The Galveston County Daily News

Tuesday was an excellent day to be on the water. The wind was up early; however, it settled down near noon and allowed some excellent fishing.

A good outgoing tide prevailed in West Bay most of the morning, and anglers able to take advantage of the favorable conditions caught fish.

We are in that fall pattern in which reds are hitting everywhere, especially at the jetties and in the surf. Trout are schooling in the bays, and flounder are making their run to the Gulf, although not in the numbers we will see when the water cools down.

Sunday, Jacob Colombo, 9, went fishing with his dad, David Colombo, and uncle, Derrick Crosser, in West Bay near the Texas City Dike.

From their report, it appears David out-fished everyone with a catch of two slot reds along with specks, ribbonfish and large sand trout. There was no mention of bait; however, the report said the action came on the incoming tide.

Monday, Capt. Michael LaRue, LaRue’s Guide Service, hosted Joe Pritchett and Ben Faulk to some nice action in Galveston Bay.

Using Strike Pro lipless Crank Baits along with Pearl Chartreuse Goobers, his guests landed 15 solid trout after struggling with windy conditions early.

Sarah Melcer and Abby, her dog, were back at it at the jetties Monday.

Fishing the South Jetty at low tide, their catch included 14 bull reds (released), six blacktip sharks to near 5 feet in length, 18 gafftop and three stingrays. Squid and mullet were their choices of bait.

Fishing somewhere nearby Monday was T.K. Mills and Miles Murphy. Their catch included a whopper of a flounder, measuring 25 inches in length, along with six other flatfish. Rounding out their catch were five reds and several sand trout. Fingerling mullet fished on the bottom accounted for all of the fish.

Tuesday, Capt. Chris Jamail, Hookset Charters, hosted John Boone to some fast action in Galveston Bay.

Using lemon drop Goobers fished over shell in 8 feet of water, the group caught and released 20 speckled trout.

Tuesday, Phil Ortiz, manufacturer of popular flounder lure The Flounder Pounder, and I took a short excursion in West Bay in my boat. We did not make a full day of fishing, just hit several traditional hot spots for flounder to test them out.

The locations, all in upper West Bay, traditionally are givens for flounder in late October, especially during an outgoing tide as was the case Tuesday.

Ortiz did manage a nice flounder at one of the spots; however, we both agreed that this was not typical for the conditions and time of year.

That led us to wonder if there is a significant shortfall in the stocks of the popular flatfish.

Surveys by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department indicate a serious decline in flounder and lower bag limits resulted.

No doubt there will be spurts of good flounder fishing ahead. I just hope the average angler has an opportunity to make some decent catches.

Keep your reports coming, as that is a good indication of what type of run we will be having this year.

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.