October 23-24, 2014

Location:  Port O’Connor
Air Temp:  65-82
Water Temp:  77
Depth:  20-36 feet
Water Clarity:  murky to clear green
Winds:  calm to 12 mph
Seas:  calm to choppy
Bait:  live shrimp, squid, and cut whiting

My wife made her first trip to POC with me.  We enjoyed the time together and I am thankful that she also loves being on the saltwater and likes fishing.  With both kiddos in college and doing their own thing, I think there will be more time to enjoy the saltwater together going forward and that’s a good thing for us.
 

I almost always fish on the weekend, so it was great to venture down to POC during the week, especially on Thursday since there was very little boat traffic.  Friday was almost like a weekend day with plenty of others fishing the jetties.  We stayed at Clark’s which was not crowded at all and probably only about 30% full on Thursday night.  It was nice to wake up on Friday morning and have the boat sitting in a slip right outside the room and it allowed us to get started early and be headed out to the open ocean and see the sunrise.  There is just something about the smell of the saltwater, the sound of the boat cutting through the water, the sea gulls, the dolphins and seeing the sun rise above the water that calms the spirit and makes me appreciate the many blessings in my life from God.
 

It had been a while since my wife had battled a 20 pound red, and we knew late October near the jetties would likely give her an opportunity and POC did not disappoint.  I am still learning some spots and gaining experience about POC since most of my saltwater experience has been in Galveston.  For my last trip, I knew fresh mullet was usually not available at the bait shops in POC, so I made a Fiesta stop in Austin and they actually had fresh mullet.  Well, this trip I decided to save the time and skip Fiesta hoping to catch more ladyfish like the last trip, but that plan did not work.  We tried several spots along the rocks to catch some bait, but none produced, so we finally headed to the end of the south jetty with live shrimp and squid and it took a while before my wife finally caught a nice whiting that we could use as cut bait.  It didn’t take long at all to entice a big redfish once the cut bait was in the water.  We lost the first red due to a pulled hook, but then my wife caught two and she insisted that I pull one in too near the end of the day.  It was fun to battle the reds near the rocks and since we were not planning on keeping any reds, the bigger the better.  The reds we caught were about 18-22 pounds and about 34-38 inches.
 

The winds really started to drop at the end of the first day and the bay was like glass around 5:30 PM.  The end of both jetties was still a little rough, so even though I had some luck at the end of the north jetty on the last trip and saw a few other boats do really well, we opted to fish the calmer water on the Gulf side of the south jetty on both days and landed one red on the back side of the jetties near Bird Island.  We started day two early and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise.  The fishing was good again with four bull reds, several small sharks, a huge sting ray, a few sheepshead, and several elusive hardheads and some large gafftop slimers.
 

We enjoyed some Cathy’s seafood on both days and may take a day trip in a few months just to look around POC again and have Cathy’s again.  My wife enjoyed POC and wants to go back, but said she also misses Galveston, so maybe that will be our next fishing trip together.

End of the first day. No wind and the bay was flat.

 

Sunrise on day 2.

The end of the south jetty on Friday.

 

 

Using a small J hook and squid on a light spinning reel to catch a bait fish and landed the 20 pound red below.

 

 

October 11-12, 2014

Location:  Port O'Connor
Air Temp:  70-85
Water Temp: 82
Depth:  15-32 feet
Water Clarity: average to clear green
Winds:  calm to 15 mph
Seas:  calm to choppy
Bait:  live shrimp and cut whiting and ladyfish

Redfish number 116 was landed this past weekend.  These are bull reds 28 inches or longer with about 95% being released to fight another day.

I usually fish Galveston this time of year for redfish, but we decided to make the easier drive to Port O’Connor to see if we could find some reds and other swimming species.  We fished several areas along the rocks and on the back side of the jetties in the bay near bird island and did find some reds, ladyfish, sheepshead, whiting, a 4 foot nurse shark and elusive hardhead and gafftop catfish.  I feel like I learn a little more about POC each time I make a trip there. 

My friends Alan and Ed joined me for this trip and we had a fun trip and caught some fish too.  We landed 5 reds, kept and tagged two just over the upper slot size of 28 inches, and likely lost two reds.  It wasn’t on fire, but it was still good fishing.  Ed claims to have the largest red (his personal best) just because it taped at about 40 inches and weighed about 24 pounds, but the pictures below tell a different story.  The 20 pound reds that Alan and I caught just look bigger, so we are calling for a rematch.

