Louisiana's offshore record book took three hits in a single dawn session on June 2, when six anglers fishing a 36-hour long-range charter out of Port Fourchon boated a cubera snapper, a black grouper and a dog snapper that all now sit pending with state authorities.
The boat was Captain Joey Maciasz's 44-foot catamaran Timbuktu, running out of the southernmost port in the state. Fourchon is surrounded by oil and gas infrastructure that functions as artificial reef, but this crew kept going well beyond it.
"We ran out to 300 feet of water, about 180 miles southwest of Fourchon," Maciasz told Outdoor Life. "It's not too long a run when we're cruising in my boat with four Yamaha 350s pushing us along."
Captain Noah Callais of Down the Bayou Charters, who has fished alongside Maciasz for three years, was on board. One species had been on their list for a long time.
"Noah and I have been trying to catch a record cubera snapper for a long time, and finally everything came together on that trip," Maciasz said.
The night produced amberjack, a 75-pound cubera, more than a dozen queen snapper and assorted grouper. Angler Tyler Nelson also released a 25-pound black trevally that Maciasz believes would have been a state record in its own right, on the grounds that trevally is poor eating.
Around first light the fishing changed gear. Live hardtail baits on 50-class Shimano Talica reels, 80-pound braid and 250-pound leaders produced a 30.5-pound dog snapper for Jason Diver, a 109.5-pound black grouper against a standing 105-pound state mark, and Maciasz's 131.2-pound cubera.
Worth noting for anyone tracking the claim: the two outlets that covered the trip name different anglers for the grouper. Outdoor Life credits Jake Peterson; The Lafourche Gazette credits Ryan Wheeler. The weight is not in dispute, and neither is the fact that the record it beats belongs to another Down the Bayou skipper.
Callais says the crew fished it as a record attempt from the start.
"Before we even caught anything, we knew there was a possibility of us catching a state/world record of some sort," he told the Gazette. "So we made sure one person touched the rod at all times to ensure we would qualify for the records."
The single-angler rule was observed. A different IGFA rule was not. The Gazette reported the cubera as a pending world record — it would have beaten the all-tackle Atlantic cubera mark by more than seven pounds — but Maciasz has since said the claim does not stand.
"All our fish were caught with only one angler on the rod, of course," he told Outdoor Life. "But we fought our fish with the rods in boat rod holders, not in fighting chair rod holders. That's okay for state-record catches, but not for IGFA, which doesn't allow a rod butt to be in a gunnel rod holder."
He was unaware of the rule at the time. The world record stays with Marion Rose's 124.75-pound cubera from the Garden Banks in June 2007, which doubles as the Louisiana state record and is one of just four triple-digit cuberas the state has recorded.
Callais makes no attempt to be modest about the fishery.
"We have one of, if not the best fishery in the world," he said. "You have no idea what you will catch. The variety and size of fish we have here is like no other. What me and my captain have done together in the three years working together full time is something I'd be willing to argue will never be topped."
The same boat kept producing through July. On July 20, Matt Leerkes of Baton Rouge landed a 94.2-pound, 51-inch cubera over a stretch of Garden Banks coral the group nicknamed Jurassic Park, weighed on certified scales at Hurricane Hole Marina on Grand Isle. Records kept by the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association put it around No. 7 all-time for the species in the state.
Leerkes is clear-eyed about how uncommon these fish are, even for a professional.
"Joey had only caught two cuberas before, and he does this for a living," he told Louisiana Sportsman. "The only two he caught, he caught the same day."
And about the failure rate: "You never feel like you've got one until he's in the boat. A big fish is going to break you off 80 percent of the time. And they have hard mouths. The hook fell out when we got him in the boat."
Maciasz, for his part, is not expecting a repeat. "We'll never replicate it again — catching a state-record 131.2-pound cubera snapper, a 109.5-pound black grouper and a 30.5-pound dog snapper all in the same trip."