Freeport, Texas Closeup
by Capt. Mike Holmes Gulf Coast Fisherman magazine editor, "OFFSHORE LOG" MSea2 Charters 281-393-2114 Captain31@mindspring.com
11/8/00 Red snapper season closed with a resounding slam of the door in Federal waters as October slipped away, and we probably won't see it reopen until April. There are many things going on the the devious minds at NMFS, so suprises could be forthcoming. In the meantime, what do we fish for on those calm, sunny winter days when the Gulf is flat and inviting? Vermillion and lane snapper are still legal targets, but a whole lot of red snapper will have to be released in the process, and the mortality rate is very high. Grouper are an option with the same danger of catching more red snapper than the target species. Tuna require a longer run, but are excellent as both sportfish and tablefare. Night fishing under the lights at the Tequilla, Cerveza, or Little Sister rigs is usually productive with big diamond jigs, although some experianced deckhands prefer traditional jigs with nylon skirts. Deep water shrimpboats are also an option for both blackfin and yellowfin tuna. Some sharpnose sharks will be around as long as the water isn't too cool, and ling and tarpon will be there in the same situation for a bit more fishing flash. Closer in, bluefish are an excellent option in winter. These east coast migrants come to Texas waters in winter to spawn, although some remain alll year. Blues fight as hard as anything in their size class, and will hit artificial lures or any kind of natural bait - they often bite off small hooked snapper just behind the head. When in a feeding frenzy, they work the whole water column around a rig, bottom to surface, and we've even caught a few trolling in cold water. Blues are not in the same class on the table as snapper, but if all the red meat is taken out and they are cooked fresh they aren't bad at all. Short trips within nine nautical miles for "Texas" snapper (state waters will be open all year again - 5 fish limit, 15"), can use Gulf trout and bluefish to fill out a day of action, and get the makings of a fine winter fish fry! Capt. Mike 10/20/00 Freeport area fishing report: Offshore fishing has been spotty in recent weeks due to wind and even rain. Capt. Pat Barnett of Claudia K reported a very poor trip hunting for snapper last Saturday. From the "inshore" wreck to German Charlie, it appeared that commercial activity may have gotten all the easy fish. Capt. Mike Trautwine was a passenger on a trip onboard Capt. Elliot's 12 man boat, Bluefin, last Monday, however, and had a different story. Over structure and wrecks beginning at 50 miles, amberjack and limits of snapper up to 20 pounds came pretty easy, also lots of good vermillion snapper. Inshore, reports came of good activity in Drum bay for reds, flounder, and - of course - black drum. The fresh water from recent rains hasn't hurt fishing in creeks and canals, and tides have been at or above normal. 9/6/00 Last weekend was blown out, for the most part, with the majority of charter boats turning around just past the jetties. When the winds were slight, however, snapper fishing has picked up over rocks and other structure from the 32's on out. Had a report of a bull dolphin and a nice grouper taken over a submerged wellhead in the 20 mile range. Blackfin tuna continue to be numerous around deepwater shrimpers and around rigs near the 100 fathom curve. Remember, a Federal tuna permit is not required for blackfin, but it is for yellowfin. Reports of African pompano are still coming in from the intersection rigs. Capt. Pat Barnett caught a seahorse in a crab trap at Bridge Harbor Marina last week! Capt. Mike 8/29/00 During the August Billfish Classic out of Bridge Harbor Marina - which was won by Cajun Playboy with a 329 pound blue marlin - the 72 foot custom Halter, Akela, reported a small blue and a white marlin that won its division from the Little Sister area. Although they spent all day Saturday trolling the Hilltops, the only marlin they had in the baits was at Little Sister. Spending the night there, the crew was trying to jig up hardtail jacks for live baiting marlin, but caught 20 blackfin tuna on the diamond jigs instead - also one dolphin! They also reported sighting a broadbill swordfish on the surface that night. Last Saturday, Capt. Mike Trautwine ran the 31 Fountain, Crimson Tide, to some rocks 55 miles off Freeport. By 11:30 AM the three fishermen aboard had their limits of red snapper from 17-23 inches, 11 vermillion snapper, and 2 small lane snapper. Heading further out, they hit a shrimpboat in 260 feet of water and got 2 