Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 636 is a conversation with Anthony Randazzo, owner of Paradise Plus Guide Service in Buras, Louisiana, near Venice at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Across nearly thirty years on the same water, Anthony has become one of the most respected redfish guides on the Gulf Coast. In this episode he breaks down how he reads salinity to find fish, the seasons for big bull redfish, how he rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, and the three pieces of gear that changed the way he fishes.
Listen now: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube · Press play in the player above to watch.
Anthony Randazzo is the owner of Paradise Plus Guide Service, a redfish lodge and guide operation in Buras, Louisiana, near Venice at the mouth of the Mississippi River. He grew up in Marrero, just outside New Orleans, started guiding saltwater at 21 after a run as a competitive bass fisherman, and bought the lodge property about ten years into his guiding career. He also fished the professional redfish tournament circuit — the IFA and the ESPN Redfish Cup — alongside Tom Rowland in the mid-2000s.
Paradise Plus sits in Buras, Louisiana, on a tight bend of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Venice. The lodge hosts up to 30 anglers at a time — 20 in the main lodge and 10 in the cabins — and guides fish the surrounding marsh and delta for redfish, along with speckled trout, flounder, and sheepshead.
Anthony points to three predictable windows for big fish: March, August, and November, built around redfish spawns in April and September. August is often the most consistent because the weather is hot and flat, which lets a guide run the outside edges where the bulls group up. October fills the lodge to capacity, and he calls December an underrated month that most people overlook.
Katrina put the lodge under as much as 30 feet of water for close to a month in 2005; Anthony flew over it in a helicopter 13 days after the storm and spent about a year rebuilding, running temporary structures until the main building reopened in 2006. During the 2010 BP oil spill, he and his guides worked the cleanup program for pay, but Anthony walked away from that money after about four months to start guiding customers again sooner than his competition — a bet that brought his clients back and never let up.
He names three tools. The Power-Pole, which lets him anchor silently and reposition a few feet at a time instead of wrestling a PVC stake-out pole by hand. The GPS-guided trolling motor, which he calls "like having a deckhand on board" for holding position in deeper water, plus modern electronics — a high-resolution GPS that stores every spot and the radar he runs almost daily through the delta's long fog season.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 636 with Anthony Randazzo is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and iHeartRadio. The video version is embedded at the top of this page.
Anthony and I met back in 2003 at a redfish tournament in Titusville, and for a few years after that we chased that circuit together all over the Gulf Coast — the IFA, then the ESPN Redfish Cup. I probably learned more about redfish from him than from anyone. This time I came to his lodge in Louisiana with my daughter Hannah, and sitting by the fire with a guy I have fished with for more than twenty years, watching him talk about a place he knows better than anyone alive, is exactly the kind of conversation I started this podcast to have. Press play in the YouTube player at the top of this page.
Anthony has spent thirty years watching the Mississippi push fresh water in and out of this marsh, and he still calls predicting salinity "an educated guess at best." When the river runs high, the fish move away from it, hunting the tiny pockets that hold just enough salt — and just enough food — to survive. He studies what the fish need and works backward from there, right down to which forage puts weight on them fastest. He explains exactly how he reads it on the water in this part of the episode.
Everybody wants the big bulls, and Anthony has three windows he trusts — March, August, and November. March fishes incredibly well but fights you with wind. November mixes cold fronts with some of the prettiest days of the year. August, though, is hot and flat, and that calm is what lets him run the outside edges where the biggest fish stack up before the fall spawn. He lays out the trade-offs month by month, including the sleeper stretch most anglers never book. Listen to that section for the full breakdown.
When Katrina hit in 2005, Anthony was fishing a tournament in Lake Charles. He rode the storm out, then leaned on generous competitors from the Redfish Cup who opened their homes in Texas. A friend at ESPN flew him over the flooded lodge in a helicopter 13 days later. What he describes next is the strange part — the devastation on land against what he found the moment he got back on the water, where the river was, in his words, packed with fish. Hear how he tells it in the episode.
When the 2010 spill emptied his reservation book, Anthony did what a lot of guides did and put his boats to work for BP. It paid extremely well, but four months in he started to worry that the easy money was the trap — that the customers calling to ask how the fishing was would go to whoever got back on the water first, so he gave it up early, ahead of his competition, and bet on his clients returning. That decision is the cold-open of this episode, and he explains the whole reasoning behind it.
Ask Anthony what actually changed redfishing and he does not hesitate: the Power-Pole, the GPS-guided trolling motor, and modern electronics. He remembers when John Oliverio brought an early Power-Pole prototype right into this lodge during the tournament years and everyone stared at the strange thing on the back of the boat — a year later everyone had one. He gets specific about why each tool matters, from stealth in skinny water to running radar across the Mississippi in the fog. Watch the gear conversation in the player above.
Listen to the full conversation: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · or watch in the YouTube player at the top of this page.
What stays with me from this trip is how much Anthony still learns on the water after thirty years. He caught fish that day in a spot he had never fished before, just by reading the wind, the water level, and the tide and trusting what the fish needed. That is a man who pays attention.
The other thing is the resilience. Katrina, the BP spill, COVID — he took every one of them on the chin and came back with his best years on the other side. He credits the Mississippi River and the fishery it feeds, but a lot of it is just him refusing to lay down.
Press play in the player above, or grab Episode 636 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Anthony Randazzo · Paradise Plus Guide Service · Buras, Louisiana · Venice, Louisiana · Marrero, Louisiana · Mississippi River Delta · IFA Redfish Tour · ESPN Redfish Cup · Hurricane Katrina · BP oil spill · Power-Pole · John Oliverio · Captain Billy · Titusville, Florida
Anthony Randazzo is the owner of Paradise Plus Guide Service, a redfish lodge in Buras, Louisiana, near Venice at the mouth of the Mississippi River. A Marrero native who grew up just outside New Orleans, he began guiding saltwater at 21 after competing as a bass fisherman, and bought the lodge property about a decade later. He fished the IFA and ESPN Redfish Cup tournament circuits in the 2000s and has guided the Louisiana delta for roughly thirty years, hosting up to 30 anglers at a time for redfish, speckled trout, flounder, and sheepshead. He is widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable redfish guides on the Gulf Coast.
Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 636: Anthony Randazzo
In this episode: reading salinity to find delta redfish, the menhaden factor, the redfish-tournament years, surviving Hurricane Katrina and the BP spill, the seasons for a giant bull red, and the three tools that changed the way he fishes — in the exact words spoken.
Anthony Randazzo: We had a reason to show up every day and get paid, but at the same time, in the back of my mind, I kept thinking, if I keep taking this easy money every day, maybe it's gonna hurt me in the long run. Maybe the customers who are starting to call now asking how's the fishing? How are y'all doing? Maybe I need to try to put my energy into getting those people back on the water and maybe do so sooner than the competition and and hopefully it it pays dividends. And that's what I did. I I gave up, you know, the easy money as did, Captain Billy and we both started fishing basically every day four months into the BP, program that we were on. And the customers just kept coming and and they never stopped, you know. And then all the other guys guys worked, you know, a little bit longer. Some stopped in five months, six months, seven months, but ultimately, they all came back and we had the business we needed to sustain ourselves and keep on going.
Anthony Randazzo: I'm Anthony Randazzo, and this is the Tom Rowland podcast.
Tom Rowland: Right. Anthony, what's going on, my man?
Anthony Randazzo: Not much. Living the dream. I know.
Tom Rowland: We lived the dream today. That's right. Here we are at Paradise Plus. We got your beautiful lodge behind us. We're sitting in Burris, Louisiana. Just had an awesome day with my daughter, which makes it a a a slam. Right? You fished with me and Hayden. You fished with me and Turner. You fished with me and Hannah now.
Anthony Randazzo: That's right.