 

September 20-21, 2014

Location:  Port O'Connor
Air Temp:  70-88
Water Temp: 84
Depth:  9-32 feet
Water Clarity: very clear
Winds:  calm to 15 mph
Seas:  calm to choppy
Bait:  squid, live shrimp and cut ladyfish

I made the trip from Austin to POC with my favorite fisher girl.  She was ready for a break from school and I am always ready to get on the salt water.  The live shrimp was hard to come by on Saturday when we arrived around 10:30 AM, so we opted for some squid and then caught some ladyfish to use later as cut bait.  The ladyfish were mixed in with sheepshead, so we had fun catching both along the jetties.  Later in the day when the winds calmed, we used cut ladyfish on the back side of the jetties and my daughter caught 6 sharks and a huge sting ray.

On the second day, we used live shrimp along the rocks and had more fun catching about 35 ladyfish and sheepshead.  Several of the sheepshead were keeper size, but we rarely keep fish and decided not to this trip either.  We tried some spots for redfish, but did not find any on this trip.  It was two fun days on the water and we look forward to another break in our schedules to make another trip.

August 9-10, 2014

Location:  Port O'Connor
Air Temp:  70-98
Water Temp: 87
Depth:  15-32 feet
Water Clarity: clear
Winds:  calm to 15 mph
Seas:  calm to choppy
Bait:  live perch, live shrimp and cut ladyfish

I had the opportunity to fish with my best fishing buddy one last time before she started college this week, so I jumped at the opportunity.  My daughter started saltwater fishing with me in 2006, and she has really learned a lot over the last 8+ years.  The best part about going fishing with her is the chance to spend time together on the water without any of the usual distractions.  She is also great about waking me up at 5:00 AM to let me know the fish are waiting for us.  I am excited for her as she moves into this next chapter in her life, and her school is lucky to have such a great young lady on their campus.  I look forward to seeing her cheer at games and I hope we can still squeeze in a few fishing trips each year.

We left the Austin area early on Saturday morning headed for Port O’Connor instead of our usual Galveston destination.  I am glad to see Galveston doing so well since hurricane Ike messed things up a few years ago, but the prices for just about everything have also rebounded.  My usual hotel room for this time of year runs about $120, and it was over $200, and the boat launch fee increased from $10 to $20.  Plus, this time of year is really crowded in Galveston, so we made the trip to POC.  Even though there was a fishing tournament taking place, we still didn’t feel crowded on the water or off the water driving around the small town.

 

We were on the water on Saturday around 10:30 AM and live bait was hard to come by when we got there due to the tournament.  We opted for some live piggy perch and caught a few small sharks, a huge sting ray and some catfish.  The fishing was slow, but we still had fun.  We ended the day with a great dinner at Cathy’s, checked out the scenery and water at the local beach and turned in early so we could get an early start on Sunday.

 

Sunday started about 5:00 AM and since we were so close to the dock, we were launching about 45 minutes sooner than normal and way before sunrise.  We were able to get some live shrimp, almost bought a great looking Lab puppy at the bait shop, and then headed out to the big jetties in the dark at a slow speed with our navigation lights on.  We dropped the anchor before sunrise and began to test our patience.  After about 30 minutes of no action, we moved to the back side of the jetties into the bay in about 15 feet of water where we observed plenty of action by the diving birds on bait fish.  My daughter had fun catching plenty of cut bait (ladyfish) for us to use later in the day.  We then anchored along the rocks again and caught the one and only 32 inch redfish which was released (we rarely keep even the slot fish).  We chummed and caught several small sharks during the day, but nothing large.  The highlight of the day was seeing a 4-5 foot, 40 pound king fish explode out of the water about 100 yards behind our boat and in the general area where I was freelining a ladyfish.  The king went about 4-5 feet in the air and had the bait fish going crazy.  We also saw a small sting ray do the same thing, but his hang time was much less.

 

Always fun to get on the water and already look forward to doing it again.

 

At the dock checking out the moon.

