Weather is hot, and so is fishing

The weather is hot, and fishing is heating up. Reports from all across the Galveston area indicate that trout and reds are biting and other fish are taking the bait as well.

Boats fishing under the San Luis Pass Bridge hammered trout early Saturday and Sunday. Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, sheepshead, black drum and scattered mangrove snapper were filling ice chests. Most of the action came on live croaker.

Carlos Santango, along with Maurice Sanchez and Carl Tomlinson, caught 19 specks to 21 inches, two mangrove snapper, two Spanish mackerel and a 3-foot blacktip shark while anchored under the big bridge Saturday morning.

Santango said all of the boats around him were catching fish right and left.

Sam Cunningham fished the pass from shore and landed a 24-pound jack fish, along with four specks and two black drum. Live shrimp fished under a popping cork was the bait.

Jason Reuter, Aunt Margie’s Bait Camp, had customer Ryan Chilton return from fishing the beach front with a catch of five trout. The action took place Sunday morning.

Last Thursday, the Galveston jetties produced a nice catch for Billy Boyd and Doug Sweeney. Using live shrimp for bait, the anglers ended up two short of a full limit, landing 18 trout.

Red fish have been hitting at night. Tim Griffith, of Jamaica Beach, hosted a group of ladies to a night trip in West Bay. Tim’s wife, Becky, her daughter, Shelly, and a neighbor, Nola Warren, caught eight slot reds and two specks.

Another night report came from Offatts Bayou, where Ellen Chavez, of El Paso, caught a 24-inch red while fishing after dark.

The party boat Capt. John found action 30 miles offshore, where the 60 anglers aboard landed 174 spadefish, 27 bonnet head sharks and a variety of other fish, including lane snapper, rainbow runners, Spanish mackerel and a 40-pound ling.

Several readers called in asking about sport shrimping regulations. Recent reports indicated lots of shrimp being caught using cast nets in the surf, and there appears to be some confusion on the number of shrimp recreational fishermen can retain.

The regulations are set forth in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s website and that should be your source for that information.

The regulations governing shrimp are divided between the north and south zones of the Texas Coast and further divided between the bays and Gulf waters. The area where last week’s shrimp catches occurred is the outside waters of the north zone, inside five nautical miles. The limit there is 100 pounds.

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.