Tom Rowland: You You fished with me and Rich.
Anthony Randazzo: That's right.
Tom Rowland: All four kids. Yeah.
Anthony Randazzo: Yeah. All
Tom Rowland: four of my kids. You fished with me and Rich more than more than, than than, Hannah and Hayden and Turner. But, man, what a special place this is. This is, Venice, Louisiana, Burris, Louisiana. This place is just amazing.
Anthony Randazzo: We love it. Glad you could be here as much as you are.
Tom Rowland: I know. Well, it's not as much as it used to be. True. So to bring people up to speed, we used to, fish the tournaments together Exactly. And travel all over the place. Yeah. And, that was back in around 2005, 2004, 2003, maybe. We met in o three,
Anthony Randazzo: I believe, in Titusville, Florida. And from there there on, we traveled around for a few years and had great experiences in all different venues across the Gulf Coast.
Tom Rowland: That's right. Well, I probably learned more about redfish and redfishing from you than anybody else. You know more about redfish probably than than anybody that I've ever fished with, and that's because you're you're right here. Like, why wouldn't you? You're you're in the you're in the mecca. This is the redfish mecca.
Anthony Randazzo: Thank you.
Tom Rowland: You say?
Anthony Randazzo: Thanks for the compliment. Yes. The redfish do a lot of, the hard work. I do the easy work. They make me look good.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. Well, they're there, but you have to find them. And what what's crazy about finding them here is that, you have so many different factors that we don't necessarily have in the in the Florida Keys or anywhere else in Florida or really even in Texas when we fished over there. Just this is just a different area. What threw me for a loop was the salinity where how you're able to not only judge, like, what tomorrow's gonna be by the weather, but also by how I mean, I remember I'd find some fish, tournament winning fish, 100%. I tell you about them, you're like, well, they're not gonna be there tomorrow. How how do you know? Because that pond's gonna be too low or that pond's gonna be too high or the fresh water's gonna move in. Now I could kinda get to the point where I could feel like, okay. I understand where the water level is gonna be based upon the predicted tides, the wind, the barometric pressure maybe even. But the salinity, I could never really get my my arms around that like like you did. How do you how do you predict the salinity?
Anthony Randazzo: Well, it's not a perfect science. You know? It's a educated guess at best, but we just learn from doing it over and over and over. We've we've had the luxury of fishing for thirty years here, and we watch the seasonal patterns come and go. We watch the, you know, differences in the river levels, you know, and not every year is the same. A long time ago, it was relatively consistent where you had a high river in the spring and a low river late summer and a low river in the fall. And then all of a sudden, things started deviating where we'd have high river in January and again in March and again in July. And we couldn't, you know, wrap our heads around it. But we do know there's certain things that are gonna happen when we have a really high river. The fish are gonna move further away from the river. They're gonna find those tiny little spots that have just the bare minimum of salinity. And in turn, they're gonna have the bare minimum of food, and those fish are gonna go there because it's kinda like do or die, you know, and they wanna be shallow. They don't necessarily wanna be in the Gulf. They gonna pursue the conditions that suit their needs. So that's what we do. We we study their needs, and we try to figure out what they're thinking and and go at it from that approach. But it's not always perfect. You know, there are times we go out there and we don't catch fish for six hours, and we're beating on our heads trying to figure out what's going on. You know, how can we change things to make it work to our advantage. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: Now when we were fishing the tournaments, it's kind of a a a funny funny, rule set for for some people. Like, some people never could get their head around, Why aren't you just going for the one biggest fish, or why are you going for this? And and there was a slot limit of eight 18 to to 27 inches. So we were looking for the biggest, fattest, heaviest 27 inch fish that you could possibly find. Now that fish is is gonna be much heavier here in Louisiana than it's gonna be in Florida. And as we found in Texas, these are the biggest, heaviest, fattest fish going. Now as it comes to finding those those big heavy slot fish, that was something that you were also good at, about knowing where a certain size fish was gonna be and knowing, okay. Well, those are all gonna be small fish over there. Or if we go out there, they're are all gonna be too big.
Anthony Randazzo: Sure.
Tom Rowland: So how do you how did you do that? Is that is that I mean and I I I I did it too, but I, you know, we did it kinda together, but it it we're following your lead in in Louisiana for sure. Sure. So what's what's the idea there? Like, how can you figure out where that that fish is consistently?
Anthony Randazzo: A couple variables come into play when we're looking for those tournament sized fish. It's it's a lot of strategy. But for one, you know, if you go and you fish an area or multiple areas and you're catching all 25 inch fish and, occasionally, a you're probably not gonna find that real heavy fish. But if you're fishing areas that you're catching all 29, 30 inch fish and, occasionally, a 27 inch fish, that 27 inch fish is likely gonna be heavier than the 27 inch fish schooled up with the smaller class. So we tried to figure out the classes of fish and what they were doing. And, you know, sometimes it it really just boiled down to the annual spawns of the the redfish here. If if we knew, you know, there's gonna be a a big push of fish coming in in March, then we're gonna go look in spots close to where those bigger fish are supposed to be. Right. And same thing in August. You know? There's just a lot of big fish here in August, so we're gonna be try to fish close to them. But then there's times where, you know, you just gotta go find some place that's secluded, that's got all the right ingredients, you know, good marsh grass and a variety of food. But the the one food that seemed to put the most weight on the fish every time was the menhaden. So if we knew where menhaden were, we'd always try to fish near them, and they generally come in here pretty heavy in September and October. So you automatically stop figuring, you know, I'm gonna go fish some ponds with some crabs and maybe a few mullet and snails. I'm gonna go fish menhaden waters, you know, mostly, you know, pockets of, saltwater close to the coast where those menhaden are moving in and try to find those fish that are just gorging themselves with these menhaden because that's like, pure protein puts the weight on instantly.
Tom Rowland: And they're gonna stay with those menhaden in those part. Yes. But the menhaden, just like everything else, it throws all the difficulty into it when you when the salinity changes, when the wind changes, when the water levels change, they move too.
Anthony Randazzo: Sure enough.
Tom Rowland: And the the redfish follow them. But Oh, yeah. You got every kind of habitat that a redfish lives in, I think, in right right out here. And that's what I think makes you and and so many of the of the Louisiana guys when we were fishing those tournaments. The Louisiana guys were right up there, you know. And and the only place that maybe anybody struggled would be Florida. But you you did well in in all all all of the states.
Anthony Randazzo: Well, you know, certainly with little help from guys like you Yeah. Saying, you know, you need to focus on this more so than that. And Yeah. You know, I spent a lot of days in o five fishing in Rich's boat and just, you know, watching him figure out where we needed to be and what we need to be throw and opened up my eyes and learned I learned so much, you know, that I wouldn't have learned otherwise.
Tom Rowland: Mhmm. Yeah. Well, it's a it's definitely different. It's it's it's very different. The the fishing that we do in in the Florida Keys, Flamingo, Everglades is definitely very different than up here. Mostly, these fish eat really, really good, really well. Well They they do.
Anthony Randazzo: They need to eat to grow, and I guess, you know, it's just part of it. There's a lot of fish, and they're they're all competing for food. So they they do eat, but we do have the the luxury of having not so clear water. Mhmm. Some some anglers really like the clear water and wanna see the fish and cast to the fish, which is great. I love to do it too, but it's a seasonal event here. Whereas more often than not, we've got stained to muddy water. And the fish are in it. You just have to fish them, and and they'll cooperate. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: Now when you get back in the ponds and stuff, you you can see water clear enough to see the fish and and sight fish. And and some of it, if depending on the weather and the wind and how much settle it settles out, you can see pretty clearly. But you can certainly see good enough to to see the fish. Right. And and you're doing that too. I mean, you're doing all of these different types of fishing.
