Check license to make sure it’s valid

Friday morning was a slow day for fishing around the Galveston area.

My daughter and her husband, here for the Labor Day weekend, had been looking forward to the outstanding trout action I recently had been reporting about.

While loading up on live shrimp at the bait camp, the attendant told me the catches had been off for the past two or three days.

That is not what we wanted to hear; however, that did not stop us as we proceeded to some of my favorite spots.

Our second stop was the Bolivar Gas Wells, where the outgoing current was quite strong.

Unfortunately, at the second of three wells I had planned to fish we lost our anchor, and that cut our trip short.

If mudfish, hardheads and ladyfish are your favorites, you should have been with us because they were in abundance.

We are not giving up and plan to return to the water several times this weekend with a new anchor.

In other fishing news, the 61st Street Fishing Pier reported catches of reds and sand trout at night and blacktip sharks and sand trout during the day.

Sarah Melcer and her fishing dog, Abby, hit the Bolivar Gas Wells Wednesday afternoon and landed and released eight bull reds, a drum, gafftop and shovelnose shark.

Jerry Miller fished the lights around Teichman Point on Wednesday night and caught five specks and two slot reds. Free-lined live shrimp was the bait.

Sea Center Texas welcomed its 1 millionth visitor earlier this week.

Jacob Thomas was the lucky guest, and he was awarded some prizes and given a certificate as recognition for his milestone entry into the facility.

Sea Center Texas is a fish hatchery and aquarium operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Lake Jackson.

It is open to the public and periodically offers free fishing days for kids.

If you are planning a fishing trip during the Labor Day weekend, check your fishing license if you have not purchased one recently.

Many of them expire Aug. 31 each year.

At this time, conditions continue to look good for fishing this weekend.

Double tide changes that begin Saturday should be a big help.

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.