Redfish action is steady; trout beachfront invasion about a month late

“Ten second rule”
May 28, 2014
Where to catch the big fish
June 5, 2014

Capt. Mike Williams (www.galvestonfishingguides.com) says he has been keeping records on water temperatures for 50 years and to his knowledge he has never seen the water temps at this time of the year this low. “The water temperatures now are actually what I would see in late April, early May. We’re running about a month behind.”

The fish migrations to the bays seem to be pretty much on track, except for the trout. He says the redfish seem to be here and the drum were here. “The only fish that are a little off-center are trout—the trout numbers are just not here yet on the beachfront.

“Usually (water temperature) we go through 76 degrees the first day of May. We are still hovering right in that area.”

Speckled trout are affected by water temps more than any other fish. “We are seeing numbers of Spanish Mackerel, so it’s not something like pollution,” says Williams. “Mackerel are easily affected by water pollution. The water has to be good, or they don’t show up.”

Besides the lower than average beachfront water temperature, this year Galveston anglers are dealing with continuing assaults of sargassum. “There’s a lot of grass here and there. You come one day and the grass is everywhere; come out another day, and there is no grass.”

Williams likes to take his clients along the jetties to fish for redfish and trout. “The jetties are so diverse. Even in high winds there are always places where you can hide on the jetties, where the wind can be blocked. If it’s north, we can get behind one of them, or south we can get behind one of them. If it’s from the east or west, you can’t hide behind that.”

When the jetty conditions are right, the bait of choice are live croaker and shad, croaker probably better. He uses a fish finder rig…3 ounces of weight and a #6 circle hook. “On a recent jetty trip, the action started off kind of slow. We moved twice and at the first place we caught five reds, the biggest being 44 inches.”

Besides the jetties, what would be his second choice? “We go to the shell reefs in East Bay which will continue to produce throughout the summer…Mid Bay shell reefs.”

Terminal tackle not the same for fishing the reefs as the jetties: “You probably want to throw a popping cork, a number 8 treble hook, with some type of live natural bait. About half way between your cork and hook, tie on a 1/4 ounce swivel type weight to hold the bait down.”

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