Testimonials

November 16, 2009

Captain Gray,

I wanted to thank you once again for the Best Offshore Experience of my life.

I have never ever had a Captain try so hard to meet my every desire, and that you did. In addition, I wish that I had invested in Shimano before you purchased your equipment, it looked like you had $50,000 in new rod and reels alone.

My original goal for the trip was to fight a Mako shark. Never would I expect would we bring up and play for thirty minutes with a 17 foot, over 1000 pound monster Mako. I have videos that I will send you under separate email. You letting us catch and fight and bring onboard a 500 pound hammerhead shark so that we could take good pictures was OVER THE TOP. And we got to release it back into the sea unharmed.

As offcatch, I additionally caught the largest Wahoo I had ever seen, the largest Amberjack I had ever caught, the largest King Mackerel I had ever seen, at least 10 blackfin sharks, 50 or more blackfin tuna, 50 or more Bonita in the process. (Did I mention that on my last outing with you I caught the 9th biggest Tripletail that has ever been caught in Louisiana)

We left the dock an hour before the other charters and returned an hour later. To add icing on the cake, your deck hand, One Eyed Ed, is a Captain himself and what a job he did. If only you had let him blind gaff the monster Mako, we either would have been the cock of the dock for years to come, or would have met our Maker that very day. That shark was almost worth the risk.

I have never before gone on a trip where the Captain was more excited about the trip and the catch than I was. I am a fanatic myself and you make me seem calm. I guess that is because you love to fish and do it because you want to.

Most other offshore trips I have been on, the Captain seemed like he was on autopilot, like driving a bus, wanting to make the daily catch and get back to the dock. They appeared to be there because that is what it took to make their boat payment and provide for their family. Rarely am I on trips where I am allowed to catch anything that I want to , be it a shark or AJ, especially if we were on a tuna trip or swordfish trip....

I can't say enough about what a special fishery that you have in Venice, Louisiana both inshore and offshore.

You can count on it, I will be back and soon. I want to catch my Mako, I want to experience the world class Wahoo bite in February and I want to catch one of those monster Swordfish. I would like to catch Yellowfin on topwater and with suspended baitfish over the top of the water with a kite.

Thank you for making this trip something that I will never forget.

I would be pleased to give you an unconditional reference and to talk to any prospective customer that you need me to.

Mark McMillan
College Station, Texas
979.268.7447

ONE THOUSAND POUND Mako Shark
Venice Louisiana

Ten foot long 350 pound hammerhead
Venice Louisiana

August 10, 2009

Captain Mike Gray
Cajun Odysea

Dear Captain Mike,

What a trip! What a boat! What fish! I have been tuna fishing several times over the last few years and was naturally looking forward to our trip last weekend because the fishing out of Venice is always exceptional. However, what I did not expect was the type of service you provided. You and your deckhand were exceptional. You were knowledgeable, informative, acutely aware of your passengers, and comical, but most of all, you were professional. There was not one minute of that day you did not anticipate, and it carried over from the interaction with us to the interaction with the fish.

Your knowledge of the gulf was evident in out haul. You wasted no time finding the tuna. When they weren't at the rigs, you found them, amazingly, in open water. It seemed that each time we set up, we positioned where the schools were coming. And when the schools came, the water exploded with these monsters. Other boats were having solid days, no doubt. What we were pulling out of the water, though, was breathtaking even on a good day. Watching and listening to your strategy proved this was not luck. We were watching a professional excelling at his game.

It is clear when you run across someone who truly loves what he does, because he does it with passion most people struggle to find in life. It is evident you found it. You simply do it so well.

I'll look forward to next time.

Sincerely,
Adams and Reese LLP
David W. Donnell

Cajun Odysea Outfitters
Venice, Louisiana

Capt Mike Gray,

I must admit on the way out to the Tuna grounds I was a little skeptical looking into the looming, dark gray thunder clouds. While we were making bait you assured me we would hit the fish and come on in. I could see the excitement on your face each time we caught a string of "tuna crack" as you called them. Fishing for small bait with a sabiki rig was really cool and I could not imagine what was next to come.

