By Joe KentIf early week fishing reports are any indication, the Fourth of July weekend is shaping up to be a good one for fishing.
You may recall that, for the last two years, the big summertime holiday has been either a washout or blowout for fishing. It appears that, this year, we are heading into a more normal weather pattern for Independence Day.
You could almost describe trout action as red hot! Tuesday, our seasoned jetty pros Don Price and Doug Sefcik returned to the granite rocks for more limits of trout. This time they took Charlie Everts with them, and all three limited out while fishing some secret spot at the North Jetty. I have to admit to you guys that Wayne Tucker is going to show me your honey hole.
At the opposite end of the island, Capts. Ben Wiley and Chris Jamail were placing their combined charter into limits of trout along with other fish. Wiley and Jamail were hosting a party of seven that included Mark Valdez, his son, Kyle, Austin Mashaw, Graham Baker and three visitors from Turkey, Rocky McGregor, his wife, Shima, and her sister, Selma. Fishing the surf near San Luis Pass, all seven guests limited out on trout to 23 inches and caught a variety of other fish including sand, bonnet head and blacktip sharks and flounder. Free lined live bait and soft plastics were employed.
Fishing the surf from Jamaica Beach were Bailey Campbell, his father, Lee Campbell, both of Jamaica Beach, and Bailey’s brother-in-law, Aubrey Hardman of Fort Worth. Wading past the second sand bar, the trio of anglers caught two blacktip sharks, a hammerhead pup shark, a gafftop that scaled more than 4 pounds and a speckled trout. All of the sharks were released, according to Campbell’s report.
Megan Tagle, Galveston Party Boats, reported improved catches of red fish, sharks, black drum, whiting and sand trout from their bay trips. Tagle mentioned that she went to the beach-front rock groins with a friend and noticed whiting and sand trout being caught, while her friend landed an eel. Now, for her offshore report!
The New Buccaneer ventured about 55 miles offshore where Capt. Garrett King placed the 59 anglers aboard into some nice action. Their catch included 14 triggerfish, 118 red snapper, 20 vermilions, 11 kings and a variety of reef fish.
The fifth annual Patrick F. Doyle Invitational Fishing Tournament took place June 26 at April Fool Point Marina. There were 46 teams entered, and the results were:
Stringers: first place, Claunch and Miller using Capt. Jesse Eureste; second place, Bay Architects using Capt. Blaine Fiermood; third place, BP Texas City using Capt. John Havens. Ty Hendricks caught the largest trout, weighing 5.48 pounds.
The net proceeds from the tournament benefit the Boy Scouts of America and the Galveston County Senior Citizens Activity Center.
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.