Anthony Randazzo: Sure.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. That's one of my favorite is being able to see them like that because the way that these fish eat here is, I mean, they attack it. It's it's pretty awesome. So when did you when did you, get this lodge and well, like, bring me up to speed. Like, I I know you your your background is is bass fishing. You you wanted to be a competitive bass fisherman. You end up being a an incredibly successful competitive red fisherman. But but how did it start for you? How did you how did you end up as a as a professional guide and lodge owner?
Anthony Randazzo: Well, being young and naive and not knowing how the how the wide world of professional bass fishing worked, I just found myself drawn towards the saltwater guiding aspect because I knew I get a paycheck on a regular basis. Whereas it seemed as if if I were a full time bass guy bass pro, I would be paying entry fees and hopefully winning tournament purses and living off of that. I didn't understand the marketing side of the business back then, and I thought, you know, that's a big gamble. Why gamble when I could just go fishing, do what I know how to do, and people are gonna pay me. And, at the end of the day, I don't have any stress. I'll just, you know, go on about my business and try to book more charters. So that kind of led me into that. And then
Tom Rowland: How old were you then?
Anthony Randazzo: Well, I started guiding when I was 21.
Tom Rowland: K.
Anthony Randazzo: So, you know, I had already competitively bass fished prior to 21. They're pretty good at it and continue to do it in in my early twenties, but I was incorporating more and more of my time into saltwater guiding.
Tom Rowland: And mostly in this area or were you Yes.
Anthony Randazzo: Every every bit of water from New Orleans to Venice. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: So where'd you grow up?
Anthony Randazzo: Right outside
Tom Rowland: of New Orleans. In Belle Chase?
Anthony Randazzo: Marrero is the town. Yeah.
Tom Rowland: So you're when you move back now, you're back in Marrero. You're you're back in back at home?
Anthony Randazzo: Yeah. Couple of minutes from the same house I grew up in.
Tom Rowland: Really? Right? Yeah. That's it. That's good, man. That's good. So how does the lodge when when does the lodge become a part of it?
Anthony Randazzo: After about ten years of guiding, you know, I knew I needed to do something just a little bit different to generate more income and hopefully, you know, grow the business. And looked around for a few years. There were very few properties available down here that fit the bill, and I actually stumbled across this one purely by chance, and it has evolved into exactly what we dreamed of back then.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. Well, it's gotten bigger now. You got I mean, when we first came here, I don't think you had you didn't have cabins back here. None whatsoever. And and, now you've got, what, one, two, three, four cabins plus the lodge. How many people can stay here?
Anthony Randazzo: 30 anglers at a time.
Tom Rowland: Can stay here? Sure. Really? Mhmm. And and so how many again, the main lodge? 20. 20 in the main lodge plus plus another 10 out out here. That's awesome. And then you've got, I mean, it's really what what you can't see behind us here is another, enclosed or not enclosed, but covered area for fish cleaning for for all this. This is I don't know. Every time I come here, it just brings back so many memories of of those those two thousand three, four, five years of I don't know. This is so much more fun, honestly, to come here and just fish No doubt. Rather than come here and and try to compete against the best of the best in an area that you don't know. That was that was rough. That's a great start to the conversation. We're gonna take a short break and get right back to the show in just a moment. That was really It's
Anthony Randazzo: really It's really It's really all of us, you know. I'm I'm in a better place now because I just have to wake up and take people fishing every day and right. You know, a customer's expectations are different than a a tournament angler's expectations. But in general, I feel like I can accomplish a customer's expectations 99% of the time, whereas I might not accomplish my own tournament expectations half of the time.
Tom Rowland: Right. Well, your tournament expectations are to win. And and in certain ways, like, what we were doing then, when I when I look back on it, when people ask me about the tournament, I'm like, well, you know, I don't know. I don't even know why we did it. It was a terrible financial, plan to leave paying trips in in the Florida Keys to come up here or to go to Texas in the middle of tarpon season and try to win an amount of money that you would split with somebody else, then put in your travel expenses, then all the entry fees, then everything else. And it was just a really bad idea. It was a
Anthony Randazzo: it was a awkward accounting, rationale. But for me, even though I wasn't here guiding, I still had guides working. Right. So I still had customers staying in the lodge. So I was I was making enough money to live on. I didn't have to win when I fished in a tournament to pay my bills. So that took a level of stress off right there. And we had decent sponsors at the time, and that helped quite a bit. For sure. Drop this drop the stress down where, you know, you met guys on the tour who were living their trucks and, you know, eating potted meat and just trying to do everything they could do Right. To get to the next event and and hopefully get a big check.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. I'll tell you what was so when I look back on that, in some ways, I look back on it. I'm like, that was that was rough. And in other ways, I look back on it. I'm like, man, that was when the adrenaline was at the highest. When you're going to these areas and you're competing with the bet literally, you're competing with the best of the best. And and we had at the time, it started out with the IFA, and then there was the ESPN Redfish Cup. And, so it's now getting major airtime. And it looked like this is gonna really be the next big thing. And and lots of people saw that.
Anthony Randazzo: Sure.
Tom Rowland: And it brought anglers from Texas and Louisiana and Florida and everywhere coming into these tournaments. And and, man, it was a very, very, very competitive field.
Anthony Randazzo: It was. There was talent beyond our wildest imagination, you know, and we were in the middle of the field for all practical comparisons. You know, we could fish well here, but we didn't have a a fighting chance out of state for a couple of years. We had to go and really compound our knowledge day after day. I mean, when I went to Florida the first time, I I didn't even have the knowledge to tie a leader to my line because I had never used a leader here. I had to learn how to tie a leader on to be competitive.
Tom Rowland: We had to learn how not to see fish and catch it when when you don't see one. Exactly. We're like, you can do that. You can just throw out there and just catch something. And then it turns out that that was, a very effective way to fish. Like, you're fishing blind, but we we were we were so used to just seeing everything. And and and then but when I look at that, it's like those are the times where I learned the most, and that was where you had the most to learn of if all you do is sight fish, you're a one dimensional fisherman, and and if you don't know how to to to look at an area and break it into little pieces and say, well, these are where I think the fish are even though I can't see them there. I visualize them sitting on this little edge right here, sitting on this little point or doing whatever, and then go going over there and then trying to to catch them. And when you do get that bite, it's like, oh, okay. My my plan works. Right? And then if it but but they're this big or they're this big. And and that's not good. You're looking for a perfect size.
Anthony Randazzo: One of our biggest advantages was, you know, in the early years of the the tournament scene is the guys that would come here from out of state, they'd all bring small boats, and they'd all go the skinniest water they could find, and they'd maul around looking for fish. And we're out in the deeper water blind casting, catching, you know, a ton of fish and and having our way with the fish, basically. So we had a gigantic advantage over someone who came in from out of state.
Tom Rowland: Mhmm. But those guys, some of them would see the right fish and catch the right fish.
Anthony Randazzo: They would. And they
Tom Rowland: were really good at that, you know. And then the ladders came into the play, and then everybody's getting up high, and everybody's seeing stuff. And, wow, it was it was such a such a such a wild time. What what's the scene now? I mean, I'm I'm really not into the redfish scene anymore. What is the tournament scene these days?
Anthony Randazzo: Obviously, there's a few few, tournament circuits that are in existence today. I don't fish any of them anymore, but they're out there. And, you know, someone wanted to get into a a one day weekend tournament. They've got stuff there for those guys. There's a multi day tournaments. There's individual tournaments, team tournaments, tournaments where they're weighing fish on Facebook live and not even bringing them to the scales.
Tom Rowland: Really? Yeah. So I guess the Internet changes everything like that.
