Dr. Eric White, Darryl Elias III, Parker Elias, Dr. Darryl Elias Jr. (holding huge red snapper) and Marty Delaune are shown on the stern of the Megalodon, a 45-foot long Hatteras that left Cypremort Point at 9 a.m., May 23, motored to selected South Marsh Island blocks in the Gulf of America and returned at 4:30 the next day with an eight-man limit of red snapper, 23 mangrove snapper and five triggerfish. SUBMITTED

CYPREMORT POINT – A local boat christened the Megalodon, a colossal, prehistoric predatory shark, lived up to its name under a veteran crew of offshore fishermen enjoying its first red snapper trip of 2025.

The 45-foot long Hatteras left here around 9 a.m. and churned back from the Gulf of America in the wee hours the next morning with approximately 480 pounds of red snapper, 23 keeper-size mangrove snapper and five triggerfish. It’s what days like May 23 are made for in the grand scheme of life once the green light goes on for recreational red snapper fishing off Louisiana’s coast.

For Dr. Eric Elias, 47, of Lafayette, such offshore outings in the family’s big boat are more about camaraderie on the high seas these days than making bragging-sized fish hauls. The 19-year veteran OB/GYN born and raised in New Iberia grew up catching saltwater and freshwater species with his father, Dr. Darryl Elias Sr. of New Iberia, and brother, Dr. Darryl Elias Jr., who now lives in Lafayette.

All three were on board Megalodon that Friday along with Elias Jr.’s two sons, Darryl Elias III, a senior at LSU, and Parker Elias, and friends Jed Inzerella of Lafayette, and Marty Delaune and Dr. Eric White, both of New Iberia.

“Now it’s all about going for a boat ride. The boat’s just the centerpiece that brings everybody together. It’s like a magnet,” Eric Elias said.
Don’t get him wrong, though. He and everybody with more than a few decades of fishing under their belt remain “wide open” throttle about catching fish, gung-ho to drop their lines from a large assortment of offshore fishing rod and reel combinations.

The fish-catching crew was making its first red snapper trip since Louisiana’s recreational red snapper season opened May 1. Yes, Eric Elias confided, the outing still is worth the three-day stretch of getting the boat ready with his father and the family’s long-time friend, Marty Delaune, for one day of fishing in the Gulf of America.

It was a glorious day as the big boat gently rolled in 1- to 2-foot seas in the South Marsh Island field, specifically blocks 27, 288 and 16. They ranged no more than 40 miles offshore and caught fish in 60- to 100-foot depths.

Many of the red snapper were suspended in 30- to 50-foot depths but the experienced saltwater fishermen lured them higher in the water column by chumming heavily. The red snapper were plentiful wherever they stopped.

“We ended up catching a limit (four per angler) of red snapper,” Eric Elias said, noting the heaviest was a 24-pounder while the average weight was 15 pounds.

Getting their hands on mangrove snapper proved more challenging, according to the first full-time OB/GYN in St. Martin Parish.

“There are so many red snapper you’ve got to catch 20 red snapper to get one mangrove,” he said.

The red snapper “hotspot” was near SMI 27, where “a bunch of tank batteries” once were blown off an oil rig. There were red snapper on the structure itself, too, he said.

Eric White, a local veterinarian and an avid waterfowler, like all aboard, was the triggerfish expert, the “bait man,” as Eric Elias referred to him. He was amazed by White’s assortment of shrimp heads, shells and beaucoup Sailfin Mollie, what they refer to as “mollie shad.”

“I don’t know where he gets them,” Eric Elias said about the mollie shad. “He gets the triggerfish going in the back of the boat. That guy can fish. No doubt about  it.”
Eric Elias said he was troubled by only one thing he saw, or didn’t see, on his initial trip this year in the Gulf. He believes something is definitely wrong.

“No lemonfish to speak of. I talked to seven, eight people who went out” and also failed to catch or see a lemonfish (also known as ling and cobia), he said.

After hooking and catching red snapper, the Eliases drove Megalodon to Vermilion 149 to fish for mangrove snapper at night. That was the last stop.

“The boat was loaded up at 1 a.m. and 10-knotted back to the Point,” Eric Elias said, adding they arrived at Cypremort Point at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
Magalodon’s red snapper catch, approximately 480 pounds, soon will be added to the Red Snapper Landing Estimates.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ LA Creel count indicates 123,137 pounds, or 13.8 percent of Louisiana’s 2025 recreational red snapper allocation of 894,955 pounds, were harvested through May 18. The ’25 season remains open until recreational harvest approaches or reaches the allocation, according to a prepared statement released May 30.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.