GALVESTON

Reported by CAPT. DEREK YORK

Hope for the Best…

 

 

I AM HOPING THIS SUMMER, as we head into the middle of our hottest months, we are spared the extreme heat we have become accustomed to, but more than likely hot and steamy days lie ahead for us all, but that doesn’t always mean fishing is not good.  Oftentimes, taking advantage of the early morning and late afternoon bites are most productive.  Fast and steady action can occur across most of the major reefs in the Galveston Bay system for speckled trout and redfish.  

Soft plastics and live croakers seem to be the mainstays of bait preference for most people.  Topwater baits can also be highly productive, and I have seen several very large flounder caught while drifting over reefs the past several years.  It’s always a nice surprise to see a big doormat come to the surface!  

While fishing the mid bay reefs by boat is a great way to catch good numbers of fish during the summer, the beachfront also offers a great opportunity to get on some nice speckled trout.  The key to finding the trout is usually just locating bait in the surf.  A variety of baits work for this scenario.  Trout will not be the only thing you hook up on.  Metal spoons like Johnson Sprites, Kastmasters and others work awesome in the surf and can be cast a long distance.  Topwaters and soft plastics also produce a lot of fish on the beachfront.  And of course, it’s always tough to beat fishing with live bait like shrimp and croakers. 

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This is also my favorite time of year to venture offshore looking for cobia, tripletail and mahi mahi.  Typically, I don’t have to venture too far offshore to find some of these fish.  I usually stay in state waters, which go out to the 9 nautical mile line from the beach.  Any floating debris, sargassum weed lines or production platforms in our area typically have fish on them.  I use mostly freelined live baits for cobia and mahi on about a 2-3 foot fluorocarbon leader on a larger spinning setup.  I will also keep a large swim bait to throw at them, especially if we have one swim up to the boat and we don’t have a live bait ready to go!  On my smaller spinning setups, I’ll rig up some speck rigs with the two jigheads and tip them with squid or shrimp for the mahi.  This type of fishing can be fast paced and exciting but can also take some time to find the fish some days.  Persistence always pays off though eventually.

Make sure if you get out during this time of year to be prepared for the heat, especially when taking young ones out with you.  Stay hydrated, be safe and have fun!