Anthony Randazzo: Without a doubt. I kinda like those concepts, though, you know, where there's there's no measure. And I saw one tournament had a format where if it was eight pounds zero ounces on the scale or above, it was disqualified. Everything else underneath was a qualifying fish. Really? So you don't have to worry about whether or not your fish is too big or too small touching a line or not touching a line. It's it's kind of a, you know, unique idea where you take that element out of it. You don't even need a wave, fish measurer slash wave master on shore because it's all happened out on the boat. Right.
Tom Rowland: Right. That's interesting. That's, that's one of the benefits of, of the Internet and and social media and all that. There's certainly down downsides to it as well. You know, we're sitting here right by this this fire. This is the way that I envisioned the podcast to to always go. I always thought that this was like a fireside chat. Like, you just sit like, how many times do you sit out here with your clients or or or you hang out by the fire and you're just having this some of the best conversations about whatever. Exactly. Sometimes it's about fishing.
Anthony Randazzo: Sometimes. But you never know what the topic's gonna be, and you never never know what you're gonna learn. We meet a very diverse group of people here, and so many are interested
Tom Rowland: in in ways that I can't even describe. So about that, somehow, I'm losing my voice. I don't know what why I'm doing that, but, it's it's it's going away. So if I sound like I'm going through puberty, it's it's really not that. It's It's
Anthony Randazzo: coming in pretty clear on mine.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. But it it does crack a little bit. I don't know. So as far as learning, like, what do you think, you you've you've had so much ups and downs here with this. I mean, right where we're sitting at one point, we came here right after hurricane Katrina, and this area got hit really hard. And your lodge was underwater. Right? Yeah. So what what was what was that like when you when you were, I mean, the people in Louisiana and and certainly yourself, you're very resilient people Here, you have to be because of the the hurricane. Same same with us in in Florida. But but go go through that just a little bit of kinda the just what that was like, man, just to to have have that happen. Like, it's It's
Anthony Randazzo: a hard time experience.
Tom Rowland: So There's a levee. Right? And the levee is what? 30 feet tall? Or 17 feet above
Anthony Randazzo: the table. You're looking at some sheet piling on top of the earthen levee that's kinda there for reinforcement because there's a huge bend in the river right here. Most people don't even think of, the Mississippi River as a deep river, but this is the second tightest bend in the river next to the bend in Downtown New Orleans. There's right behind that wall, it's 185 feet deep. 185 feet deep. Right. So they put that there for reinforcement just to kinda keep everything nice and Wow. Tight and and and check here. But in Downtown New Orleans, it's 220 feet deep. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: For for, like, one just big hole or for an extended period of time?
Anthony Randazzo: Or just one curve in the river and, you know, how water runs the outside of the curve and and digs it out. And, well, that's basically what happens. Here, it's a a left hand curve
Tom Rowland: Mhmm.
Anthony Randazzo: Right behind the lodge, and it's just incredibly deep right there.
Tom Rowland: Wow. Wonder what lives in there. Big catfish. So, you know, there's a I I've seen that in the Tennessee River where there's some some 100 foothills. I've never seen anything bigger than deeper than that, but the same kind of thing happens on the Tennessee River. But the Mississippi River is just it's just such an incredible thing. Like, it it drains the country, and it and then it pours out into the Gulf Of Mexico right right here. And that's why the fishing's so incredible.
Anthony Randazzo: Absolutely. That river just catalyze a whole growth of, nutrients nutrient based forage for the fish to gorge themselves on and and grow, you know, prolifically, all species. I mean, the mullet is one of the the biggest items of forage here, and everything eats mullet from speckled trout, flounder, all the way up to bluefin tuna out in the
Tom Rowland: Gulf Of Mexico. Yeah. So get let let's go back to the Katrina situation. Sure. So when when Katrina hit, you you got out. Right?
Anthony Randazzo: Yeah. We did. We were in, Lake Charles actually fishing a redfish tournament there. So we came home the day after the tournament, boarded up, and went back to Lake Charles and rode it out right there, and then ultimately went to Texas and stayed with some, very generous competitors on the Redfish Cup who had places to offer.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. And then, when how long after the storm was it till you could come back and check it out?
Anthony Randazzo: Well, I was fortunate. One of my good friends that worked at ESPN called me up and scheduled a flight, helicopter flight from Houma Airport, which is 50 miles west of here to here to fly over thirteen days after Katrina. So I got a good look at it, but there was, you know, actually a high spot on the highway where we could land the helicopter and get out. Couldn't really come inside the lodge, but at least, you know, we were able to get pretty close. And a week later, it could get here in my truck. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: And then we came not that much later to film a show. Correct. Right? And, but but this was under 30 feet of water for thirty days, I think I remember you saying.
Anthony Randazzo: At the highest point, it had some spots that had 30 feet of water, you know, to the lights on some of the street poles.
Tom Rowland: Dang. That was that was a heck of a storm. But when we came in, you know, it was it seemed like absolute total devastation on land. But then as soon as we got on the water, it was like I mean, I don't even know how to how to explain it. That I've never seen so many fish. The Mississippi River was literally full. I remember you you looked at the at the at the Lowrance depth depth finder. You you're like, look. How how deep do you think it is? I was like, I don't know. 20 feet? Nope. It's 30 feet. And 10 feet of fish.
Anthony Randazzo: That's right. Solid.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. It was incredible. Yeah.
Anthony Randazzo: They were just piled in. It was the right season for them to be in, and the storm had brought in all that fresh saltwater. I shouldn't say fresh saltwater. New saltwater. Lots and lots of bait and lots of game fish all had reason to take part in the party, and it was a party for quite a while.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. On the water.
Anthony Randazzo: Yes. Not on land. No. It was devastating on land. You know? But it's like any other situation. If you if you get hit real hard, you either got two choices. You know, you lay down or you get up and go harder than ever, and that's what we did.
Tom Rowland: And then, you know, pretty how how long was it before you were kinda back up and running and and, you know, people were coming back?
Anthony Randazzo: Well, the storm was '5, and we had some temporary structures that we brought in here and powered those up in March '6. And we were pretty much running wide open from March on through, I think, it was August '6 when this building was renovated behind us. And that was the anniversary of the storm, basically. So one year it took to to get this building back up and running. But, thankfully, the buildings that I was able to lease were sufficient enough to house customers and cook for them and and, you know, go through the daily operations.
Tom Rowland: Man, that's that's awesome. Then then, then you went through the BP thing.
Anthony Randazzo: That's right. Now they're kicking the Kicking the tits. Privates. Yep.
Tom Rowland: And and so walk walk me through that. Like, I know that you were kind of, out of commission working for the, BP address.
Anthony Randazzo: Is that who you were working for? Right. At first, you know, no one knows what's gonna transpire in terms of the business at hand or the business of working for BP or any any of those sorts of things. So we tried to entertain the customers who had reservations, but more customers were canceling than we're booking. Mhmm. And the the reservations that were on the books were getting fewer and fewer. And it was it was pretty clear that about six weeks after the storm, we were gonna be out of business if we didn't do anything. And I knew several guys who had already gone to work for BP, and I started inquiring about it and talking to the guy that was running the program. And it was like, hey. This seems like a really good deal. So we basically had a meeting. I told all the guys they all needed to go sign up and go work for BP, and we all did. And I probably did that for about four months, and it was it was not the most fulfilling job in the world, but it it paid extremely well. So the customers just kept coming and and they never stopped, you know. And all the other guys worked, you know, a little bit longer. Some stopped in five months, six months, seven months, but ultimately, they all came back. And when we had the business, we needed to sustain ourselves and keep on going.
Tom Rowland: Nice. And then, I mean, now you're you're rip roaring. Right?
