Capt John 12 Hour May 21, 2016
Todays 12 hour offshore fishing trip by the party boat Capt John was headed up by Captain Johnny Williams.
After leaving Galveston’s Pier 19 with 82 of us anglers aboard and the passage between the jetties completed the offshore run began. The fishing area for the day was over the wreck pieces of the V.A. Fogg, 47 miles out in 100 feet of clear, blue water.
Four stops were made where an assortment of species were taken on squid or sardine baits fished at or near the bottom. As with most bottom spots these also held red snapper that were released quickly to swim down to be caught another day. Those days will start June 1st and run thru July 16th when their season is open. A sizable but short, sandbar shark was caught and released, another hooked and fought to gaff was a 50# ling. Ling are notorious for having gaffs to become disconnected from them due to their wild thrashing about. That’s what happened to this one when it fell against a tight fishing line; you always hate to see a prize lost….. one of fishings downsides. A way to possibly prevent such a situation that i’ve used for years with any fish thats to be gaffed involves simple reel adjustments. When the gaff is struck, quickly step back from the rail while putting your reel on it’s clicker and out of gear. If and when the gaff pulls or tears out your prize will fall against the slight tension of the clicker. You then put the reel back into gear and off the clicker and the fight is back on. I’ve saved many fish of various species over the years doing this procedure. Ling are the worst at coming off the gaff but it’s good practice on any “Gaffer.”
Today’s multi-species catch was made of the following, iced down in the multiple fish boxes for the return home.
1 Amberjack of 28#
1 Mangrove Snapper of 8#
1 Kingfish – 12#
1 Triggerfish
1 Vermillion Snapper
16 Atlantic Spadefish
12 Grunt
1 Porgy
30 Lane Snapper
4 Scamp
6 Blue Runner
1 Grasby
1 Ling 23#
My hi-light of the trip, other than several nice red snapper that were released alive, was a big hit when fishing a 2 oz. pink/chartreuse snapper slapper close to the wreck structure. It didn’t feel like a shark and I immediately “knew” it was a nice ling, not the one lost at the stop before this one… no telling how far away it was. After a careful struggle my ling came into view, well sort of…. it was a amberjack. It was a magic act I’ve done before, this time turning a ling into a amberjack. After my offshore fishing for over 54 years, that started a Williams, it just seems natural to pull off a bit of unplanned magic on occasion.
Don’t forget , red snapper season opens soon. Make your Capt John reservations as soon as you know when you can go, don’t miss out on this great offshore fishing opportunity.
See you on the Capt. John!
Patrick Lemire