Location: Galveston - North Jetty
Air Temp: 80-88
Water Temp: 82
Depth: 20-30 feet
Winds: 5-20 mph
Air Temp: 80-88
Water Temp: 82
Depth: 20-30 feet
Winds: 5-20 mph
Seas: 1-3 feet and choppy
Bait: live shrimp
My buddy Alan and I made the trip from Austin early on Friday morning and knew that Friday would be our best weather day. We arrived at the Yacht Basin around 9:30 AM, picked up some live shrimp and headed to the boat cut at the North Jetty. The wind started out from the North which made for a bumpy ride to the jetty but created calm conditions once we made it to the leeward side of the rocks on the channel side.
We fished close to the rocks for about 30 minutes near the boat cut and only had one exciting bite. I was almost spooled by something (shark, jack??) on a small bait casting reel when suddenly the line went slack. I thought the fish cut me off but discovered the 5/0 circle hook had been straightened. I had used the same leader and hook back in the spring and must have weakend the hook when removing some sheepshead back in April. It was my last VMC hook because I typically use the much stronger Gamakatsu 7/0 and 8/0 circle hooks for black drum and redfish.
We then moved out to the rocks near the orange weather station on the channel side for the remaining outgoing tide. We had a blast catching 10 slot redfish, 2 bull reds and lost 4-5 in the rocks. We were in about 22 feet of water and Alan figured out the redfish were suspended above the rocks in about 10 feet of water. This was also evident on the fish finder which showed the fish suspended and not on the bottom. We used the typical Carolina rig with 12-24 inches of nylon coated wire and about 1/2 ounce sinker to get the live shrimp down to about 10 feet in the strong outgoing tide. We had several double hookups and considered making some room in the cooler for a few fish, but decided to release them.
The wind was too strong on Saturday to make it to the jetty. We made it about half way and I decided not to chance it in my small boat. We fished the Pelican Island bridge and the causeway bridge with only a few sand trout for our efforts which was still fun. It was great to be back on the water again and I'm hoping for at least one more saltwater trip in October or November.