Anthony Randazzo: It's unbelievable, you know. Sit back all the time and I keep thinking, you know, we've reached our peak. And then lo and behold, the next year, we've exceeded that. And then then another year, we exceeded. You know, coronavirus actually slowed us down. The year prior to it, we we had our best year ever. Got through corona, and we had a super solid fourth quarter in 2020 following corona. People wanted to go fishing. You know, it seemed like the only thing they could do, they couldn't travel to other countries and fish or hunt. They they couldn't do indoor activities for the most part, but here, they could get out on a boat and go fishing. So we reap the benefits of that. We had a stellar fourth quarter, and then we had an unbelievable 2021. Best year ever. So, you know, we're just kinda sitting here in disbelief. Like, why are we so lucky? We get to take people fishing, and then they just keep coming. They want to go fishing, and we're gonna keep taking them fishing.
Tom Rowland: We're gonna take a quick break and get right back to the show in just a moment. Well, I'll tell you. It's it's there's a couple of factors. First of all, you are really good at hospitality. You you take good care of your customers, but then you you can take as good a care of your customers as as you want and be the best in the world at it if the fishery won't sustain it, you know, that their interest in it is true. This fishery here is it's it's really amazing. And a lot of times, you know, I fished offshore here a bunch of times. I fished in shore here with you view a bunch of times, and and it's just it's just an incredible there's just so much life, and it's all because of the Mississippi River and what happens. But in your opinion, like, what is it? Is it just that? All the nutrients coming in and that creates this fish factory? Or, like, what is it that makes this area have so much offshore life, inshore life, bird life, wildlife. Just it's just an incredible I mean, it's like it it's literally like electric with life. Like, you can just look at the at the dock, and there's just mullet everywhere, and there's bass, and there's everything. Everything. Everywhere you look, there's, like, life.
Anthony Randazzo: Well, the river and its nutrients are a big part of it. But we've got an incredible amount of structure here, inshore and offshore. Granted, the the inshore structure sometimes dwindles from wind and wave erosion, but we have coastal restoration projects that are building the marsh back and trying to make it, you know, somewhat what it used to be, and those those are a big plus. Offshore, you know, there's a lot of oil and gas wells. They've decommissioned, and they finally started to basically make reefs out of these decommissioned rigs instead of tearing them out. So you've got extra structure under the water. Some Some of them are cut off. Some of them are actually laid down, and these things hold a lot of fish. And then above and beyond that, you know, you've got amount of undeveloped coastline here. You know, I I I always remember we fished a tournament out of Orange Beach, Alabama Mhmm. And I ran east to Panama City. And there's two bays there, West Bay and East Bay. And I couldn't catch any fish in East Bay. Had condos all the way around it. West Bay had trees all the way around it. I could catch fish in West Bay. And I really think that has a lot to do with it. You know? Human, intervention seems to thwart the proliferation of fish. You know, there's obviously no jet skis here. We don't have a a recreational area on this long peninsula from New Orleans to, Venice. You don't see jet skis. You don't see water skis. And all these things, I think, help us in a unique way to allow the fish to just thrive.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. Well, one thing that allows fish to thrive in other areas is that there is, like, this incredible catch and release thing going on. And sometimes you can go to certain marinas, and you you almost see no fish coming in. And if you go to Venice Marina or Cypress Cove every day, there is a record amount of fish coming in every single day, and it doesn't seem to do anything to the to the fishery.
Anthony Randazzo: I mean,
Tom Rowland: it doesn't seem to have any effect whatsoever. You would think that if you just keep taking limit after limit after limit after limit, but, I mean, that's what the limits are there for, and there's science based on on the the limit of redfish and the limit of trout and the limit of tuna and the limit of wahoo and the limit of of, mahi and everything that you're seeing coming across that dock. But it's a lot of fish.
Anthony Randazzo: It is. Just the other day, Tuesday this week, we probably cleaned 200 fish right here at the table. You know, mostly redfish, flounder, sheepshead. And I I scratch my head sometimes and say, you know, this I never would have dreamed twenty years ago we'd still be catching this many fish at at this rate.
Tom Rowland: Mhmm. Do you does anybody think about that? Like, as far as the the the catch and release, do it I mean, do you see any sort of a a move towards maybe we don't need to catch a limit every single day.
Anthony Randazzo: There's been talk about reducing our speckled trout limit for a couple of years and, probably 2020, there was or maybe 2019, there was, you know, a a label put on speckled trout as being elusive. And then last year, thousands and thousands of trout were caught here. So then you gotta wonder, you know, is it a cycle or, you know, is everything okay?
Tom Rowland: Right. How do you know?
Anthony Randazzo: No one knows. I mean, then we can't dive in the water and see all the fish out there. They do samples, but I I think the samples are skewed. I don't think they have the technology to truly sample a population like that in an area as diverse as this. You know, even if they gave me the tools, I don't know if I could go out there and and sample effectively. You know? Yeah. I think maybe they sample the same territory over and over instead of asking where they might wanna look. But at the same time, you know, the numbers are clear when you see constant social media posts by a smorgasbord of guides all up and down this highway catching fish, you know, and and east and west of this parish as well. There's just a lot of trout that were caught in 2021. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: Do a lot of people come down and I mean, I I always think of Louisiana primarily as redfish and but you have anglers that come here just for trout.
Anthony Randazzo: We do. Apparently, you know, there's pretty good trout fishery all along the Gulf Coast. Mhmm. Texas and Florida stand out as the two places where I have customers come and tell me, yeah, we catch our share of trout. We might not wanna target trout when we're in Louisiana. We wanna go and catch those redfish that we can't catch elsewhere. And another thing that our customer base seems to really, request is the bigger redfish, the bull redfish, because we have such large numbers of bull redfish seasonally throughout the year that, you know, they just don't see anywhere else.
Tom Rowland: Right. What is the season for the big ones? If somebody wanted to come catch the big ones, what do you what what seasons do you recommend?
Anthony Randazzo: Well, I tell everyone they spawn in April and September, you know, give or take a couple of weeks.
Tom Rowland: Twice a year.
Anthony Randazzo: Twice a year. So before the spawns in March and in August, these fish are grouping up, feeding heavily, and getting ready to go spawn. They're basically, you know, and and, adjusting the food they need to have the energy to do what they do when they're offshore spawning. And then you've got another cycle where after they complete that September spawn, they're gonna come back in shore or close to shore and feed heavily to get through winter. Mhmm. Where there might not be quite as much food available for them. Mhmm. So we've got three times of the year that are very predictable, March, August, and November, give or take a couple weeks on each of those, that we know we're gonna catch a lot of big fish if that's what someone wants to catch.
Tom Rowland: Now out of those three months, is August gonna be
Anthony Randazzo: the calmest month? Depends on the hurricanes.
Tom Rowland: Right. But outside of tropical weather
Anthony Randazzo: Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: Then it it it that's that I mean, I I think of it March, you're gonna get cold fronts. And when you get cold fronts I mean, we had one today. And all of a sudden, it was absolutely flat calm this morning. We see a frontline come through, and this belong 20. Yeah. Right? 25 Mhmm. Even. And then March is gonna be a time where you're gonna consistently still have some cold fronts coming through. In August, there aren't gonna be any cold fronts, but you're gonna you could And then in November, you're gonna start to have cold fronts again. So, if I were to and I don't know, and that's why I'm asking you this. But if I were to say, okay, is the most consistent time August because of that reason? Because You're right. I know what I've done with you in the past and my own experiences. You're getting on that kinda outside edge to catch those Exactly. Big bulls. Right? And you have to have the right weather to do that. Right.
