Anglers waiting out weather

Based on conversations with local anglers, it appears there are a lot of folks sitting on the sidelines waiting for some nice weather before hitting the water.

A good example of that came from comments made by George Griffin, of La Marque, who fishes year-round in the Galveston Bay complex. Griffin does not enjoy being on the water in conditions like we have been experiencing during the last few weeks — chilly, damp weather with a biting wind.

Unfortunately, it appears Griffin and others like him will have to wait awhile longer before any warm weather sets in.

Anglers willing to endure the not-so-comfortable conditions have been finding some fair to good action on a variety of fish. The beach front continues to produce good numbers of whiting along with scattered pompano. Moses Lake has been holding some nice fish including the big three — trout, reds and flounder.

Flounder continue to be a hot topic among fishermen, as lots of the smaller flatfish are making their way back into the bays.

Wednesday, Danny Carter and Don Wiggins had a good fishing trip to the Galveston beach front, where they landed 21 whiting and two pompano.

At Moses Lake, Jeremiah, at The Fish Spot, reported his customers returning with stringers of trout, reds and flounder. He did not mention from what part of the lake they came but said the fish were caught using both live shrimp and artificials.

Sonny Roberts reported some good action from the mouth of Dickinson Bayou, where reds and sand trout were being caught near the anchored barges. Roberts said most of the reds were undersized; however, a few scattered slot reds were being taken and sand trout were plentiful.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently enhanced one of its oyster restoration projects in East Galveston Bay with the addition of 59 concrete artificial reef domes donated by Galveston Bay Foundation.

The artificial reef domes were placed on a 1-acre patch of restored oyster reef in East Galveston Bay (at about GPS coordinates 29° 30’ 44”N and 94° 39’ 54”W). Each dome was individually placed using a crane on a construction barge.

Care was taken to ensure the domes were not stacked on each other so water depth across the site would be maintained at safe levels for small craft navigation. The domes will be used to attract fish and oyster larvae and will facilitate studies on oyster density and fish utilization.

Capt. Joe Kent is a columnist for The Daily News. To get your catch in the Reel Report, call 409-683-5273 or email reel.report(at)galvnews.com.