August Kingfish

Left in 2-3 foot seas, Got worse for a bit then laid down to about 1 foot. Went out to A-28 artificial reef. About 56 miles out. Missed a good Dolphin trolling and had a Kingfish cut in half by something. Lee A. caught a large Kingfish. We also got some small dolphin under floating debris with light tackle. Jigging lost one heavy fish over reef. One snapper for sushi lunch. Saw some Bermuda Chubs and played with those for a few minutes. Had 3 small shark during day. Caught a few small red snapper which were released, a vermillion snapper, some bar jack, the 2 Dorado mentioned above and 3.5 Kingfish. Had a good time. Out for about 14 hours. Trip out a bit bouncy at 18-20mph. Trip in smooth at 30mph.

August 2 out of Freeport

Lee A, Chris and I went out with Steve and Frank. We had a great time. Went out to the rig just past the last rig we went to last time. Guess mileage to be 40 miles or a little more. A little rough (3 foot seas) on the way out but very doable. Went to the furthest point in order to work back. Took about 3 hours or so. During the day it seemed to come down while offshore but very rough near the jetties on the return. Caught very good size snapper on jigs. Also caught a ling and two king mackerel. A third king was bitten in half on the way in. A barracuda followed in and worked over the remains as we watched. Had a good trip. Used the bleach bottle to tie off. Seems to work well. No problem on the boat ramp with the new truck. Easy in and out.

July 19th Out of Freeport

Had rain and thunder on the way to Freeport. Stopped at Buckee’s and at Mitchell’s. (No ice at Buckee’s) Went out from Community House Boat Ramp. Out about 36 miles. Seas 1-2 but confused. Better in afternoon. Caught a number of smaller snapper at the rig we finished at last week. No keepers. We did get one ~ 22 inch bluefish. We were going to explore the same wreck but someone was sitting on it so we went to “red mountain”. We caught a number of snapper and used the float to maintain position. All snapper were undersized. The Dolphin came over and investigated. They ate some of the released snapper. Then we went to the closest rig. This was our furthest point out. We caught six keeper snapper and 5 trigger fish. There were 3 ling at the rig but they could not be enticed. They did eat a small released snapper. On return to the ramp the vehicle just barely and with help from bystanders got the boat out. The return to Galveston was uneventful.

Freeport Trip

Went out of Freeport 7/11. Lee A. and I left home at 3, picked up the boat at 4 and were in Freeport at 5. At the Freeport bait shop we met Steve and Frank and headed out expecting 2-3 foot seas. Instead the seas were more like 3-5. Went out into rough seas and fished some in close rigs with mixed results. By noon the waves had laid down and it was great. We rig hopped and between us caught our limits of snapper, three shark, a dozen small Dorado, a large Kingfish and one juvenile, a small ling, a Spanish Mackeral, a Spadefish, a Trigger fish, a Baracuda and some Blue Runner. The Dolphin were at one wreck site and were at and under the boat for a while. They were beautiful. Returning to the bait camp we discovered that the trailer ramp at this bait camp is poor. The trailer drops off into a hole so it is grounded out when the boat is loaded. Very difficult. We will need to find an alternative. We headed back home and arrived at about 7:30. A long day but great fishing. Thanks Steve and Frank for showing us how it is done. A great learning experience.

June 26th Activity Synopsis over past few months

6/17/2008. Barbara's technique is to read while fishing because the popper really doesn't need to be popped.

6/16 Three keepers

6/1 caught several sheephead and three flounder as well as a number of sand trout

Trout caught 5/3 at Jetties (Got very rough just minutes later)

OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITY

3/9 - 5/17







We went fishing multiple time periods to the jetties with minimal luck. On all occasions best fish was a 22 inch trout (our only one). Went out on some rough days and some calm but not much going on there anyways. For the first few trips we used crabs then we switched over to shrimp and shad.

5/18

Went to campbells and fished for about an hour, caught 1 hardhead some croaker and a ray. We then left for bird island, not much happening there so we went to the cut across the way sat off the point and caught 33 sandtrout and a gafftop18 inch sheepshead.

5/24

Went to the cut across from bird island and caught 100 sand trout along with 1 gaphtop.

5/25

Went to cut again caught 45 sand trout and 3 undersized specs.

5/26

Went out to the cut and caught 2 keeper reds along with 3 small ones, 1 keeper flounder, 20 sandtrout, and some undersised sheeps head.

5/31

Went to cut caught 125 sandtrout and one 18 inch speck, ran out of bait so we went back in to get more and head out to the jetties. Got there, anchored and insantly picked up two blacktips.

6/1

Went to cut and caught a good speck, 3 flounder, and some small reds.

6/8

Went to cut caught some sandtrout, 2 flounder, 6 sheepshead, and a few undersised reds.

6/16

Went to campbells and picked up about 20 small specks and two keepers, ran over to cut and caught 1 keeper speck and a bunch of sheepshead.

6/17

Went to campbells and pcked up one 23 inch trout. Went to cut and caught 8 sandtrout and one flounder

6/18

Went to cut and caught 30 or so sandtrout, one ladyfish, and one undersised trout.

Sunday April 6 and Tuesday April 8

The boat (Glacier Bay) has been out of commission for two weekends. There are some minor repairs that need to be done and it just takes time. We have gone through mild boat withdrawal. However there are more ways to fish and we have been trying them out. Lee A. and I went out on Horspen Bayou with the Kayaks on Sunday. I took a flyrod and caught six small 6-9 inch bass. I also caught one bass that was roughly 12-14 inches and lost another the same size. I also managed to hook and lose a huge bass that I am unable to accurately size. It was very large. Unfortunately as with the other foot long bass he came up and vigerously shook his head and the lure was flung free. I am wondering how to prevent or minimize this. I was pretty careful not to allow slack. I guess the fly must be poorly imbedded in the larger fish. Any suggestions are welcome.

In addition Lee A. has been going down to the Bayou to fish on the bank. He has caught several catfish and surprisingly two really nice redfish. He designed a fishing bucket for rod holders and carries a cast net so he is never out of bait.

February 29 Off North Jetty

I had last been out February 8 with Dr. Mark Redd hoping to catch some drum. Unfortunately we didn't get a bite. This mirrored two earlier January trips. I was told the water was too cold and few fish were being caught but some of the Galveston pros were taking fish during that period. I spoke with a few who were using shrimp off the rock and doing well.

My son Lee and his friend Louis went out with me on the 29th. The weather was good. Very little wind and no precipitation. We were out from about 10AM to 1 PM. The water temp was in the low 60s and it was midtide. At the end of our fishing time and just prior to our departure a fog bank came in bringing visibility to a 100 feet or so. I was glad to have radar on the return trip.

We went about 3/4 of the way down the north jetty in about 28 feet of water and sat off the jetty about 60 feet. We put out squid and crabs on circle hooks and used a flounder rig with squid to see what else might be available. The only fish caught on the squid were the always present hard head. During our time out there we had five good strikes and boated 4 drum. The largest was just shy of 34 pounds. Everyone had a good time. Hope you are also enjoying the great fishing available in the area.