As we pulled to the offshore floater we were the only boat around the Tuna were busting, you asked the crew to make ready by clearing the deck and storing things that would be in our way. 1st bait out, not 3 minutes at our destination and we had a huge Yellow Fin Tuan hook up! You taught the angler how to handle the behemoth and shortly it was high fives all around. As if we were a well oiled machine, you meticulously motored the boat back into the exact position and BAM, Bam a double hook up! Did I tell you we had only been fishing for a total of 5 minutes! (Other than the 20min. it to reel in the fish)…

Somewhere I lost count but I will never forget pulling up to the dock and the T.V. Camera crew saw us haul out 6 Tuna and 1 Mahi Mahi, they wanted to know who the lucky crew was and what was the Captain's name. You see, it had been a marginal day and most angles stayed inshore… Once again you took our time seriously and made the right call to set out making us "Cock of the Dock" yet another day!

I can't thank you enough for the AWESOME time we had fishing with you. My freezer is stocked to the gills with Yellow Fin TUNA steaks. If we would have caught any more fish I would have had to buy a bigger freezer!

The weather was not in our favor but we still went and loaded the boat with fish. We had some the biggest Yellow Fin Tuna I have ever seen! My crew nominates you for the captain of the year award!!

I have already booked for next year. Thanks!!

Sincerely,
Matt Pokorney

2008 Faux Pas Rodeo
Venice, Louisiana

This three day trip with Capt. Mike Gray was THE BEST Fishing Experience I have ever been on. It was definitely the best Yellow Fin Tuna fishing I have ever experienced.

The rodeo is an annual event for us Arkansas Boys and we plan for it to continue as long as the rodeo itself goes on. There is so much action in Venice I can't tell you about all of it, not can I tell you how wonderful the fishing is BUT Limits of Yellow Fin Tuna?! I have to tell you about day 2 in particular.

Not long after we cleared the pass Capt. Mike spotted bait fish. We filled the entire bait well with thread fin herring, then continued on South. It was a great fishing day, mostly sunny, not too hot and the seas were calm. We found a nice rip line and trolled for a short while with no real success. After moving on a "Floater" as they are called and dropping some live bait things started to happen.

Yellow Fin started going crazy. We were hooking fish every couple of minutes. Several times we had two fish hooked up at a time. On one occasion we even had three at once. In less that 2 hours we hauled in a four man limit of Yellow Fin Tuna, (for those wondering the limit; 3 per person) It was exhausting but very much worth it.

One of the WILDEST things I've ever seen is "Kite" fishing, well it was so calm that day we had to utilize a helium balloon to hoist our kite, point is look out below! I have now experienced the thrill of watching a small live fish dangling from a kite and an explosing no massive it gets the back of the boat wet. Live bait + Yellow Fin Tuna + balloon/kite = messy and bloody boat…

OH, and one other thing! As if we were not tired enough, on the way in Capt, Mike stopped by his secret Red Snapper hold and in short order we had a limit of nice Red Snapper, which we had fried by the cools at Venice Marina upon arrival.

All in all probably the most fun day of fishing I've ever had. I definitely will be fishing with Capt Mike again next year.

Morgan Butler

To the Team at Cajun Odysea Outfitters:

I wanted to take this opportunity to say Great Job on our recent excursion. This was my first time deep-sea fishing, so I didn't know what to expect. Wow! I am still smiling from the memories of that day! Please tell Capt. Mike Gray that we really appreciate his efforts in making sure that we all came home with a fish story to tell - and the pictures to prove it!

The accommodations and the boat were perfect and just awaiting for our arrival. Capt. Mike had all the details covered, from the weather conditions (how to dress comfortably) to the kinds of snacks that would be best suited for a long day of deep sea fishing. It was also a nice touch being able to listen to college football on XM radio while we waited for the Big Tuna Battle (and a battle it was).

I am certainly looking forward to our next trip! We are already looking at our calendars for the next chance to get together again to go out with Capt. Mike.

Sincerely,

Steve McQueen