bonito and 3 blackfin tuna from 10 to 20 lbs. By the way, the trip in - 65NM - took only 1 1/2 hours! Seas were flat, and the Fountain can go! Sunday Akela returned from an overnight trip with a good catch of sow snapper, amberjack, ling, and the ever more common blackfin tuna. Capt. Mike 8/22/00 Capt. Pat Barnett reported an overnight trip to the Intersection rigs produced lots of good snapper, including several bigeyes. A boat next to him was catching African Pompano in the 15-18 pound class. Evidently a lot of these big pompano have been coming from this area. Inshore snapper fishing has slowed some - as it does every year at this time - probably due to fishing pressure as much as anything. Kings are still around, along with scattered dolphin and ling. I saw seaweed in the marina harbor that might have come off boat props, or may have drifted in with the tide - as there was also a baby tripletail swimming around! The August Billfish Classic out of Bridge Harbor produced only one blue marlin, - a 329 pounder caught on Cajun Playboy. Capt. Mike 8/16/00 Snapper fishing seems to have slowed a bit, although whether due to hot weather or angling pressure no one knows. The extended period of calm seas has allowed a lot of fishing activity in the Gulf over the last 6 weeks or so. Lot's of snapper are still available, but many are undersized. Had a report of good action at the V.A. Fogg for snapper on driftlines recently, and lot's of small fish from in close to the 27's. Kings are still good, but haven't heard any dolphin reports in 2 weeks. Akela (Kirby Marina based) came in Sunday with a good deepwater catch of sow snapper, amberjack, and ling. Marlin action has continued good, with more fish coming from "inshore" spots like Little Sister than the extreme deepwater rigs. There have been some reports of good action around Diana, a new well 45 miles past Cerveza in 3,000 feet of water. Lots of sharks being reported. I've seen baby tripletail swimming in the marina harbor, so we still have saltier than normal inshore water. Capt. Mike 7/27/00 Two weeks ago, Capt. Durwood Adams on One-Too-Many had his party limited on kings about 20 minutes after arriving at the 21's, so they started hitting shrimpboats for ling or blackfin tuna. What they found were 2 yellowfins - a 53 lber and a monster 230 pound tuna! The small fish hit first, on the only large rod aboard, but the larger one stayed close to the transom eating chum during that fight. When the 53 was in, another threadfin herring went on the hook, and the big tuna hit it immediately. A one hour battle was helped by the water depth - 120 feet - which kept the fish from being able to take a lot of line to the bottom. This should have been a state record fish, but the rod was handled by several anglers. This disappointment was compounded when Durwood discovered he'd been given a worthless check to pay for the trip! Kings have slowed somewhat further out, but are still hot inshore. Capt. Adams had a trip last Sunday that produced limits of kings, snapper, an 80 pound ling, and a 7 1/2 pound flounder - and they were back at the dock at 12:30! Capt. Mike 7/18/00 Hot weather and hot fishing! Offshore action for kings has been very good within 20 miles of the beach, and good snapper - both in numbers and size are coming from wrecks within 30 miles. Amberjack have been good over wrecks and structure, as well as around rigs in 120 -150 feet of water. Chaser, a 41 Hatteras out of Bridge Harbor, came in with several wahoo and bull dolphin two weekends ago, and other boats fishing deepwater have done well, also. Wild Thing, Greg and Amy Keiffer of Bay City's 46 Bertram, had a boatload of big amberjack and snapper on a recent trip. They also released a blue marlin around 450 pounds and a sail Greg estimates to have been over 100. More marlin by far were caught in the Watermelon Open out of Bridge Harbor in June than in recent years, including the winning fish of 454 pounds and a grand slam. Inshore, while recoveringfrom carpal tunnel sugery on both hands (the reason my reports have been curtailed recently) I took a 20 inch flounder off the marina dock that hit a large chunk of mullet fished on a snapper sized circle hook - I was gar fishing, to tell the truth. Add flounder to the list of fish I've caught on circles! Several other flounder have been caught in the same area recently, and a dock neighbor found a 20 inch speckled trout in his crab trap! This action is in Oyster Creek, which our government describes as a trash filled, polluted body of water! Capt. Mike
