March 2-3, 2013

Location: Galveston - Pelican Island Bridge and North Jetty
Air Temp: 50-64
Water Temp: 58
Water Clarity: Stained
Winds: 20+ on day 1 and  calm to 10+ on day 2
Bait: live shrimp, cracked crabs and crawfish

Hosted a father/son duo (Patrick and Joseph) from my church to a Galveston fishing trip this past weekend.  We knew Saturday was going to be tough conditions with cold weather and high winds, but decided to make the trip anyway since Sunday was forecasted to be much nicer with warmer temps and calmer winds and seas.

On Saturday, we played it safe and fished in the ship channel rather than going into the open bay or near the open Gulf by the jetties. Even with poor fishing conditions, we still managed to catch a few big black drum ranging from 24-36 pounds and some small sand trout.  Both black drum were caught during a slow outgoing tide when we arrived at the Pelican Island bridge.

On Sunday, we were greeted with very calm winds in the morning and the winds picked up during the day.  We started the day in about 27 feet of water on the channel side of the North Jetty with a double hook-up and landed two large black drum.  I was hoping this meant the bite was going to be on, but it was slow so we eventually decided to move to the gulf side of the North Jetty to try for some sheepshead with the option of more black drum.  While venturing out to the end of the North Jetty, I spotted "Capt. Dave", a fellow fisherman from a fishing forum, and stopped by to say hello to him and his dog, Klever.  It was nice to finally meet him and get a quick report of the fishing in that area.  He had his limit of redfish from the early morning and was going for sheepshead right against the rocks of the jetty.

 

We moved down the jetty about 50-75 yards away and also landed a few sheepshead.  They are really fun to catch on light tackle.  After seeing Capt. Dave catch a black drum from the back of his boat away from the rocks, I also decided we needed to get some crab out for some possible action and I'm glad we did.  We caught two more big, black drum ranging from about 20 pounds to 38 pounds.  It was good fun watching the father/son duo battle these big fish.  The fishing was good and we had a great time on the water.  

We enjoyed some great seafood from Casey's for dinner on Saturday night.

Here are a few pics from a fellow fisherman: Capt. Dave.