Air Temp: 82-92
Water Temp: 86
Depth: 6-32 feet
Winds: Calm to 15 mph
Seas: 1-3 feet
Bait: live shrimp and live croakers
I am very blessed to have a family and especially a daughter that enjoys saltwater fishing. The rest of the family had other commitments this weekend, so my daughter and I watched the weather closely at the end of the week as tropical storm Don approached the Texas coast. With mixed emotions knowing how much we need the rain in Texas, I was hoping the storm would at least stay south of Galveston to give us an opportunity for this fishing trip. Even though the conditions would not be ideal on our first day, we still decided to make the trip from Austin to Galveston early Saturday morning because the best time to fish is "when you can". We've had a busy spring and summer and have not been to the coast for several months.
After about 4.5 hours of driving, we arrived at the Galveston Yacht Basin around 9:30 AM on Saturday and made the short trek out to the North Jetty to check out the water conditions. The channel side was too rough and the Gulf side looked a little better so we went through the boat cut and anchored near the sunken barge. After about an hour with only two small croakers and bouncing around due to the 3-4 foot seas, we decided to make a move back into the ship channel near the concrete ship. That was a good move. My daughter had a blast catching croakers, whiting, several large sand trout, piggy perch, a large gafftop (7+ pounds) that took about an 8 inch croaker and two bull reds. I managed a few sand trout on artificials between baiting and releasing fish for my daughter. I baited two of the larger reels with the live croaker she caught and it wasn't long before we had an Okuma reel singing. A few minutes later she landed the first 20 pound bull red for the day. The 2nd and final bull red for the day was a 44" that came in at 28 pounds and beat my daughter's personal best by 3 pounds.
We started Sunday very early leaving the hotel at 5:00 AM and launched at the Yacht Basin in the dark about 6:00 AM. The wind was much calmer on Sunday with seas around 1-2 feet on the Gulf side of the North Jetty and a little rougher on the channel side for the first few hours until it really started to calm down. We first tried the North Jetty on the Gulf side with only a few whiting after about one hour. We also tried to attrack some sharks, but never had success. We then moved to the South Jetty and it was a good move. We anchored on the channel side of the South Jetty close to the lighthouse foundation within about 50 feet of the rocks to give plenty of room to cast in all directions along the rocks. After about 30 minutes we noticed the mullet that had been cruising around became nervous and that's when the action started. Using live shrimp freelined and fished under a popping cork, we landed and released 8 speckled trout that ranged from 16-22 and one puppy drum in about 45 minutes then the action shut off as fast as it started. We then made the move back to the concrete ship with more fun on croakers, whiting and healthy sized sand trout. My daughter caught 54 fish on Sunday for a total of 119 fish for the weekend. She likes catching fish and is not concerned about the kind or size which is great this time of year.
It was a great trip and one we will both remember for a long time.
After about 4.5 hours of driving, we arrived at the Galveston Yacht Basin around 9:30 AM on Saturday and made the short trek out to the North Jetty to check out the water conditions. The channel side was too rough and the Gulf side looked a little better so we went through the boat cut and anchored near the sunken barge. After about an hour with only two small croakers and bouncing around due to the 3-4 foot seas, we decided to make a move back into the ship channel near the concrete ship. That was a good move. My daughter had a blast catching croakers, whiting, several large sand trout, piggy perch, a large gafftop (7+ pounds) that took about an 8 inch croaker and two bull reds. I managed a few sand trout on artificials between baiting and releasing fish for my daughter. I baited two of the larger reels with the live croaker she caught and it wasn't long before we had an Okuma reel singing. A few minutes later she landed the first 20 pound bull red for the day. The 2nd and final bull red for the day was a 44" that came in at 28 pounds and beat my daughter's personal best by 3 pounds.
We started Sunday very early leaving the hotel at 5:00 AM and launched at the Yacht Basin in the dark about 6:00 AM. The wind was much calmer on Sunday with seas around 1-2 feet on the Gulf side of the North Jetty and a little rougher on the channel side for the first few hours until it really started to calm down. We first tried the North Jetty on the Gulf side with only a few whiting after about one hour. We also tried to attrack some sharks, but never had success. We then moved to the South Jetty and it was a good move. We anchored on the channel side of the South Jetty close to the lighthouse foundation within about 50 feet of the rocks to give plenty of room to cast in all directions along the rocks. After about 30 minutes we noticed the mullet that had been cruising around became nervous and that's when the action started. Using live shrimp freelined and fished under a popping cork, we landed and released 8 speckled trout that ranged from 16-22 and one puppy drum in about 45 minutes then the action shut off as fast as it started. We then made the move back to the concrete ship with more fun on croakers, whiting and healthy sized sand trout. My daughter caught 54 fish on Sunday for a total of 119 fish for the weekend. She likes catching fish and is not concerned about the kind or size which is great this time of year.
It was a great trip and one we will both remember for a long time.
Sunday morning headed to the jetty before sunrise.
