The cold front that passed through Monday and Tuesday was strong enough in both emptying the back bays and dropping the water temperature that we should see some positive results for fishing closer to the weekend.
Flounder should start moving again, and the larger flatfish should be more prevalent among the schools stacking up along the edges of channels and mouths of drains, creeks and bayous.
Bird action in all of the bays should be noticeably better, as schools of trout and reds chase shrimp and bait fish migrating to deeper waters.
The two-fish limits for flounder have been fairly easy to come by lately, and as we reach the peak of the flounder run, limits should come even quicker, especially during the remainder of November. The five-fish limit returns for flounder beginning Dec. 1.
Jack Nichols, of Galveston, along with his brother, Michael, from Conroe, and friend, Phillip Gootch, of Austin, limited out on flounder to 25 inches using live mullet for bait. The action came from near the ferry landing.
Dawn Freeman, of Bayou Vista, caught a limit of flounder, with the fish being taped at 15 and 22 inches, while fishing off Harborside Drive. Strawberry Gulps with live fingerling mullet on a Gulp Hook were the baits that worked.
Sunday, Andy Baker, and his father, Andy Sr., fished Pelican Island and had no luck on flounder.
About noon, they moved to the Pelican Bridge and filled a cooler with nice sand trout and several large whiting. Normally, they catch a bunch of bull croaker around the bridge this time of year; however, only smaller ones are showing up.
Baker thinks the harvesting of croaker for bait has taken its toll on the stocks.
Capt. James Plagg, his son, Cameron, and his partner at Silver King Adventures, Capt. Kent Cambiano, had productive fishing trips in the past several days.
Monday, James found limits of trout for his guests while wade fishing around marsh drains. Thirty trout to 5 pounds was the haul.
Saturday, Cameron landed seven trout to 5 pounds and a red while Cambiano and a guest limited out on trout wade fishing drains Sunday.
Bass Assassins in Red Shad, Chicken on a Chain and Sea Shad were the baits of choice for the guides.
One of the more frequently asked questions by readers has to do with the difference between sand trout and Gulf trout. Actually, most fishermen use the terms interchangeably when referring to sand sea trout and silver sea trout. Sand trout are the larger of the two and tend to have a more yellow color with sometimes-purple tinted heads. Their teeth are more like those of speckled trout.
Silver sea trout, commonly called Gulf trout, are the smaller and are silver in color with none of the yellow earmarks of sand trout.
Gulf trout rarely grow to more than 14 inches, while sand trout can be found in the 3- to 5-pound category.
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.
