Trout action is red hot during outgoing tide

The spoil banks along the Houston Ship Channel and surrounding areas, including the Bolivar Gas Wells, currently are red hot for trout.

Most of the action has been taking place early in the day during the outgoing tide.

Wednesday, my fishing buddy, Dr. Bob Rose, and I hammered the speckled trout in that area, landing 24 and retaining six.

Our objective was to just keep two or three for our respective dinners that evening; however, three of the trout I caught were hook damaged to the point survival was questionable, therefore we added them to the ice chest.

Rose was using size 2 circle hooks and did not lose one fish to injury.

My choice was a size 8 treble hook, as that is what I have been accustomed to for decades.

Observing the mortality rate of my trout compared to those of the good doctor caused me to get interested in switching, especially considering we both caught close to the same number of trout. We will have more on that subject later.

Carol and Bob Wagner, along with Donna Gideon, fished the spoil banks out from the Texas City Flood Gate and limited out on trout within two hours.

After running out of live shrimp, they switched to white DOA’s and red and white speck rigs and continued catching fish.

The trip ended at April Fool Point, where they had the restaurant cook some of the fish for their lunch.

Sarah Melcer and her fishing dog, Abby, called in a live report from the jetties where they were fishing about half a mile from the end of the North Jetty.

At that point, their catch consisted of seven gafftop, 12 hardheads and a sharpnose shark. White squid was the bait.

Brenda Rilat, Lee’s Bait and Tackle on the Texas City Dike, reported a nice catch of reds from Moses Lake. Rilat’s customers, Jerry and Brenda Rohacek, used live shrimp to land 12 slot reds to 24 inches while retaining their limit of six.

Offshore fishing continues to be in its prime, as most of the pelagic species are within easy reach of shore.

Monday, Daryl Hall and Capt. Joe Matthews fished the 15-mile rigs and landed limits of kings from 30 to 47 inches, two ling weighing 38 and 45 pounds and a bonito.

The kings and ling were caught drift fishing with cigar minnows, squid and shad. The bonito was caught while trolling.

The party boat Capt. John had a good day of fishing about 30 miles east of the jetties where Capt. Johnny Williams placed his 71 guests into action that included 296 spade fish, 46 Gulf trout, eight sharks, five kings to 17 pounds, four mangroves, two ling to 40 pounds and two stingrays, one weighing a whopping 125 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.