6/12/00 Freeport- last weekend was pretty much blown out by the wind, but before that good catches were coming in. At least three wahoo were brought in to Bridge Harbor Memorial Day weekend, and one boat reported releasing 4 blue marlin that Saturday morning. Kings were numerous from nearshore to Tall Rock and the 32's. Capt. Pat Barnett had a "fun" trip to a spot within 9 miles recently that produced limits of snapper to 6-7 pounds and 2 grouper. Amberjack were also numerous on deepwater trips. The sinking of a fairly new 34 foot Luhrs charterboat off Galveston last week should be a wake-up call to all of us to look really hard at all potential points of entry for water. On inboard boats this means shaft and rudder packing, all below the waterline thru-hulls, and raw water hoses feeding engines, generators, live wells, A/C units and toilets as well as related valves and fittings. From the survivors stories, it seems apparent that the Vitamin Sea had been taking on water for some time, since it went down very fast after stopping to fish. Hopefully the boat will be raised to answer the question of why it sank, considering that two people died in the incident. Capt. Mike 5/4/00 The first Saturday of snapper season, Capt. Mike Trauwein of Houston limited on snapper from 8-10 pounds and boated a 55 pound wahoo at Salvadore Ridge. Mike Jones of Angleton limited on snapper last Saturday, but said the fish were scattered. The Kirby marina-based mega sportfisherman, Akela - a 74 foot custom Halter - made an overnight trip last Friday and returned with snapper limits including a good number of sows, several blackfin tuna, one yellowfin, a nice ling, two big grouper, and limits of amberjack fishing deepwater rigs off Freeport. Let's hope the storms are over for the week!Freeport report: The first Saturday of snapper season, Capt. Mike Trauwein of Houston limited on snapper from 8-10 pounds and boated a 55 pound wahoo at Salvadore Ridge. Mike Jones of Angleton limited on snapper last Saturday, but said the fish were scattered. The Kirby marina-based mega sportfisherman, Akela - a 74 foot custom Halter - made an overnight trip last Friday and returned with snapper limits including a good number of sows, several blackfin tuna, one yellowfin, a nice ling, two big grouper, and limits of amberjack fishing deepwater rigs off Freeport. Let's hope the storms are over for the week! Capt. Mike 4/25/00 The opening of snapper season came with mixed reviews, A 35 pound snapper was apparently taken on one of Capt. Elliot's party boats Friday, but other anglers found it a bit spotty that day - epscially around the V.A. Fogg, which appears to have been worked hard by commercial boats recently. A few small kings were taken at the Fogg on Friday, however, and more kings were reported at the 32's Saturday. Saturday was calmer than Friday early, but got nasty in the afternoon. Capt. Pat Barnett of the Claudia K reported good snapper action within 18 miles, as well as having a large ling around the boat for some time. A few dolphin were even reported from within 30 miles. Sunday the wind blew hard, pretty much wiping out fishing efforts. A report from earlier in the week had the Crossfire out of Bridge Harbor boating a dozen yellowfin tuna near a new rig 100 miles out, but this one came in second hand. Capt. Mike
4/18/00 Capt. Durwood Adams reported catching between 75 and 100 bonito on Saturday! Bet he had some arm weary customers on board! They also got a throwback ling, then went further out for catch and release snapper fishing. Durwood was scouting for the opening of red snapper season in Federal waters this Friday (April 21). All indications are that there are lots of good fish waiting. Commercial fishermen reported getting just about all the snapper they needed inside of 23 miles during their 3 short seasons in the first 10 days of February, March, and April. One commercial trip brought in 2 grouper in the 50 class caught on live bait less than 30 miles out. Mike Cryer of Hydrasports Scuba and kayak sales reported seeing lots of grouper and big snapper on recent rig diving trips, and other sources said most close wrecks - within 20 miles - were holding lots of snapper. Remember, when you get aggravated at the Gulf shrimpers, every old wooden shrimpboat out there scouring the bottom is a new snapper spot looking for a place to sink! Anyone who cares to report their opening weekend snapper results - provided we have decent weather conditions - will help me in the letter I'll be writing to NMFS officials, once again complaining about the season closures. We can't let up on this just because they have eased up a bit! Capt. Mike
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