[JCG57]

Sons and I visited Galveston this weekend to fish the dawn and dusk surf near the water tower and near Sea Isle, starting Friday evening and ending Sunday morning. Water was calm, though a little sandy; did get clearer as weekend progressed. On Sunday morning the water was absolutely full of bait the whole time we were there. Saw a dolphin rip through a school of fish about 100 yards in front of us. Used mainly live shrimp, but also spoons and soft plastics. Caught a nice variety: specs, sand trout, macs, gafftops, ladyfish, bluefish, shark and of course a few hardheads. Biggest fish was a 3-foot shark caught by older son on a live shrimp - looks bigger than 3 feet when it is ****** off and you are standing in 3 feet of water with it. Most unusual "catch" was a 12 inch sand trout that managed to snag its teeth in my landing net, probably chasing dead shrimp that I had tossed from my bait bucket. Did have the unsettling experience of stepping on something that briefly undulated under my foot before swimming away - either a flounder or a stingray with bad aim.

 

[JHooks]

Did have the unsettling experience of stepping on something that briefly undulated under my foot before swimming away - either a flounder or a stingray with bad aim.

I did the exact same thing Saturday. Very freaky feeling. If it was a stingray,.....thank God for bad aim! I made a point to shuffle, shuffle, shuffle after that. Of course that's what seems to attract the crabs to my feet. I have a crab semi-attack one of my feet at least every other trip to the surf. Thank God they tend to hit and run, instead of attaching and hanging on.

Thanks for the report. Glad ya'll caught some. And I agree, the shark ALWAYS looks bigger when you are in the water with it. Had my brother-in-law do the bone-headed thing of grabbing a still frisky little shark by the tail. Needless to say, he turned it loose real quick and bled like a stuck pig for a bit!

Have a good one.

 

[Sponge]

Me and a couple of friends were not even a mile north of the water tower by SLP and we saw an incredible display of mullet getting hammerred by what I believe to be Jack Fish. I've seen mullet run for there lives but gosh, this was the most amazing display of action I have ever seen. These were huge mullet. I actually could see mullet flip a few feet in the air and hear them get smacked! The commotion of the mullet swimming from their lives was absolutely awesome!

Also saw a guy next to us almost get spooled on a wide 6/0 full of 50 pound test but eventually he got cut off at the leader with less than a 100 yards to spare. He said that he never gained any line on this fish and he thought it was a porpoise. I don't think it was a porpoise because they are too smart to bite on a baited hook. He said he hid the hook and that's why he thinks it was a porpoise. I think if it was a porpoise he would have at least jumped and it would have stripped him fast! The fish that spooled him took some time to do it. Another reason he may have been spooled is because I saw him yak out his bait about 400 yards. That doesn't leave him with much line to spare.