Capt. John 12 Hour Offshore Thursday June 23, 2016

Captain Jill Williams was at the wheel of the party boat Capt. John as it left Galveston’s Pier 19 for today’s offshore fishing trip. Among the 81 of us anglers aboard was Captain Jill’s 10 year old son Justin, her sister Shannon and Aunt Rosealee.

Exiting the Galveston Jetties had the Capt. John’s twin hulls shortly afterward cutting thru a somewhat choppy gulf. That portion of the offshore ride had us headed for natural bottom structure about 50 miles out. Once there the wind working against the current had a re-anchor at our first stop. That move put the boat on the spot but the red snapper bite was on the slow side and those caught were bare keepers. A second stop nearby had virtually the same results. Those results prompted a move farther to the east.

After a run of about an hour we were anchored up over more on our third bottom stop. This was the red snapper stop of the day, as i’ve written before, ” The red snapper were home and biting”, so it was again.They were hitting from the mid-depths to the bottom in the 100′ deep water. And again, pieces of cut squid, whole Spanish sardines plus an assortment of artificials drew the bites. Getting into the snapper bite was a single bonnethead shark that was caught by Rosealee that went along with her red snapper limit it 7 pounds.

After leaving the 100 foot bottom spot with a red snapper limit for the boat an inshore run was made to a spot near where out first stops of the day were made. With a red snapper limit already in the iced fish boxes, kingfish were the primary target now. During our time there the kingfish obviously didn’t get the word of them being the primary target, or maybe they did, whatever the reason the multiple freelined sardine baits went unbitten. Those fishing the bottom looking for a shark hookup didn’t have any bites either.

As time ran out, the run back to Galveston’s Pier 19 began with this catch:

162 Red snapper

1 Bonnethead shark

Justin, Shannon, and Rosealee each had red snapper limits from 6 to 7 pounds. All were taken on whole Spanish sardines fished at or near the bottom, the same for Rosealee’s bonnethead shark.

Patrick Lemire, Texas City, My red snapper limit to 8 pounds was taken on a 5 oz, squid tipped red/white snapper slapper. Hits came at the mid-depths while on the sink.

While i’ve fished many times with Justin and Captain Jill was the first in quite a while for Shannon and Rosealee being there too. All in all it was another memorable day on the Capt. John. A nice catch and great fellowship.

See you on the Capt. John!

Patrick Lemire