Galveston fishing report

Galveston Fishing Charter Company

832-917-FISH(3474)

www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

Today, winter officially begins and with it is nail-biting time for coastal anglers. We are in the time of year when our fish-killing freezes occur, and from now until Valentine’s Day is the period to be most concerned about such catastrophic events.

The worst event of this nature in recent memory took place in December of 1983, with other major fish-killing freezes taking place in December of 1989 and 1996.

So far this century, we have dodged a major freeze along the coast although freezing temperatures reached the Galveston area twice since 2000.

This concern prompted me to visit with Stan Blazyk, the weather columnist with the Daily News, about what the near-term forecasts predict.

When we first visited about the prospects of a hard freeze in our area at least one of the models he uses forecasted a coastal freeze between Christmas and New Year’s Day and another in early 2015.

Since then the forecasts have changed to the better, and while cold weather may be on the way, it appears that a hard freeze is not likely for the next couple of weeks.

The long-term forecasts call for a wetter and colder winter during 2015.

The next six to eight weeks are going to be the time when our exposure is the greatest.

During the most severe freeze in 1983, there were several factors contributing to the heavy mortality of trout. Probably the biggest was that the fish were still in shallower waters and had not had time to acclimate themselves to winter. The sudden drop in temperatures of more than 40 degrees occurred overnight, and the freezing conditions lasted several days.

During the freeze events of this century, cold conditions preceded the freeze, and trout and other fish had sought refuge in deeper waters.

We all will keep our fingers crossed for the next few weeks in hopes of avoiding any significant freezes.