Anthony Randazzo: That's usually hot and flat in August. So you have the option to move around. You know, you might have a couple thunderstorms to contend with, but in general, it's hot and it's flat. So you can go where you wanna go and fish where the fish wanna be. Whereas in March, you got March winds. You know, old adage, March winds bring April showers, April showers bring make flowers. Well, March is a windy month more often than not. So you gotta work around that a bit. And November, you get some fronts, but you also get some beautiful days. Yeah. And on those beautiful days, it it's epic. You just, you know, can't forecast those days. You gotta be here. Yeah. I tell everyone, don't book one day. You know, give yourself the benefit of at least two or three days because one of those day is gonna be right, and you wanna be here when it's right. Yeah. You don't wanna miss it.
Tom Rowland: And I remember seeing a lot of your post is is you you seem to really like October as well for just outstanding fishing.
Anthony Randazzo: It is outstanding fishing, and, you know, it's a a super popular month. You know, it's it's always filled to occupancy a 100%. I think there's a a lot of people who avoid that summer heat. They're they're comfortable in October. There's very few storms, tropical storms that happen in October. Usually, if we get to October 1, the the storms just kinda dwindle away, and it's pre hunting season. So everybody's trying to fight for those October dates. Usually, someone fishes with us in October, they book the next October before they leave here.
Tom Rowland: So what's the what's the, the month that is kind of the the the outlier that not not a lot of people come and the fishing's really good.
Anthony Randazzo: March is one of them. It's incredibly good. You know, you got keeper sized fish. You've got bull reds, and you've got some trout that are gonna bite in March before the river starts to come up. The salinities are high. And then you've got August, you know, where everything is just kind of hot and flat, and you've got some trouts still biting on the outside before they start to transition into the marsh for the fall. And then December is phenomenal. I mean, most people don't even think about December, but we have some of the best fish in the year in December every year. There's just a lot of fish to catch in a lot of places. We've got tons of options to utilize and you get some nice weather days. You might get some cold days mixed in. But in general, here in Southeast Louisiana, winter doesn't start until sometime in January. Yeah. You know? And the the coldest part of it's latter January and early February.
Tom Rowland: So those are the those are the months where you could still get time and have a reasonable chance of having a really, really good Well, that is.
Anthony Randazzo: Trip it out.
Tom Rowland: But you could also I mean, the part that you you take the good with the bad. There is the possibility you get a cold fries blowing 35
Anthony Randazzo: Oh, yeah. All day.
Tom Rowland: All day. Every day.
Anthony Randazzo: It can happen. That stinks. But we generally don't go out and and fish in 35 mile per hour winds.
Tom Rowland: You know? What is the cutoff for you? What do you think? I mean, you you you have so much much to hide behind. You know this area so well. But at some point, you're kinda like, what's the worst condition?
Anthony Randazzo: About 30 miles per hour is where you kinda say, is it worth it? If you don't have a large concentration of fish that you can get to safely and fish under those conditions, then you have to really start thinking about whether you wanna go out. But we're we're lucky here. I mean, in a whole calendar year, there's probably only five days of the year, excluding tropical weather, that we don't fish.
Tom Rowland: And due to weather? Yes. Really. So if you were to look at the the forecast coming up, what would be the the condition that you would just be like, oh, no. Not I mean, outside of a tropical. A hurricane coming is is where you're gonna say, oh, no. But but what would you is there is there one where you struggle? I mean, after all this time and all the experience you have, is there a condition that you just really just boy, that just your Achilles heel?
Anthony Randazzo: It's the brutal cold. Really? Oh, yeah. I mean, it can bunch the fish up where you could literally pull into a spot and cast in a 10 by 10 square all day long and catch all the fish you could possibly imagine. But But it's the the physical aspect of enduring the cold and, you know, the the safety factor. You know, I've had some groups here in February before where it was so cold, there was sleep, bridges in New Orleans were shut down. Guides couldn't get here. The guides who were here were able to go and and fish. And, you know, the ones that couldn't get here couldn't get here. But you're out there. Your eyes on your, rods are icing up. Yeah. The old, Teleflex steering we used to use is icing up. The power poles are icing up. And you wonder, you know, is it really worth it at that point? That's All
Tom Rowland: you gotta do is outlast your clients, though.
Anthony Randazzo: That's true. You
Tom Rowland: gotta just wait until they're like, cap. We gotta go home. Right. There's freezing.
Anthony Randazzo: There were some days in those conditions where lots of redfish were caught. Yeah. You know? But there's some some days that very few were caught or the customers just got out there and said it's not worth it. I'm I'm ready to go back.
Tom Rowland: Do you remember the, the first time you you said when we met in Titusville? Do you remember that tournament? It was cold. Well, we were coming up from The Keys. I had never I had never experienced fishing for for saltwater fish in those conditions, and there was ice on the boat. And they were trying to put the logos on the on the boat when we were
Anthony Randazzo: Yeah.
Tom Rowland: You know, that was the first tournament, and the boats weren't ready. And they were trying to wrap the boats, and they were trying to put the logos on, and they wouldn't stick because it was too cold, and there was ice on the on the boat. And I just remember thinking, we're not gonna catch anything. Because, I mean, in The Keys, when you have it's it's 70. It gets to 60. The fish are like, oh, this is terrible. Right. This is I don't like this. Or it's 80 and it goes to 60. Yes. That's even worse.
Anthony Randazzo: It's
Tom Rowland: like, you know, the bigger drop
Anthony Randazzo: Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: The the worse, you know, for the water conditions. And so I'm thinking, man, what are we even doing? Like, we're we're not even gonna and and we did we did great in that tournament. We got second place, I think. And and it was, like, it was such a surprise to me because I just couldn't believe that the that the redfish were that resilient. And and that was that was when I started thinking, man, I got a lot to learn about all of this, you know. Before we wrap up our conversation, we're gonna take one final break. You're right back. What how has your fishing changed over over since since, you started in your guide career? What what what are the biggest things that have changed for you and and why? Well,
Anthony Randazzo: I think the most important thing is that out of all the things that have changed, the one thing that hasn't changed, I still learn something frequently on the water. Still pay attention to details, still listen to everyone that, you know, I can talk to about fishing. I still learn something literally every single day, whether it's self taught or or taught by someone else.
Tom Rowland: What'd you learn today?
Anthony Randazzo: Today, I learned that, you know, you basically, don't have to rush things. You can take your time, ease in to it, you know, pay it pay attention to the the variables.
Tom Rowland: Because you got this hardcore angler that was ready to go at 03:30 in the morning. Now we had to we had to wait this morning because, I did pull my daughter out of school, and she had to take an online test at 08:00. So all the other guys are leaving here at seven.
Anthony Randazzo: Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: We sit around waiting till 09:30 almost and leave. And then, I don't know, were we the big were we the big ride of the day? Or
Anthony Randazzo: We did win today. I know the the five boats that went out. You know? But
Tom Rowland: Alright. So tell me what else you learned today.
Anthony Randazzo: Well, the the spot where we fish today, I'm gonna confess to you right now. I've never caught fish there before. I just looked at it, and I thought based on the wind, the water level, and the tide, that that would be a good place to to fish. I caught fish within several 100 yards of it. Of course. I eased in there today, and I just thought this is this is what these fish need in these conditions. And it worked out. So And so
Tom Rowland: in these conditions, what did those fish need?
Anthony Randazzo: They needed shallow structure close to a little bit deeper water with moving water and not quite as much wave action as what was experienced up and down the coast from there.
Tom Rowland: What I was looking at is windbreak. Like
Anthony Randazzo: Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: How are you kinda getting out of the wind? And where we were actually catching the fish, you could see just past where where, you know, there there was grass. We're in kind of a little not not a pond, but just we were just in the middle of a big bunch of grass. Out there, it almost looked like it was almost about the white cap. In here, it was almost calm.
Anthony Randazzo: That's right. Right?
Tom Rowland: And and I I just kept looking at that. And when we threw out, we could throw out into the windy area, never got a bite out there. Get it further further further in, and the calmer it was, the the more bites we got. Sure.
