Location: Galveston North Jetty
Air Temp: 80-88
Water Temp: 82
Depth: 10-28 feet
Water Clarity: stained
Winds: 15+ mph
Bait: live shrimp and live caught bait fish
My daughter and I made a trip to Galveston for what used to be an annual Daddy/Daughter trip that has now turned into a 2-3 times per year trip. My daughter really loves to fish and she's not picky, so we usually target one or two species based on the time of year and then we hit it hard for two days and just have fun. She thinks it's about the fishing and I just take advantage of spending some good, quality time with her. Well, the weatherman had predicted some lighter winds later in the Memorial Day weekend but that's not exactly what we found when we made the trip from Austin and made it to the island on Sunday and Monday. When we left the Yacht Basin and turned the corner near the Coast Guard station on Sunday around 10:00 am, I could tell that the jetty fishing would likely be limited. We first tried the South Jetty and the Gulf side was not fishable and the channel side was almost as rough with poor water clarity too. We then moved to the North Jetty and it was too rough to go around the end, so I moved back down to the boat cut and made our way out to the end on the Gulf side. The water was in decent shape and we caught small sharks and croakers. I must have anchored too close to the rocks near the end of the North Jetty and lost my fairly new anchor and chain ($$). I pulled out the back up anchor/chain and we backed off of the rocks and proceeded to have fun with small sharks. Since it looked like the sharks would be biting on day 2, we ventured into the ship channel to catch some bait and ended up catching several perch, sand trout and 1 speckled trout (released) so we were all set for bait on day two.
We headed out early on Memorial Day to find the winds calmer early in the day, but the water conditions had not improved much. The winds also picked up at the jetty around 9:00 AM and we had a tough time staying anchored with my back up anchor and shorter chain. We moved back down the jetty near the sunken barge on the Gulf side and anchored about 200 yards back from the rocks since the boats were already lining the rocks. After putting some chum in the water, the small sharks started to move in and we caught 5 small sharpnose and 1 blacktip (I think). We decided to try the concrete ship, but the current/winds were too strong and I was not able to anchor there. We then tried the Pelican Island Bridge without any luck. I anchored on the bay side and at least 150 yards from the bridge and lost anchor number 2. We decided to call it a day and enjoyed the ride back to Austin. Not one of our best trips when it comes to fishing, but still a great time and lots of fun.
Air Temp: 80-88
Water Temp: 82
Depth: 10-28 feet
Water Clarity: stained
Winds: 15+ mph
Bait: live shrimp and live caught bait fish
My daughter and I made a trip to Galveston for what used to be an annual Daddy/Daughter trip that has now turned into a 2-3 times per year trip. My daughter really loves to fish and she's not picky, so we usually target one or two species based on the time of year and then we hit it hard for two days and just have fun. She thinks it's about the fishing and I just take advantage of spending some good, quality time with her. Well, the weatherman had predicted some lighter winds later in the Memorial Day weekend but that's not exactly what we found when we made the trip from Austin and made it to the island on Sunday and Monday. When we left the Yacht Basin and turned the corner near the Coast Guard station on Sunday around 10:00 am, I could tell that the jetty fishing would likely be limited. We first tried the South Jetty and the Gulf side was not fishable and the channel side was almost as rough with poor water clarity too. We then moved to the North Jetty and it was too rough to go around the end, so I moved back down to the boat cut and made our way out to the end on the Gulf side. The water was in decent shape and we caught small sharks and croakers. I must have anchored too close to the rocks near the end of the North Jetty and lost my fairly new anchor and chain ($$). I pulled out the back up anchor/chain and we backed off of the rocks and proceeded to have fun with small sharks. Since it looked like the sharks would be biting on day 2, we ventured into the ship channel to catch some bait and ended up catching several perch, sand trout and 1 speckled trout (released) so we were all set for bait on day two.
We headed out early on Memorial Day to find the winds calmer early in the day, but the water conditions had not improved much. The winds also picked up at the jetty around 9:00 AM and we had a tough time staying anchored with my back up anchor and shorter chain. We moved back down the jetty near the sunken barge on the Gulf side and anchored about 200 yards back from the rocks since the boats were already lining the rocks. After putting some chum in the water, the small sharks started to move in and we caught 5 small sharpnose and 1 blacktip (I think). We decided to try the concrete ship, but the current/winds were too strong and I was not able to anchor there. We then tried the Pelican Island Bridge without any luck. I anchored on the bay side and at least 150 yards from the bridge and lost anchor number 2. We decided to call it a day and enjoyed the ride back to Austin. Not one of our best trips when it comes to fishing, but still a great time and lots of fun.
