Galveston fishing report

Galveston fishing charter company

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August is ending on a sour note as far as fishing is concerned.

While there will be a few more weeks of warm weather, our summertime fishing patterns are beginning to wind down.

With the lack of fishing reports Saturday, let’s take a look at how this summer has been so far on the fishing scene.

If you ask anglers about their results this summer, the answer would vary greatly between the offshore fisherman and his inshore counterpart.

The summer of 2014 was excellent for offshore fishing. Both near shore (up to 12 miles out) and the typical offshore (beyond 12 miles) anglers had mostly outstanding fishing.

There have been a good crop of king mackerel along with numerous ling taken from both stretches of water.

Recreational red snapper fishing was almost nonexistent for private boats as the shortest season so far was imposed.

The prolific action on kings and other offshore fish should continue until the first cool front crosses the Texas Coast, normally by mid-September.

On the inshore scene, the word was seaweed. Heavy masses of seaweed hindered wade fishermen in the surf and those fishing off the piers and rock groins.

Trout action overall was quite disappointing. While some nice trout were caught, the overall numbers were down from earlier years. Reds and other fish took up the slack, however.

Most of the summer, drought conditions prevailed, which caused salinity levels in the bays to increase and no doubt that was one factor contributing to poorer trout fishing.

Speckled trout are one of the more sensitive fish to water temperature and salinity levels.

In recent years, there have been increasing numbers of mangrove snapper caught inshore; however, fishing reports this summer did not reflect a continuation of that trend.

Most other fish including black drum, sheepshead, Spanish mackerel and red fish held their own. Crabbing had one of its better summers recently.

Galveston fishing report

Galveston fishing charter company

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Bull red time is approaching, and it won’t be long before the first major run of reds in the surf takes place.

Beginning in early September, reds start making their way to the surf and jetties where they stack up in anticipation of their annual spawn.

Several key elements send signals to the big fish that it is time to spawn. Shorter periods of sunlight resulting in shorter days, a drop in water temperature and weather conditions like those that have settled on the Texas Coast this week combine to say it is time to spawn.

While the spawn is not continuous, it lasts well past October and is activated by rough weather that creates a choppy to rough surf. During late September and October, I have been on the beach front fishing piers and at times observed almost every angler battling a big red.

Before Hurricane Ike closed the Flagship Fishing Pier, there were times when there were so many tangled fishing lines in the water caused by the big fish weaving through them that fishing came close to a standstill.

The same situation likely occurs today at the two remaining piers, the 61st Street Fishing Pier and the Galveston Fishing Pier.

Before 1980 — before size limits were placed on reds — there were occasions when piles of bull reds could be observed on the fishing piers as anglers took as many as they could handle during some of the massive runs.

Today, red fish longer than 28 inches are catch-and-release, with the exception of one fish longer than 28 inches allowed with a special tag attached to it that is included with Texas fishing licenses.

The big fish are exciting to catch and need to be handled carefully and released as quickly as possible.

The disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico that has been dominating our weather lately just might trigger our first big run.

Galveston fishing report

Galveston fishing charter company

832-917-FISH(3474)

www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

This weekend winds up the CCA-Texas Star Fishing Tournament with the final bell sounding Monday. Likely the most popular category in the annual event is the tagged red fish competition.
Actually, it is not a competitive race. If you catch a tagged red and are registered in the tournament at the time and pass examination, you win.

So far, only 12 tagged reds have been caught with three winners, one pending and eight that were not qualified. The reasons for the eight not being qualified ranged from the angler not being registered at the time for the tournament to failing a polygraph examination.

While the forecast for the remaining days of the tournament does not look good overall, conditions do not look bad for catching reds. Fortunately, red drum are not turned off by stormy weather, and some of the better redfish catches have taken place during storm tides, both in the surf and back bays.

The outlook for the big Labor Day weekend will be determined by the effects of the tropical event in the Gulf of Mexico. One bright note to the fishing and crabbing is that there have been some excellent catches of nice large blue crabs during the past few days.

Crabbers with lines in the water near the 61st Street boat ramp were catching some of the largest crabs I have seen recently. Additionally, rock crabs were around the rocks, and several crabbers had a few good-sized claws in with their live blue crabs.

Stone crabs tend to become more plentiful beginning in late summer and only the right claw measuring at least two and one-half inches may be taken. Once the right claw is removed, the crab must be immediately returned to the water. There are no possession limits for either stone crab claws or whole blue crabs.

Galveston fishing report

Galveston fishing charter company

832-917-FISH(3474)

www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

Fishing continues to be on the slow to nonexistent side as moderate to strong easterly winds combined with stormy weather controlled the picture Wednesday. It appears that the wind will start subsiding this weekend; however, rain chances remain strong.

Hopefully, there will be acceleration in the movement of the low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico that is causing all of the unsettled weather.

Anglers have been concerned over the erratic trout action this summer and what is causing it. At this point we can only theorize as to the cause; however Jose Aceves Jr.’s report might give a clue as to what is happening.

