Venice, Louisiana fishes twelve months a year. The species rotate, the size classes shift, and the river runs the inshore show, but something is always biting. That's the honest version of the calendar, month by month, so you can pick your window based on what you want to catch and how much weather risk you can live with.
If you only want one answer: late October. Trophy tuna coming back, bull reds in clean water, and hurricane season mostly behind you. The rest of this page is for everybody whose calendar isn't that cooperative.
One thing before the months: the fish most first-timers are chasing is yellowfin tuna, and Venice yellowfin are here every month of the year. What changes is the size and the method. Winter, December into March, is trophy season, 150-to-200-plus-pound fish at the lumps and the deepwater rigs. Spring and summer run numbers, most fish 40 to 100 pounds with 150-class fish possible. Fall brings the big ones back as the water cools. Keep that arc in mind as you read.
If you fish for one thing, start here and skip to the months that match. We checked these windows against LDWF's LA Creel survey, the state's count of what anglers keep, 2014 through 2025. Those numbers count fish kept, not fish released, so they can't speak to marlin or bull reds, and they say nothing about size.
Yellowfin tuna. Every month of the year. Trophy fish, 150 to 200-plus pounds, December into March at the lumps and the deepwater rigs. Numbers of 40-to-100-pound fish May through September, with 150-class fish possible. The big ones start showing back up from mid-October.
Swordfish. On the daytime deep drop most of the year, and in recent years January through March has been the best of it. December is the one quiet month. The winter trophy-tuna trips pair with it, and overnight trips add a drop after dark.
Wahoo. A winter fish, November through March, and January and February are the peak. August through October is the dead stretch.
Red snapper. A dated season, not a calendar. Louisiana's private-angler season typically opens in May and runs on a quota with reopen windows, and the federal for-hire season typically opens June 1. The dates move every year, so check LDWF before you book around them.
Mangrove snapper. Start in May, seriously good June through August, still worth the stop in September.
Mahi. May through July on the weedlines, June and July the heart of it. August falls off.
Blackfin. Spring and fall, with March and September the steadiest months. Summer is the slower stretch.
Cobia. Most of the year's cobia come home in summer, but trip for trip, October is the best month.
Blue marlin. Tournament season runs May through early September: the Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic at Cypress Cove in late May and the New Orleans Invitational in August.
Bull redfish. In the marsh all year, stacking up September through February. The peak is October and November, when the river drops and the ponds clean up.
Speckled trout. Louisiana's numbers show two runs, May into June and again November into December. Venice is a redfish town first, and the trout fishing is honest about it.
Sheepshead. The spring run stacks them on the jetties and the rocks, March into April. There's a second showing November through January in the state's numbers.
Tripletail. July through October, thinning out as the water cools in the fall.
Amberjack, gag, triggerfish. State and federal seasons with hard dates that change yearly, and the closures come fast. Check LDWF for state waters and NOAA for federal waters.
Since it's the question we get most: there is no closed season. Yellowfin are legal and catchable every month, and the calendar decides what kind of trip you get. December into March is the trophy window, when the 150-to-200-plus-pound fish sit on the Midnight Lump and the deepwater rigs between cold fronts. March is the hinge. Spring and summer are the numbers months, most fish 40 to 100 pounds with 150-class fish possible, at the floaters and shelf-edge rigs. September through November is what Venice operator Tuna Town calls prime time, when the fish feed hard ahead of winter, and from mid-October the big ones start showing back up. The rules are federal and simple: 27-inch curved fork length minimum, three per person per day or trip, and the boat carries the permit. Bluefin are a separate story, a spring spawning-season bycatch you can't target. The whole thing, the Lump, the techniques, the prices, and the fish the report has covered, is on Tuna Fishing in Venice, Louisiana.
Trophy yellowfin season. The 150-to-200-plus-pound fish are on the lumps and the shelf-edge rigs, and chunking is the workhorse. Wahoo are at their winter best. Swordfish on the daytime deep drop. Bull redfish in the marsh, and the sight fishing stays good. The catch: cold fronts roll through all winter and fishable windows get narrow. Bring flexible dates.
Same trophy pattern as January, same weather problem. Big yellowfin at the lumps and rigs, wahoo still at their best, swordfish deep, bull reds shallow. A week-long February trip will lose days to weather, and the days you get can be the best of the year. This is the month for anglers who want one giant fish and can absorb a blown-out day or two waiting on it.
