The weekend fishing around Galveston was outstanding.
Saturday’s near-perfect weather allowed offshore anglers to hit some of their favorite spots beyond the jetties. While the wind increased Sunday, it did not slow fishing.
Capt. James Plaag, Silver King Adventures, had outstanding trips both days. Saturday, he hosted the Michael Pollock party of two, from Dallas, to action in the open bay.
Fishing over scattered shell and mud in 3 to 4 feet of water, his guests caught full limits of trout along with three reds.
Sunday, wade fishing was the style that worked for limits of trout to 5 pounds, along with two flounder and two reds.
Hosting Johnny Holmes, Russell Ivey and Jim Ellery, their catch came from hip-deep water around the mouth of drains during an outgoing tide.
Purple/chartreuse Bass Assassin Sea Shads and 51 series chartreuse and gold Mirrowlures were the baits.
Vicki Pike at the Fish Pot on Moses Lake observed some nice fish being caught by her customers. Jacob and Jerry Bynam, fishing with their grandfathers, had a catch of reds, flounder and sand trout using gold spoons for bait. The fish were caught along the shoreline.
Additionally, Trey Custer returned to the bait camp with a black drum, eight beautiful specks and two sand trout caught just outside of the lake. Live shrimp and croaker were the baits.
Hannah Melcer had a great day of fishing with her famous jetty-pro mom, Sarah. The two fisherwomen, along with Abby, the family dog, fished the South Jetty and caught 22 gafftop, two bull reds, a 54-inch bull shark and a stingray. Only the gafftop were retained.
Squid and fingerling mullet fished on the bottom accounted for all of the fish.
Saturday’s offshore conditions were great for Capt. Paul Stanton, Aqua Safari Charters, to take his flagship, the Island Girl, offshore.
Hosting the Bruce Madison party of 10 with Ronnie Cline as first mate, their catch included 27 bull reds to 39 inches, seven lemon sharks, 42 red snapper to 24 inches and three blacktip sharks, all of which were released.
Retained were five Spanish mackerel to 30 inches, along with a mangrove snapper and a sharpnose shark.
The West End Anglers inaugural West Bay Redfish Showdown was Oct. 24. The winning teams are: first place, Jesse Zepada and Paul Rodriguez; second place, Thomas and Kaylin Barlow (also won the side pot for most spots); third place, Kevin Luksa and Jeremy Childs; fourth place, Silver Garza and Jose Mata; fifth place, Michael Dill and Keith Inglehart; sixth place, Ed McGinnis and Jesse McGinnis; seventh place, Robert Smith and Tim Turner; eighth place, Mike and Donna Romeyn; and ninth place, Chip Reeder and Albert Rathmell.