Galveston fishing report 7-27-15

Galveston Fishing Charter Company

832-917-FISH(3474)

www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

www.fish-n-lodge.com

This week, the Reel Report will be coming from New England where I am on a fishing vacation. 

Today it is from Rockland, Maine, where the temperature is running from the mid-50s to mid-60s.

While surveying the fishing scene back in Galveston, I mentioned this to several of my contacts and was greeted with a “boo” as it still is sweltering back home.

Anglers had a break this past weekend with lighter winds, although still from a south to southwest direction. Most of the action reported came from offshore boats, and from their reports, action is hot and heavy on pelagic fish.

Ronald Kennedy called in his report from a trip 45 miles south of the jetties on Saturday. Fishing with his wife Sandy and father-in-law, George Williams, they found lots of kings, Spanish mackerel, bonito and a few ling around several rigs. Platform 352 was the best producer and gave up a number of red snapper and spadefish to their drift baits.

After releasing most of the fish, they retained six kings, four Spanish mackerel and a 38-inch ling. 

Last week David Shinn and Chuck Combs fished the deeper waters around Sylvan Beach in upper Galveston Bay. They found a lot of shad working at daybreak and the action came fast on live shrimp fished under popping corks. Their catch included black drum to 45 pounds, croakers, red fish and an aggressive ladyfish. Reds in the 3- to 7-pound range were the only fish retained.

The party boat Capt. John made a couple of trips last week, one to the Heald Bank area and the other to the old Buccaneer Field.

The Heald Bank trip produced limits of red snapper, along with a shark, kings to 24 pounds and a 23-pound ling.

The Buccaneer Field trip also included limits of red snapper along with lane snapper, spade fish, kings, sharks and a Warsaw grouper.

Galveston Fishing Report 7-10-15

Galveston Fishing Charter Company

832-917-FISH(3474)

www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

A gentle to moderate southeast breeze prevailed over the Galveston area Friday and conditions were beginning to bounce back.

Early Friday there were not many fishermen on the water, and that was confirmed when I called the bait camp to check on live shrimp inventories at 6:15 a.m. I was told that there were plenty of shrimp; however, business had been slow up until then.

Polly and I hit the water immediately, loaded up on live shrimp and headed off to check several areas for action.

We spent almost eight hours on the water fishing the Bolivar surf and both jetties. Our first stop was my favorite spot on the channel side of the North Jetty where the water still was not in good shape. 

So, instead of spending time there, we moved to the Gulf side and fished the rock pile. The water was in good shape, but instead of limiting out on trout like a couple of weeks ago, only a few bait snatchers and a small black drum were the extent of the action.

Then we were on to the surf, where the water was in excellent shape and full of 14-inch trout. After about an hour we decided to halt the attack on the small trout and headed to the South Jetty Gulf side. The water was off-color and in my opinion, just not worth spending time there.

Around 11 a.m. we checked the North Jetty Channel side and found the water much improved from early morning with a light outgoing tide moving. We anchored at our spot close to the boat cut, and bingo, the action turned on.

Trout, reds, lots of small jack crevalle, lady fish, sheepshead, black drum and stingrays kept us hopping until the bait was gone.

It was a great day on the water, especially beginning around noon.

Galveston fishing report 7-7-15

Galveston fishing charter company

832-917-FISH(3474)

www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

There was not much to report in the way of catches on Tuesday. The whole Galveston Bay Complex continues to suffer from moderate to strong southwest winds; however, that might be changing soon.

One question regarding that dastardly southwest wind came from Tommy Phillips of Rockwall who is spending this week vacationing here with his family. Phillips has been virtually shut down as far as fishing goes this week and asked how long it takes for conditions to improve once there is a wind shift to a more favorable direction.

The answer to that question is determined by how strong the wind is and from what direction. Let’s use the upcoming forecast as our example. A wind shift to the southeast is forecasted at volumes that progressively decrease from 10 to 15 knots down to light levels. With a few tide changes, water clarity should improve quickly, meaning within a day or two.

Light and variable winds also contribute to a quick clean-up of off-color waters.

Offshore anglers will welcome this forecast, as seas should be running at levels tolerable for the Mosquito Fleet to make offshore trips.

Night fishing continues to be the better choice for catching fish lately and there were a couple of good reports on Tuesday.

Eleven year-old Will Clore fished from a lighted dock on Offatts Bayou and landed a 19-inch trout along with several undersized trout, a redfish and a ribbonfish. Live shrimp was his choice for bait.

Fred Moore fished from his boat which was docked at the yacht basin Monday night and caught a variety of fish using dead shrimp for bait. Among his catch were sand trout, gafftop, pinfish and a stingray.