On Galveston: June 2007

I am glad it's May and June because April was a disaster. The weather patterns just killed us; the weather was just horrible. We had only a few good days for the most part. The boat fishermen did not have as much luck as the wade fishermen. Wade fishing was definitely the ticket for all the high winds.

We are still fighting winds. When the wind is down the boat fishermen are doing good over deep shell. That is where the bulk of our fish are right now. They are over the mid bay reefs and the ship channel. Trinity Bay has received a ton of fresh water. The rivers are up and they just opened the flood gates in Livingston yesterday. All twelve of them are open and it is not looking good for Trinity Bay, probably for the rest of the summer. We have a ton of fresh water over here now and this will just add to the dilemma. San Jacinto is running upstream so this report is going to be along the coast only and no northern bays.

It looks like for May and June that tall the hot stuff is going to be along the Houston Ship Channel, down towards Galveston. You can work your favorite reefs along that. You will need to work that mid bay shell and stuff with soft plastics. The lower Galveston Bay, over by Dollar and Dickinson are going to produce real well this summer.

What this fresh water does is that it pretty much eliminates Trinity Bay and everything. The fish that do leave this area all end up in East Bay and down the lower channel and in the jetties, West Bay and the lower Galveston Bay. It is going to make fishing better for everybody. However it will concentrate everybody too. It is going to get pretty crowded in places. This bay is one of the biggest around but it will get pretty small in places when things like this happen.

As of now wading the south shore line in East Bay has been the hottest ticket. Getting out of these winds is the main objective and luckily there are some fish there. The winds have been pumping 25-30 mph for weeks. It has been crazy. We are getting through it but it takes effort. If you don't wade you are going to have trouble right now.

As soon as the winds diminish and the water greens up over the mid bay shell, that is where the hot action will be. We have been seeing signs of big trout hitting the shorelines and pulling back out so it is going to be a fiasco when these winds lay down! Red fishing is really off right now. Trout are the bonus and a few flounder along the shore lines. Over at Mesquite Island down in the corner by the Texas City Dike, over by Dollar Flats, that has been producing some good specks also. In West Bay behind the pass, once the winds settle down and get that green tide coming through the pass that will produce some real good hot wade fishing. The action is always best fishing behind the bars and guts.

The jetty fishing has been rough but the fish are there and I have a sneaking suspicion that is where the bulk of our red fish are. I've seen it before when they hole up in that deep water; not fanned out through the rest of the system.

A few words on lure selection; anything dark has been working in this off color water. Plum, Strawberry, anything red, black or purple has been producing better especially on your bigger fish. Topwaters are still iffy, one day you will just crush them and the next day they are just slapping around. Just put on your old trust Trout Killer or Assassin, whatever you like to throw and then boom bam boom, you are back in.

Things are looking real favorable, all we need is for Mother Nature to work with us, we have lots of fish. She needs to just let the wind quit blowing and let us get out there and get on some fish. Trinity Bay is out of the picture for early summer but East Bay and West should do well. Pray for the heavy rains in the northern part of the state to let up for a while.