April 13-14, 2013

Location: Galveston - North Jetty and Pelican Island Bridge
Air Temp: 65-78
Water Temp: 69
Water Clarity: 1-2 feet
Winds: 5-25 mph
Seas: choppy to 3-4 feet
Bait: live shrimp and cracked crabs

Hosted two friends from church to their 2nd saltwater fishing trip with me.  One friend has been taking me hunting the past few years, so I like to repay the favor with some time on the saltwater.  He is an avid hunter, but is still working on getting used to the waves and movement on the boat and had to deal with some sea sickness on both days.  The first day was rough with very choppy seas at the jetty and large swells, so we were not able to stay at the jetty very long and had to retreat to calmer water near the bridge.  At least my buddy was able to land a big, ugly black drum at the bridge which seemed to make him feel a little better.

 

On day two, the seas were still rocking early in the day from the wind the day before, but the wind calmed down and the seas started to calm too by about 9:30 AM.  We spent some time at the jetty and caught one big redfish, and lost one big fish.  We were not able to make it to the end of the North Jetty due to rough seas.  We wanted to fish the end of the jetty based on some intel regarding big redfish provided by a guide the day before at the Yacht Basin, but it was just too rough early in the day.  Once again, we opted for calmer waters in the channel, but the fishing was likely much slower than it would have been at the jetty.  We were able to finally get back into a sand trout spot that has been blocked for several months due to a large oil rig being dismantled.  The sand trout were still there and we caught and released a few.

 

On Saturday, we had a neat experience.  On our way from rough waters at the North Jetty over to the same conditions at the South Jetty, we spotted a large school of jack fish.  They were in the 20-30 pound range and we managed to get one cast using a large shrimp right in front of them, but no taker.  It was still fun sight casting to such a large school of fish.  They disappeared from the surface after moving about 50-100 yards.

Slow fishing but still good fun on the water and some good seafood at Casey's.

March 29-30, 2013

Location:  Galveston - North Jetty
Air Temp:  65-75
Water Temp: 64
Water Clarity: 1-2 feet
Winds:  5-15 mph
Seas: choppy to 2-3 feet
Bait:  live shrimp and cracked crabs

Fished this past Friday and Saturday with one of my toughest fishing buddies - my daughter.  This was our first saltwater trip together this year and it was a blast.  My daughter is the one that sets the alarm for 5:00 AM to make sure we get an early start on day 2 and that's what happened since we were launching the boat in the dark.

The target on Good Friday was big, black drum and we were not disappointed at the end of the day after landing 6 fish ranging from 18 to 38 pounds.  We also tossed some live shrimp in the rocks and landed and released several sheepshead, but most of the fishing time was spent on the big drum.  Our odd catch of the day was a small sea turtle that liked the cracked crab.  He had the circle hook down pretty deep, so I had to cut the steel leader.  Hope he does ok.

On Saturday, we arrived at the Yacht Basin at 6:15 AM and launched the boat in the dark.  It was fun getting on the water so early and made for a neat boat ride out to the rocks in dim light.  The water was calmer on Saturday, so the ride out to the jetty went by fast and we were set up for our target of sheepshead in no time.  We usually catch-n-release, but decided to keep some fish this trip on day 2 so there was a little competition before the day even started to see who could help fill the cooler with fresh fish.

We caught and released one more big black drum bringing the total to 7, tagged two nice redfish at 29 and 30 inches, and kept 8 sheepshead.  One of the reds had a huge 16/0 circle hook in the corner of his mouth and he was caught on a small J hook.

It was great getting on the water early because we had several hundred yards on both sides of the boat for a while.  Then the "googans" woke up and showed up and started crowding us around 9:00 AM especially when they saw a rod bending and heard drag screaming.  Ok, it wasn't that bad and we were not catching $5,000 fish like one of my favorite shows, but it does amaze me how some choose a fishing spot.