The transition month. The trophy tuna pattern winds down and the numbers pattern builds, with smaller yellowfin showing in better counts. Wahoo are still good, the tail end of their winter. Fronts still roll through, just further apart. Inshore stays honest: redfish in the marsh, and the spring sheepshead run stacks fish on the jetties and the rocks, which is a better fallback than it sounds when the wind blows out your main plan.
Mixed bag and the calendar wakes up. Speckled trout turn on in the interior ponds, smaller yellowfin keep improving, and billfish season starts building offshore. Weather is better than March and worse than May. A good-value month, with thinner crowds. This is also when bluefin start pushing into the Gulf to spawn, mid-April into June. You can't target them here, and the occasional one hooked on a yellowfin trip is a lightning strike, never the plan.
The first prime month. Red snapper season typically opens for Louisiana private anglers in early May (check the current LDWF dates before you book around it), speckled trout are strong, yellowfin are steady, mangrove snapper start showing, and the weather odds finally tilt your way. Tournament season opens with the billfish events, and the marinas fill on those weekends. Mid-May is one of the best all-around windows of the year, and the summer crowds haven't fully arrived.
Peak variety begins. Yellowfin, mahi showing up on the weedlines, blackfin, and the federal for-hire red snapper season typically opens June 1 (again, verify the current year's dates). Inshore, speckled trout hit their early-summer peak. Mornings are stunning, afternoons build heat and thunderstorms. Long days, full boxes, busy docks.
Full summer. The offshore bag stays deep, mangrove snapper fishing gets seriously good, and the tournament calendar peaks with rodeo weekends that fill the town. It's hot, upper 80s to around 90 with Louisiana humidity, and the afternoon storm risk is real, so trips run early. Book lodging ahead on event weekends.
Still peak variety on the water, with a growing asterisk in the tropics. Early August fishes like July. By late August you're in the heart of hurricane season, and a named storm in the Gulf can shut down a trip days in advance. If you book late August, get the cancellation terms in writing and build in flexibility.
The riskiest month on the calendar and the start of the fall payoff. Hurricane season peaks around September 10 and stays busy into mid-October, so a first trip is better booked elsewhere. But the crowds thin, bull redfish start stacking up, and blackfin pick back up. Regulars who can watch a forecast and move fast get September days that fish like October.
If you make us pick one month, it's this one. Late October specifically. Trophy yellowfin returning, bull redfish peaking in the marsh, and the river usually dropping out, which turns the delta ponds clean and opens the best sight-fishing of the year. The hurricane risk has mostly cleared, the heat has broken, and a 10-hour offshore day is comfortable instead of brutal. Close runners-up: mid-May and early November.
October's pattern, colder mornings. Big tuna keep arriving, the first wahoo show up, bull reds keep eating, and the low river keeps the inshore water clean. In the state's numbers, speckled trout make their second run of the year, November into December. The first real cold fronts show up and start dictating the offshore windows, but between fronts the fishing is as good as Venice gets. This is the water the fly-fishing crowd comes for.
Winter trophy season opens. The big yellowfin settle into the winter pattern, wahoo season is under way, and bull reds hold in the clean marsh. Fronts run the schedule, same as January and February, so give yourself extra days. December into March is the answer to "when do the giants bite," and the price is weather patience.
One more thing worth knowing before you lock dates. Inshore Venice lives and dies on Mississippi River stage. High river, typically spring into early summer, turns the delta ponds muddy and pushes the sight fishing out. Low river, typically September through November, goes clean and shallow and puts the big reds in skinny water. It usually starts rising again in December and January. Offshore doesn't care much. If your trip is built around sight-fishing redfish, ask your guide about the river before you pick a week. They watch it the way ski towns watch snow.
Once you've picked a month, the next call is the captain, and that decision matters more than the dates. Our take on rates and how to pick one is in What a Venice Fishing Charter Costs, and the full trip-planning walkthrough is the First-Timer's Guide to Venice Fishing. You can compare bookable Venice trips at Captain Experiences. (We earn a small commission if you book through that link, at no extra cost to you. It keeps the report free.)
And if your trip is more than a few weeks out, the calendar above is the average year. The Venice Fishing Report is what's actually biting this week: a free email every Thursday at 6am Central covering conditions, the fleet, and the weekend outlook. Written by the son of a lifelong Metairie fisherman. Honest when the fishing's bad.