Date: Saturday, March 21 and Sunday, March 22, 2009
Location: Galveston North Jetty
Air Temp: 72-74
Water Temp: 69
Depth: 32 feet
Winds: E 10-15 mph on Saturday and ESE 10-20 mph on Sunday
Seas: Saturday was choppy and Sunday was extra choppy
Bait: live blue crabs (cracked)
Talk about some Reel Fun. This weekend was a great trip with the family. The kids were on spring break, and it had been a while since we were able to make a family trip to the coast. I am very fortunate to have a wife and two kiddos that really enjoy saltwater fishing. It was a perfect opportunity to spend some time together as a family and enjoy the great outdoors. As usual, we had great fun on the water and enjoyed some excellent seafood at our usual spot on Galveston Island - Gaido's. We were glad to see the progress made on the island since Hurricane Ike made such a mess of things last September.
We hooked 15 big drum and landed and released 11 black drum ranging from 18 to 34 pounds and 1 bonus red drum at 25 pounds with a total weight of 295 pounds. Most of the fish were caught during the tidal movement which has proven to be key to get the bite started for these big fish. This was the first time I had taken the family fishing for the big black drum (aka: "big uglies"). These fish migrate from the deep waters of the Gulf in February and March to spawn near the bays which makes the jetties in Galveston a prime spot. We primarily fished about two miles from the beach front and about 300 yards from the rock jetty that extends about 5 miles into the bay and Gulf.
You can never make any promises when it comes to fishing, but on the drive to Galveston I told the family we had a good shot at catching at least a few fish around 20 pounds. Well, as you can see from the pictures, our trip was a success. Watching the kids and my wife fight one huge fish after another for up to 15 minutes per fish was some good fun. At one point, I stood on the front of the boat and watched while we had a triple hook-up. It was priceless to watch both kids and my wife do the "fire drill" around each other to keep lines from becoming tangled. This was a great overall trip and will be tough to beat in the future.
After several big ones, my daughter was ready to try catching a smaller fish, so we rigged her up with a lightweight rod/reel with only 12 pound test line and shrimp for bait instead of the crab. That plan worked for a while because she caught a few catfish, but eventually, a 32 pound black drum was on the end of her 12 pound line. It was definitely some "rod bending, drag screaming action". She fought the fish like a pro using lightweight tackle and about 15 minutes later we were taking a picture of her beautiful Big Ugly.
We also had a bonus 25 pound healthy red drum (aka: redfish or bull red) that my son tangled with for about 10 minutes. We could tell by the movement and fight that it was likely not a black drum, so I was guessing a redfish or maybe even a small shark. The redfish also liked the crab we were using for bait.
This was a great overall trip with the family. I think they had as much fun as I did. I'm already looking forward to another family trip.