 

 

 

 

July 11 & 13, 2014

Location:  Galveston
Air Temp:  78-92
Water Temp: 87
Depth:  10-32 feet
Water Clarity: clear
Winds:  calm to 10 mph
Seas:  calm
Bait:  live shrimp, cut mullet and squid

My daughter and I hosted Emily from Virginia to some Texas saltwater fishing. It was good to see childhood friends catching fish and having a good time on the water.  I enjoyed being bait boy and deckhand on the boat and fished the surf and caught some large whiting and released two slot black drum.  I fished the canal in Sea Isle at night, but could not entice the trout swimming in the lights with natural or artificial baits.

 

The conditions were great on both days with very calm seas and the temps were good for this time of year, but the fishing was a little slow, at least for anything big.  We fished the North Jetty, South Jetty, and the concrete ship with similar results at all three spots.  Both girls caught numerous croakers (about 60 total), a few small sharks, a lone sand trout and a few hardhead catfish.  I also missed a few Spanish mackerel using a popping cork rigged with a live shrimp.   

 

It was fun to get back on the water and I'm already looking forward to it again.

 

 

June 5-6, 2014

Location:  POC
Air Temp:  78-85
Water Temp: 84
Depth:  10-32 feet
Water Clarity: clear
Winds:  10-15 mph
Seas:  choppy
Bait:  live shrimp, cut whiting and squid
Rigging:  Carolina rig using 80# nylon coated wire, 7/0 circle hook and 1 to 5 oz. egg sinker above the swivel and Texas rig with small J hook for smaller fish

It sure was fun fishing with my Mom and my son in Port O'Connor on Thursday and Friday.  The wind made the fishing a little tough, but we adjusted and found some protected water both days.  We basically fished an incoming tide on both days and the fishing was better on Friday than it was on Thursday. 

We decided to make the trip to POC instead of Galveston to avoid the traffic around Houston since we would be hitting rush hour going down on Thursday and coming home on Friday.  It was a good choice because the traffic was a breeze going to POC.  We got on the water around 11:00 AM on Thursday and fished until about 5:30 PM, then enjoyed seafood at Cathy's.  On Friday morning, we got on the water around 7:00 AM and enjoyed the sunrise in the first picture below.

We landed a variety of fish which included a few bait fish and a large whiting that was kept, and we released a slot black drum, several sharks, several jack fish, a 25 pound redfish and of course, several, elusive, slimy, gafftop catfish.  We fished the big jetties and the bay on the  back side of the big jetties.  We found a school of jacks in about 10-15 feet of water close to the rocks at the jetty and they were really fun on light tackle.  We snagged a few that were too much for the light tackle, but landed the ones that were about 4-7 pounds.  Once the jacks moved on, we did too. 

We relocated to the back side of the big jetties and fished in about 32 feet of water and had fun catching sharks, another jack, slimy gafftops and finally a nice redfish.  We were about ready to call it day, so I kept one rod out while we cleaned up and broke down the tackle on most of the reels.  We had used squid to catch some bait fish, but I decided to toss out a whole squid on one of the medium reels.  It was a good call, because the reel started screaming in about 5 minutes.  My Mom fought the fish for about 5-10 minutes and we were playing the guessing game trying to figure out what it was.  It ran like a shark several times, but ended up being a nice, 25 pound redfish.  My Mom handled it like a pro and this fish became her personal best redfish.

It was fun to watch my son catch sharks and see my Mom catch the redfish.  We are already looking forward to another future trip.

 

 

 

 

These jacks were fun, but we are still talking about my Mom's first jack fish that she caught in the fall of 2012 that went 30 pounds and put up a heck of a fight.

March 29-30, 2014

Location:  POC
Air Temp: 60-70
Water Temp: 66
Depth: 36 feet
Water Clarity: clear
Winds: calm to 15 mph
Seas:  calm to choppy
Bait: cracked blue crab
Rigging: Carolina rig using 80# nylon coated wire, 7/0 circle hook and 1 to 5 oz. egg sinker above the swivel

I was planning a trip to Galveston and decided to cancel my room there due to the oil spill and head further south to Port O’Connor.  I wasn’t sure we would even get to make the trip to POC due to reports of oil showing up along the coast in that area.  After reading reports on a fishing forum and news reports on Friday morning and a call to the Inn at Clark’s, it sounded like there was a lot of prevention and activity taking place in POC but not much damage caused by the oil that made its way down the coast.  I was glad to see that was the case after fishing the big jetties and outside the big jetties for a short while on Saturday afternoon.  The water was calm, it looked great and no sign of oil on that part of the island near the jetties.  We did see a young man with the Coast Guard walking the entire south jetty looking for signs of oil.