Anthony Randazzo: And essentially, what we were in was the the middle of what once was a solid round island.
Tom Rowland: Mhmm.
Anthony Randazzo: There's a seam in the middle of it now, but, you know, the the root structure is still in that seam, and those fish were drawn to that in particular.
Tom Rowland: So every day you learn you you learn something.
Anthony Randazzo: Yeah. I mean, one thing, the the footprint of the land here is constantly changing.
Tom Rowland: Yeah.
Anthony Randazzo: We have a lot of subsidence. We've got wind and wave erosion. Even though we have coastal restoration projects, the the the playing field keeps getting smaller and smaller. But as it gets smaller and smaller, there's places that were once dense vegetation that are now sparse vegetation, and those fish are gonna be in that sparse vegetation. They they like it. Sometimes it's hard to fish, but occasionally you can find a spot where it just works. You know? You don't hang up too terribly much and and the fish cooperate. And that's the the biggest part of it. But, you know, the the changes that we were talking about a little while ago, I mean, all of our tools have changed. Our our equipment's so much better from the the boat to the accessories on the boat to the rods and reels we're using, the line we're using, the hooks we're using.
Tom Rowland: That that's one thing we talked about today even all the way down to the fillet knives and the the electric fillet knives and everything that we're that that we're using here. So if you were to that was gonna be one of my next questions. Of all the changes that we've had, what change in gear or technology or whatever, what has what stands out in your mind as the the thing that has made the biggest change in your in the way that you fish or how how you fish or your effectiveness or or things that you didn't do before that you're able to do now?
Anthony Randazzo: For me, it's it's gotta be the power pole because it allows me to to position my boat where I want it anytime I want it, keep it there. I can move five feet at a time. I can move 50 feet at a time if if that's what I desire to do. But it it, you know, gives me the luxury of of anchoring as many times a day as I want, as many spots as I want, and knowing that once I anchor, I'm pretty well secured.
Tom Rowland: Mhmm.
Anthony Randazzo: I used to use a 10 foot piece of PVC with a machine aluminum point and wedge it in the mud and tie it off to my cleat and pull it up by hand, you know, nothing but Yeah. Arm, leg, and back muscle every time I moved. And it it didn't do as good a job as what the power pole does.
Tom Rowland: You know?
Anthony Randazzo: So that has helped me considerably.
Tom Rowland: I mean, that is really interesting because, you know, with that with that deal that you just talked about, you stick the, you know, basically push pole or or stake out pole in the ground. Now you're like, man, I'd really like to move up there, but I don't I don't wanna move that bad. So let's stay here. So in some ways, that could be even better because you end up staying there a little bit longer, and now all of a sudden something happens. Mhmm. Certainly seen that plenty of times. But with a power pole, you can almost like a spider, like, just pick up and put down, pick up and put down, and you can literally inch yourself into the you can make five casts. Nope. Pick up. Now you're now you're 10 feet closer. Five feet closer.
Anthony Randazzo: That's right.
Tom Rowland: Two feet closer.
Anthony Randazzo: Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: Five and then you're you're you're able to stop outside of that. That's interesting that that's what you that's what you pick.
Anthony Randazzo: My PVC pole was very effective, but I might stick it in the ground and stick it down there as far as I could possibly reach, and it pull loose. Mhmm. And I'd go right over my fish or, you know, if let's say it held and we were casting it and I wanted to go 10 feet closer. Well, when I picked it up and I went 10 feet closer, the bottom density might be Mhmm. A little bit looser. And I stick it down and it pulls up. Then what do I do? You know? Right. So is it always a a gamble? What do I do? What do I not do? Whereas with the power pole, you don't even think, you know, you just push it down and it goes in the mud and you're you're set. You're not going anywhere, especially with the twin power poles. I mean, they have incredible holding power. And that that keeps us where we can, you know, basically position our customers 99% of the time where they can cast downwind. They don't have to really cast as hard or as accurately. They just need to throw it in the general direction of where we tell them, and they can have a better day of fishing. They can
Tom Rowland: you know? You know, that the the I think about those days when we're talking about that. There was so much evolution of fishing that happened during those redfish days, the 02/1945, those years right there. John Oliverio was right right in this lodge Absolutely. With with a prototype, you know, and and everybody's looking at this thing like, what is that thing on the back of the boat? And it wasn't a a year later, everybody had them. Absolutely.
Anthony Randazzo: Everybody had them. Caught on like wildfire. First few years first year was tough, you know, trying to get people who were not tournament fishermen interested in it, but the tournament fishermen instantly realized the benefit. Mhmm. But slowly but surely, the guides and the the recreational fishermen started to see the benefit. Now, you know, I'd be willing to bet that 60% of the boats that roll off the showroom floors are equipped with power poles.
Tom Rowland: I think so. And even double power poles. That was an interesting thing for that for their businesses is that it really took off in the, Hannah. We have a camera right there. That's fine. Come on and get warm. Come sit down and get warm. What was interesting is, how the bass fishing tournaments, help power pole because the bass fishermen, right away, they put two of them on there. Yes. Like, if one's good, two's better. How come we didn't think about that? Like, we were we were using them for years before the bass fisherman started to use them, and then immediately, they put two on. Mhmm.
Anthony Randazzo: And
Tom Rowland: it's like, well, we need two and two bigger ones.
Anthony Randazzo: Exactly.
Tom Rowland: And then now almost every boat I see has them.
Anthony Randazzo: It sounds right.
Tom Rowland: Really incredible because of, like, with the with the way that you you put the power pole down and you get blown. Right? And we were able to put the power pole down and then use the trolling motor and and kinda try to stay in the same place, but it's loud and all this. And then when we put two on there, it's like you're now you're just barely getting blown. And you're staying in the same attitude as well as, you know, in the same area.
Anthony Randazzo: Mhmm. But you
Tom Rowland: keep the boat in the same attitude, which is that was incredible. What what what do you think the second, if you were to pick a, you know, two or three things? The power pole
Anthony Randazzo: what else? GPS guided trolling motor.
Tom Rowland: GPS guided trolling motor. How do you use that? Like, what what will you do in your fishing? How will you use that?
Anthony Randazzo: When I'm fishing areas that I can't anchor with my power poles, I'm using the Yeah. The trolling motor to hold me in place. And it's like having a deckhand on board. You know? People people think, wow. That's an expensive trolling motor, but how much would it cost me to have a deckhand on my boat every single day to help me maintain boat position when I'm helping clients, you know, rig lines and unhook fish and everything that I do. So I've got more boat control in deep water having that GPS, guided trolling motor. And the remote control key fob is is, you know, clutch because I'm all over the boat, and I still have control of that trolling motor. My customers are up front fishing. I'm in the back doing my job. Everybody's happy. So that in itself has got to be the second first is because that that's, you know, spot lock on that trolling motor is not very effective in shallow water because it's gonna turn up the bottom. Mhmm. Whereas if I put the power poles down, I'm quiet. I'm stealthy. And I'm able to pursue the fish that I'm I'm targeting. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: That's what we found with the with the bay boat is and and learning from from coming up here mostly is that we had, you know, bay boats. And there were boats that were similar to bay boats in The Keys, but they were ineffective and nobody wanted them because they they couldn't control where they went. So you didn't have a a bay boat without a trolling motor and without a power pole. It's not that effective of a boat, like, compared to a to a polling skiff. Mhmm. Because now we can move this polling skiff wherever we wanna go. But now when you can do that with the with the bay boat, it's one thing to move it wherever you wanna go, but then to be able to stop it, that's the deadly combination that really changed everything for for how we fish the bay boat. Alright. Third thing.