Aceves and other fishermen have reported some excellent nighttime action on specks resembling daytime reports we are accustomed to receiving this time of year. It could be that there has been a shift to night feeding this year and, looking at the tidal movements and strengths during the past several weeks, night feeding could be the answer.

Aceves and friends Jesse Lopez and Robert Martinez fished two consecutive Friday nights and each time found nonstop action on trout between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. The action took place in East Bay off Bolivar, with the anglers using soft plastics and live shrimp for bait.

While other fish such as reds, black drum, stingrays and whiting were caught, a flurry of action on trout took place early in the morning hours with full limits of trout taken. On both occasions, the anglers left the area with the fish still biting.

Aceves’ report came from last weekend; however, several reports from earlier in the month told of similar action not only in East Bay but from around piers and docks where either overhead or underwater lights were used to attract the fish.

And a reminder to everyone, most Texas fishing licenses expire at the end of this month.

Galveston fishing report

Galveston fishing charter company

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www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

Not much took place on the fishing scene Tuesday as several factors came together to keep anglers off the water. The beginning of the school year did as much to keep anglers away as anything, and the unfavorable weather forecast added another reason.

A low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico is forecast to dominate fishing conditions during the next few days; however, once that passes, anglers should see a return to our more normal weather pattern for this time of year.

A steady northeast breeze prevailed Tuesday with no threatening weather for most of the day. It would have been a good day to have given the jetties a try as well as some of the deeper reefs and shell pads in East Bay.

Expect to see higher-than-normal water levels through the early part of the weekend. When the east wind blows, even at light to moderate levels, Gulf waters are pushed into the bays and tend to ignite some good action on reds.

Historically, Labor Day weekend signals the beginning of some good action on reds in the surf and around the jetties. Higher water levels in the back bays and marshes also attract reds to new feeding grounds. Reds likely would be a good choice to focus upon while we are dealing this unsettled weather pattern.

Galveston fishing report

Galveston fishing charter company

832-917-FISH(3474)

www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

The forecast for the next several days has changed, and what appeared to be some excellent conditions for fishing are turning into stormy weather with easterly winds taking control.

The good news is that the rain in the forecast should do lots of good for fishing after conditions settle.

Sunday, Polly and I headed offshore with light winds and little chance of rain. Our plan was to fish weed lines and patches 30 to 50 miles east-southeast of the jetties. Considering all of the seaweed infestation on the beaches this year, there was little doubt that there would be some well-defined weed lines and good concentrations, especially with the light winds Sunday.

Unfortunately, the only weed build-ups were in small scattered patches that were not large enough to hold fish. What a disappointment. We did get into action on kings, large hardheads, sharks and spadefish while drift fishing several wells and platforms 40 to 45 miles out.

The party boat Capt. John was about the only other recreational fishing boat we saw that far out.

In their report Monday, Patrick Lemire noted that they fished 40 miles east of the island where their 76 guests landed 771 Atlantic spadefish, 40 bonnethead sharks, three black drum, two kings and a Spanish mackerel.

If anyone is interested in the tasty spadefish, they appeared to be thick around many of the wells and platforms to the east of the jetties.

The beach front was getting primed for some good fishing and still may be a good bet over the next few days.

Richard Belleau’s early morning report from the 61st Street Fishing Pier indicated a wider variety of fish being caught Sunday and during the early hours Monday. Whiting, gafftop, croaker, sand trout, blacktip sharks, bull reds, black drum and pompano all were being brought over the rails.

Galveston fishing report

Galveston fishing charter company

832-917-FISH(3474)

www.galvestonfishingchartercompany.com

The recent illustration depicting how to hook live bait has drawn several comments and questions regarding live bait and keeping it alive during the warm summer months.

Carey Helton sent a note saying that it seems impossible for him to keep bait alive for more than a couple of hours before the shrimp start turning pink and settling on the bottom.

Jerry Hescock called in and complimented the illustration, saying that at least half of his problem with live shrimp would be solved, the other half, keeping it alive, remains an issue.

Helton uses an ice chest with a 12-volt aerator, while Hescock uses a conventional live bait bucket suspended in the water for his shrimp.

The key to keeping live bait is to have cool, well-aerated and clean water.

For Hescock, the only recommendation I can make for his type of bait container is to not overload it, keep it out of the sun and in the water.

Those type of bait buckets are designed for wade fishermen and not for boaters who have to pick up and move often.

Also, the bucket remains near the surface where the water temperature is the hottest.

Now, for Helton’s situation, there are ways to maintain longer life for live bait using bait wells such as an igloo or other large, insulated and aerated container.

No more than a quart of shrimp should be placed in the typical 48-quart ice chest.

The aerator must be continuously working, and the water should be changed often.

By changed I do not mean the container emptied and refilled, but rather take out a gallon or so and replenish with clean salt water.

This should take place at least twice an hour and more frequently during midday.

A frozen ice pack such as Blue Ice will do wonders to keep the water cool and will not add melted fresh water.