Fishing good despite wind

Monday, a moderate west to northwest wind was blowing when Polly and I headed out for a morning of fishing. It was the first time I had been on the water since last Thursday, and frankly, I was quite surprised to find trout-green water in upper West Bay, lower Galveston Bay and lower East Bay. The bays were choppy; however, the water was in good shape in spite of the crosswinds.

Concerned about finding fishable water, we chose the spoil banks along the Houston Ship Channel across from the Texas City Dike and surrounding areas to fish. What a good decision it was, as we stopped placing specks in the igloo at the count of 15 at 9:30 a.m.

We continued to catch and release fish up until about 10:30 a.m. when massive pods of seaweed moved in with the outgoing tide. Spanish mackerel, pilot fish, croaker and whiting were among the other fish landed and released. All of the fish were caught in 18 to 20 feet of water while fishing over shell. The action came in spurts, and bottom bumping live shrimp did the trick.

Jason Depau shared with us his sheltered spot from the southwest wind. Depau fishes the south shoreline of East Bay during such conditions, and last Saturday, he found the fishing good while the wind was blowing. Free-lining live croaker, Depau caught nine trout to 26 inches and a red.

Kirk Wong, David Garcia and Garcia’s 8-year-old son, Grady, fished the east end of the seawall Saturday and landed 11 solid trout to 21 inches using live shrimp fished under a popping cork. Wong said they planned to fish the surf; however, the wind had the water off-color, and a good decision was made to move to the end of the seawall to fish the channel.

Sunday, Charles Elmore, Tracy Moore, Kevin Pavlock and Bobby Ballard fished the Houston Ship Channel Spoil Banks area and returned with 28 trout to 5 pounds. Live shrimp fished on the bottom caught the fish.

Ricky LaFont and friends Steven and Alex fished the Houston Ship Channel and Texas City Dike area Sunday and had their limits of trout to 19 inches by 9:30 a.m. Live shrimp was the bait.

Offshore, Capt. Johnny Williams hosted 72 anglers aboard the party boat Capt. John to some action 30 miles east of the jetties. Their catch included 487 spadefish, along with lane and mangrove snapper, a blue fish and blue runners.

In other fishing news, the Coastal Conservation Association-Texas Galveston Chapter is holding its annual fundraising banquet at 6 p.m. Saturday at Moody Gardens.

The cost is $40 per person, and the event includes fried fish, cold beverages, cash bar, silent and live auctions and a raffle.

For information, call 800-626-4222.

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.