61st Street pier to reopen soon

There is good news for anglers waiting for the opening of the 61st Street Fishing Pier. The facility is close to opening its doors.

Tuesday, I visited with John Menna, the owner, who said he anticipates opening within a couple of weeks. Most of the work has been completed, and the holdup is in waiting for certain inspections to take place. Menna was hoping to be back in business by Sunday; however, it looks like it might be a week or so after that before all of the approvals are granted.

The new fishing pier is going to be quite an upgrade from the earlier version that was destroyed by Hurricane Ike. There still remain several issues that have not been decided upon. The admission fee is one of them. One decision that has been made is senior citizens will fish at quite a discount during the week.

More details about the new pier, including the fees and rules, will be forthcoming in subsequent Reel Reports.

Recently, a reader reported seeing Jimmy McClure, owner of the badly damaged Galveston Fishing Pier, walking around the area with what appeared to be a contractor. I sent McClure a note asking for an update, and as soon as he responds, I will pass on what I learn.

In fishing news, the wind picked up Tuesday; however, on Monday, there were reports of good activity along the beach front and around Rollover Pass.

Joe Gimenez Jr. fished the rock groins along the seawall and caught a limit of trout and small king mackerel. Free-lined live shrimp with a red bead was the bait.

Jim Choate found the fishing around Rollover Pass to be outstanding Monday. Using live fingerling mullet, the angler from Gilchrist caught a limit of trout, rat reds, ladyfish and flounder. The highlight of his day of fishing came when a 3-foot tarpon battled him for 10 minutes before breaking the line.

Speaking of tarpon, Capt. James Plaag, Silver King Adventures, said this weekend should be good for tarpon, as the water is getting right. Plaag has been having excellent luck with trout in 10 to 11 feet of water using Hot Chicken and Stinky Pink Sea Shad Bass Assassins.

He also mentioned East Bay as having been productive for trout to more than 5 pounds while fishing in four to six feet of water over shell.

Alan Waldrop sent a note asking if we had received any feedback on the status of the Gulf Shrimping Fleet. Waldrop is interested in the location of shrimp boats within 20 miles of shore.

No recent information has been received; however, early reports indicated a lot of shrimpers working offshore near Galveston. If you make it out to the deep sea waters, let us know what you observe.

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.