Anthony Randazzo: You know, in in terms of the boat itself, the electronics that we use, you know, having the ability to store all of our fishing spots. Mhmm. And think about it, you know, back in the day, I had a flasher on my boat. Now I've got this high resolution 12 inch GPS where I can see so much information at a glance and, you know, navigate from a to b in the shortest possible distance, know that I'm navigating in safe waters because I I study the water when the the water's low and mark all the hazards that I can mark. And I I, you know, travel safe trails and, you know, it's just a huge tool that that makes a difference.
Tom Rowland: Plus, I mean, what we saw today is you got fog and you use radar up here probably as much as anybody in any bay boat uses radar. Crossing the Mississippi River has to be one of the most dangerous things to do on a clear day. Mhmm. Add to that I mean, we're talking about today. You said you said, see that little boat right there? It was co in a thousand feet of of dredge line yesterday in the fog. It was. That's scary, man.
Anthony Randazzo: Very much so. Because, you know, that stuff's really hard to see in the daylight much less in the fog. Mhmm.
Tom Rowland: And so you're using radar, certain times of the year every single day?
Anthony Randazzo: Yes. Our fog season generally begins around Halloween, and it it winds down right after Easter.
Tom Rowland: It's thick. It is thick. That's thick. You know, one of the things that when I'm I'm thinking, you know, those are your three things, the GPS, the trolling motor, the power pole. I was kinda thinking to myself, I wonder what mine would be. Because I asked this to to a lot of people. And that's kind of a a question that I ask a lot on the podcast. But one of the things that I think is, doesn't even have anything to do with what we do on the water, and that is, you know, the way that you can scout e scouting, like like, off the water. Yeah. Google Earth, you know, charts, aerial photos, even even forums Yeah. Where people are talking giving information out willingly. And you can you you don't even have to participate in the conversation. You can just read it. Right? And and, you know, I remember when we were first starting to have an aerial photo. I saw it today. It was where where was it?
Anthony Randazzo: Area on the wall. It's right
Tom Rowland: back there on the wall. That that that was that aerial photo map.
Anthony Randazzo: No doubt.
Tom Rowland: And it was it was, like, taken on a clear day, and it was beautiful. And we used to just covet that thing, like, oh my god. And write on it and draw on it and everything. I had two. I had that one and another one that I wrote all over. But just just the ability to have that on your phone or on your electronics or Google Earth at night and be, like, I think I'm gonna go to this area. I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna try this. And what are the things that I'm gonna how is this how is it changed from Google Earth to today? And how is it changed from this chart that I'm looking at to what I'm seeing on Google Earth? And, you know, are there things that I need to watch out for? The thing you know, that looks like this is where I caught fish before. And now all of a sudden, I'm like, oh, I see why I was catching fish there before. It's not what I thought. It's this there's obvious current coming through there, and you can see that it's deeper than the other areas around there. That's right. I just find that that that is a is a game changer of of of monumental proportions.
Anthony Randazzo: Yeah. That's what makes you a great angler. You you study the how and the why. Well, you try to.
Tom Rowland: Right. Sometimes you never know.
Anthony Randazzo: Exactly. But on my GPS, I run a dated map because I wanna see where the land used to be here. You
Tom Rowland: do that on purpose.
Anthony Randazzo: Oh, I do it on purpose. But I go home and study Google Earth because I wanna see what's around the corner from where I was today and and know if I can get there or not.
Tom Rowland: Interesting. Interesting. So just on a personal note, we're we're about out of time, and we're about out of light. So some of the questions that I've been asking people also is, if you have, do you have, nonnegotiables in a daily basis? When you wake up in the morning, do you have things that are nonnegotiable to you that you're gonna get done no matter what happens on that day? Does anything come to mind? In terms of In terms of anything.
Anthony Randazzo: Well, I mean, I'm I'm gonna, you know, absolutely give a 100% every day to every customer. Non negotiable. You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna work as hard as I can for for every customer and and make sure they're great. And, you know, back home, I'm gonna do my best job, be a great husband, great dad.
Tom Rowland: You are. You're good, dude, man. I've always enjoyed our our time together, and and, you're a good dude. You're you're
Anthony Randazzo: a good dad. I got
Tom Rowland: I was glad to meet your boys today. And I say meet your boys. I met your boys a long time ago, but, you know, when you haven't seen somebody in in fifteen years, they they're two men.
Anthony Randazzo: Without a doubt.
Tom Rowland: You know? They're two men, and I remember two boys. Yeah. So that's that's very cool.
Anthony Randazzo: I was glad to fish with your daughter. You know? I've seen pictures of her and never never do recall seeing her in person. I I know I've seen your mother your two boys and, you know, that's that's kinda connecting the dots, putting the puzzle together.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. The funny thing is is when we were out this morning talking to Billy, and we're and and I went in last night, and I was looking at all the trophies. And I'm looking and I'm like, 2005, man. That seems like seems like a long time ago. Like, thinking about the things that were going on then with my family in 2005. I had two little boys, two in in diapers, basically. And, now they're both grown. Hannah wasn't even, well, 2002, she was really, really a baby baby. And, and in other ways, it seems like it was like a like yesterday. And it also seems like it was a whole lifetime ago. Do you do you, I mean, I guess we all feel like that in certain ways about about your life, but it's just so such a weird time because that was such an intense period in our lives of of fishing those tournaments and and being in that super competitive thing. And then you had all the hurricanes and you had all this this that was like a it had to be like a in both in all of our lives and everything, that was like a a majorly intense period.
Anthony Randazzo: Absolutely. The I guess the the twist on it for me is I wanna forget hurricane Katrina. Yeah. You know? I remember all those tournaments and all the the good stuff that went along with it, but in the back of my mind, I try to forget hurricane Katrina and kinda block that out. So it it changes the double edged sword. It seems like a million years ago, and it seems like yesterday.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. Yeah. So what's the future hold for Anthony Randazzo and and Paradise Plus? We're just gonna keep doing what we're doing. And, you
Anthony Randazzo: know, they say if it's not broken, don't fix it. So we're just gonna keep polishing it and doing what we can to make it slightly better year by year and working hard and trying to make as many people who come through here leave with a smiling face and wanna come back again and tell their friends to come. Right.
Tom Rowland: Well, you got two two more two more smiling faces with us. What are we gonna do tomorrow?
Anthony Randazzo: We're gonna go back out there in a little bit different area. The wind's gonna, you know, blow pretty good tonight. Temperature's gonna cool down. Barometer's gonna go up. We're gonna go look for some bigger fish, you know, see see what Hannah can tackle in, the the bigger realm of red fishing.
Tom Rowland: She's ready, man. We throw lures. We we do what? We're gonna mix it up
Anthony Randazzo: with a little bit of everything.
Tom Rowland: K. Well, I like a little bit of everything. She needs a little bit of everything too. This is, like, it's a new kind of fishing for her. She hasn't she hasn't done this before. And and the Louisiana fishing is far different than the Florida fishing. I mean, we we do a lot of similar types of fishing, but you catch more fish here.
Anthony Randazzo: Thankfully. Yeah.
Tom Rowland: That's a move. Otherwise. Well, I'm looking forward to it. If anybody wants to come here, they wanna experience this for themselves, what do they do?
Anthony Randazzo: They can give us a shout. We've got a website. It's paradise-plus.com, and we've got, phone open pretty much all day every day. It's (504) 628-4526.
Tom Rowland: You can get one of those August days or the December days or the, or the February days with the Sleet. That's right. You did a great sales job on that. You're gonna have the phone is gonna be ringing off the hook for for those sleeting sleeting February days. I'm sure people are gonna be real excited about that. Alright, Anthony. Looking forward to, fishing tomorrow, and thanks also always for, your friendship and and being such a good host.
Anthony Randazzo: Thank you. You're awesome, man. See you. Take care.
Tom Rowland: Alright. That's it for today. Come back next week for another awesome guest, and we are out. See you.
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