Quoting one of our popular fishing guides, “Fishing is off the hook right now.”
Monday’s high winds associated with the frontal passage may have put a crimp in the action; however, it should bounce back fairly quickly. The cooler temperatures, along with the marsh-emptying winds, should be the ingredients for a jump-start in the flounder run.
Flounder fishing has been excellent in the past several days; however, a lot of smaller fish continue to be caught and released. The larger flat fish should get the word to head out, especially if their food source leaves.
Trout fishing continues to be excellent, and reds are finding their way to anglers’ baits as well. Some potentially optimistic news on the croaker run was received, so let’s take a look at who has been catching what and where.
Capt. Chris Jamail, Hookset Charters, hosted a group of three to a fishing trip in Trinity and East bays on Sunday and limited out on quality trout.
Using Red Shad Goobers for bait, Joe Wright, Russell Wright and Tommy Wright landed 30 trout to 5 pounds along with two reds.
Wade Haines fished the Galveston Ship Channel area on Saturday with his friend, Steve, and his dad. Boats were lined up all along the edge of the channel, and everyone was catching flounder.
Haines and his friends caught and released seven flounder and retained four. Five croaker and six sand trout were the other fish placed on the stringer.
The action took place across from the yacht basin, and Haines said the croaker run is on in the channel.
Capt. Steve Hillman, Hillman’s Guide Service, found the water temperature much warmer Saturday morning at 69 degrees.
The fish were in the shallower waters, where his guests Joey Austin, Frank Mistretta, Nick Lankford and Manual Reyna caught 40 trout to 24 inches.
After limiting out on trout, they went for reds.
About 10:30 a.m., they hooked up with the reds; however, most were oversized ranging from 30 to 44 inches. They ended the day with one slot red.
Brown Lure Devil Eyes and Saltwater Assassins were the baits of choice. Color didn’t matter.
Sunday, Hillman found the trout while working the birds in 5 to 7 feet of water near oyster beds. His guests Jay James and Michael Dubravec had their limits by 9:30 a.m.
All of the fish were caught on Black Cat Brown Lure Devil Eyes rigged on quarter-ounce jig heads.
Lute’s Marine’s Saturday Fishing Tournament sent a bunch of live flounder to Sea Center Texas for the restocking program.
Winners of the tournament who entered live flounder in good shape were James Roberson, with a 22.5-inch flat fish; James Johnson, whose entry measured 21 inches; and Kyle Bradley, who entered a 20-inch flounder.
To get your catch in the Reel Report, phone Capt. Joe Kent at 409-683-5273, or send an e-mail to reel.report(at)galvnews.com. There’s no charge for this service.