I have only fished POC a few times and never this early in the year, so I was not sure if our target fish, Black Drum, would be concentrated there this time of year.  After the long drive, we got on the water about 11:00 AM on Saturday with good weather conditions and only caught one big drum close to the rocks at the jetty.  The wind started out around 10-15 mph, but really started to calm down around 2:00 PM for the rest of the day.  It was so calm, we decided to go outside the jetties and check out the beach front more for the scenery than anything else and only got slimed (gafftops).  We tried for sheepshead with dead shrimp and Gulp shrimp (no live shrimp was available) all along the rocks, but never got a nibble. It was still great to be out on the water on Saturday, but the fishing was reaaaaaallllly slow.

My son and my long time fishing buddy, Alan, and I got on the water early on Sunday morning.  Alan fished POC many years ago and he was glad to get back down there and see how things had changed since the 80s and since our last trip there a few years ago.  My son is super busy with college, work, and extra activities and it was great that he could take the weekend to spend some father/son time.  He enjoys the outdoors a lot, but fishing is not a passion for him like it is for me.  I really appreciated him taking the time to relax with his dad for the weekend – good memories. 

On Sunday, the wind was ok early in the morning, so we decided to try near the big jetties again and this time our plan worked.  We tried the back side of the big jetties between the jetties and Bird Island in about 36 feet of water.  We boated and released 7 big, Black Drum, 1 really nice bull redfish that taped at 44 inches and weighed 32 pounds, lost two due to pulled hooks and had a triple hookup at one point.  After the great morning of fishing and steady action, the wind had really picked up and we were thinking about finding some calmer water for lunch, but decided to stay put while we rocked and rolled and had lunch just to see if we could get another bite before heading to calmer water.  One of the large Okuma reels baited with cracked crab started to sing with two very fast runs.  We were too focused on our turkey sandwiches and not quick to pick up the reel.  When we finally did, it was gone.  We reeled in the line to check the bait and were surprised to see a large whiting that was half eaten and still alive.  I guess he was chewing the crab, barely hooked himself and then something decided to chew on him.  We will never know what it was (Jack, shark?), but it definitely pulled more line than anything I’ve seen in a while.   

 

We fished the area noted in red behind the big jetties.

 

 

Double hook up.

 

 

 

 

 

March 8-9, 2014

Date: 3/8 and 3/9/2014
Location:  Galveston North Jetty
Air Temp: 53-65
Water Temp: 57

Depth:  36 feet
Water Clarity:  clear
Winds: 10-15 mph
Seas: 1-3 feet and choppy
Bait: cracked blue crabs

It had been too long since our last daddy/daughter trip (July 2013), so we were due for some fishing time together.  My daughter has been really busy with school and cheer and this trip came together with only a 24 hour notice.  I had prepped the boat the prior weekend from being stored all winter, so I knew the boat was ready and was hoping the weather would cooperate for us.  The weatherman was right on target this time with Saturday forecasted to be about 65, with southeast winds around 10 mph and seas of only 1-2 feet.  Sunday was not supposed to be as nice and it was a little tough with the temp only reaching about 53, with a shift of the wind from the north and 15 mph.  We made it to the North Jetty both days, but the ride back from the jetty to the Yacht Basin around 1:00 PM on Sunday was very bumpy and wet.

Our target for this time of year was none other than the ugly, black drum and the North Jetty did not disappoint.  My daughter landed and released 8 big uglies with the largest one going about 55 pounds.  We used our medium and heavy gear, so all of the fish were landed in about 5 minutes and some needed to be vented (air bladder punctured) before they were released.  I released a few alongside the boat and did not pull them out of the water and all but one was able to go right back down on its own.  We did have to pull the anchor, move the boat, net one and vent it because it was on its side and couldn’t go back down.  Considering these fish are estimated to be 15+ years old, we do all we can to help them survive.

As always, it was great trip and I know I am a lucky dad to have a daughter that likes to get out on the water even when the conditions are tough.  Why do they grow up so fast?