Preparation key to Avanzino’s success

• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate Outdoors writer
• Published: May 15, 2008 - Page: 10C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Scott Avanzino likes to sing, though most of his friends prefer he does his best “O Solo Mio” in the shower — when they’re not around.

OK, so Avanzino’s no Pavarotti — who is? — but he’s not bad when he breaks into his best aria, you know, the one about the fisherman who catches all the big fish.

He knows those lyrics well and the melody is easy. After all, he sang it lots of times last year and was working on perfecting a second and third stanza earlier this year when he got into big wahoo and a guided Baton Rouge angler Carlos Padial to his first encounter with a bluewater prize, a mako shark.

The song the longtime charter skipper is singing in the first days of May is a familiar one, too.

It’s heavy into percussion instruments like drums emulating the sound of thunder and cymbals the crash of lightning. Add the strings for the ominous sound of the wind.

It seems like every other year, Louisiana’s offshore fleet has to endure this kind of windy, rainy and a bit on the chilly side of a spring.

Avanzino takes advantage of the not-so-good days to get ready for a summer on the water.

“I was in the engine room this morning (Wednesday) at 7:30 and we have already canceled a trip for tomorrow and I’ll be right back in there,” Avanzino said. “I use these times to work on the boat, work on rods and reels and spend time in preparation.

“Believe it or not, 90 percent of my business is preparation and 10 percent is luck,” he said. “Instead of sitting on the couch, eating ice cream and complaining about the wind, I’m crossing off things on that 20 lines long list that’ll keep me fishing when things get right.”

He thought one of those “right” days was Saturday.

“It turned out to be a real fish story,” Avanzino said Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve fished here for 17 years and this fish was the only fish that ever got the better of me. Pretty sure it was a bluefin (tuna).”

Avanzino said the time he spent rebuilding reels paid off Saturday.

“The fish hit and he took 850 yards of 80-pound line in three minutes, so I spun the boat back and we were able to pick up about 150 feet of line. We were in 2,200 feet of water and got over the fish,” he said.