Alan C. and Allan B. joined me for a trip to Galveston for some action on the lightweight tackle for a change. We had a great time and caught a large variety of fish. Our catch included black drum, red fish, trout, sheepshead, Spanish Mackerel and pompano. All of these fish were caught on light tackle with shrimp fished in several ways: free lined, under a popping cork and Carolina-rigged.
Our best success came in about 24 feet of water on the Gulf side of the South Jetty. The water at the jetty was about 85 degrees and in great shape. We also picked up one trout in about 5 feet of water near the Sante Fe railroad bridge. We tried the boat cut at the North Jetty with no luck.
We couldn't resist putting some bait out on a couple of large reels and had some great fights but no fish for pictures. A small 7 inch baitfish literally jumped in the boat, so I rigged him up on large spinning reel with 30 pound mono. After a short time, something very large doubled the rod over and started pulling line like crazy. I had a short fight and could see the fish was headed for the jetty rocks, but I wasn't able to turn him around. The sharp rocks frayed the mono line despite having a 3 foot leader of 80# nylon coated wire. After this fight and lost fish, I am considering upgrading my reels with heavier mono and longer wire leaders for the next trip.
Allan Bantay also lost two fish with at least 150 yards of 80# braided line singing off his Shimano reel before the fish broke the line. It was fun to watch the fight even if we never did get to see the fish (or was it a 100 pound sting ray). I guess we'll never know for sure.
It was a great trip with lots of fun! I'm looking forward to another trip with these guys.
