderboard. If you fished it this weekend, hit reply with intel from the water. Attribution on request or off the record. If you know someone planning a Venice trip in June, forward this along.

Until next Thursday.

Joey