Reel Report
Capt. David Dillman
My wife and I have been on a mini-vacation, staying in Clear Lake. It was a much needed break, but there’s no place like home. We missed our dogs and bird, along with the smell of that salty air, but I didn’t miss the mosquitoes!
Doesn’t it always figure? You leave for a few days, and the fishing busts wide open. That’s been the case for Galveston Bay.
Excellent catches of fish have been reported from most of the bays here in Galveston — even some nice catches from offshore, especially of dolphin and even a few big ling. The fishing has been just as good south of Galveston.
Capt. Tony Gonzalez fishes the water surrounding Rockport. He said, “The fishing is pretty good right now. Most of my guide buddies are doing well, too.” We’re seeing several speckled trout most days over the upper slot limit of 23 inches. There are also lots of trout in the area barely under the 17-inch size minimum size limit. On a recent trip, Gonzalez reported catching and releasing 60 speckled trout on two anchor drops.
Capt. Jim Leavelle down in Baffin Bay said, “Wading has become awfully fickle. We’ve had some great mornings and late afternoons, with some tough catching days mixed in.” He’s still putting his anglers on limits of keeper-size speckled trout every day. The best bite is on medium to small top water baits thrown over solid grass patches or sand pot holes.
The higher the tide, the better bite over grass. Lower water levels seem to push the trout out of the grass and onto the sandy areas. Leavelle mentioned that the soft plastic bite is a distance second to the top water bite.
Leavelle said, “If you’re throwing slow sinking mullet imitation plugs, you probably won’t even get bit.” As the water temperature continues to rise, Leavelle looks for the trout to move closer to the banks of the bay.
I don’t want to jinx anything, but the long-range forecast looks promising heading into Memorial Day weekend. In the next week or so, I’ll be mentioning hurricane preparedness, as the official start of the 2023 season is around the corner.
Capt. David Dillman is a columnist for The Daily News. Report your catch to reel.report@galvnews.com or call 409-683-5273.
Reel Report
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