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Capt. John 10 Hour Offshore Saturday September 3, 2016

With 77 of us anglers aboard Captain Johnny Williams headed the party boat to the East of the Island shortly after leaving Galveston’s Pier 19.

The clear green waters at the first platform at about 28 miles out was again a Atlantic spadefish hotspot….until it wasn’t. By the time it wasn’t around 400 of those eager to bite and hard pulling spadefish had been caught. Numerous red snapper were also caught and released. My time at the rail was spent as a hardhead on ling watch. My freezing squid baits caught the red ones but no ling were sighted.

After the bite slowed it was off to our next fishing opportunity, another platform about eleven miles off to the East. The spadefish were biting there too, hitting pieces of cut squid fished shallow on small circle hooks. In fact that bite was better than at the first platform. I let up on my ling watch duties a bit, a squid rigged rod was at the ready if one or more appeared. My focus went to trying to catch a mangrove snapper or two. Flipping out a squid head (with tentacles) up current and letting it flow toward the platform on a slow sink did the trick. The pair I caught went 7 and 9.5 pounds each. Details of my rigging was simple, a 5/0, thin wire circle hook on a unweighted freelined, 40 pound mono leader. Mangroves have been caught on 80 pound mono leaders but 40 has a much better chance of producing a hit, mangroves are generally leader shy.

When the clock ran low and it was time to go this catch had been taken:

862 Atlantic spadefish

5 Mangrove snapper to 9.5#

1 Florida pompano

2 Bluerunner

2 Bonnethead shark

1 Gulf trout

1 Bluefish

Someday my ling will come but for today a pair of nice mangroves will fill the bill nicely.

See you on the Capt. John!

Patrick Lemire

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