Captain Woody

While Woody has grown up fishing his entire life primarily out of Orange Beach, Alabama, it wasn’t until he was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in 2007 that he decided to conquer some serious bucket list items. Venice, Louisiana was on that list, and he vowed if he beat cancer, he would come back to Venice and work his way through college. In February of 2009, he began mating for arguably Venice’s best tuna guide, Captain Hunter Caballero. During his tenure with Hunter, they shattered the state record big eye tuna and hold places one through three to this day. They caught numerous yellowfin in excess of 200 pounds, and blue marlin releases totaling into the double digits every year. In 2014, Woody ventured off on his own with the arrival of the ClairaBelle, the first 34vh Freeman catamaran produced. Ever thirsty to expand his knowledge and experience, Woody made it a priority to go and fish with and learn from some of the world’s best blue marlin and tuna captains, including Josh Temple (giant bluefin in Nova Scotia), Ronnie Fields (blue marlin in Cape Verde), Roddy Hays, Nick Stanczyk (daytime swordfish in Islamorada, FL), Russell Kleppinger (tarpon, sailfish, and blue marlin in Miami, FL), RJ Boyle (daytime swordfish in south Florida), Tony DeJulian, Tim Richardson, amongst many others. He spent the past four winter breaks mating for Captain Nick Stanczyk in Islamorada, FL , and brought his skillset he acquired back to Venice and successfully captured the first daytime swordfish on a charter ever in May, 2013. Woody was named top tuna tagging captain by the state of Louisiana 2013 and 2014. In 2014, even after missing the first six months of the year to a shoulder operation, Woody racked up an incredible 25 blue marlin releases, and is on track to top that for 2015. When Woody isn’t fishing, he is a student pursuing a degree in medicine and is an aspiring surgical oncologist.