Galveston Party Boat Suggestions

[Chief Brody]

Yakke-T received a gift certificate good for a trip on one of the charter party boats, and we are heading out tomorrow (if the waves and weather permit). I've been out once or twice, but it's been over a decade, and she never has. This is the 12 hour deep sea trip - heading out 20-40 miles - the last report is that they are catching mostly spade fish and some mangrove snapper.

Any advice on what to take? Extra baits? A trout rod?

thanks

[The Angler]

Bring some frozen cigar Minnows to get you on the bigger snapper. More than likely the crews bait of choice will be cut squid, which will be fine, but I've had better luck catching big snappers with cigs.

If you can, bring a pitching rod just in case you happen across some Cobia cruising. The deep dropper rigs they supply you with will likely have way too much weight to pitch at a fish, so have your pitching rod ready to go with a lure like a bucktail, spoon, plug, gulp, or whatever, just bring something a little bigger than a trout rod.

Good luck

[Chief Brody]

good advice, thank you. I've got a rod that might just work.

[Yaklash]

good advice, thank you. I've got a rod that might just work.

A day late and a dollar short, but weekends would be a better time to have gone, so you could have kept red snapper. And I second the bringing of some quality bait of your own.

[Chief Brody]

it was a fun trip - we found out that our spots were amidships, so cigar minnows weren't much of an option - those are better when you are on the fantail.

We brought home 20 vermilion snapper, a couple of other odd snapper's and a whitebone porgy, which all together will make for a very nice fish fry.

We went out on a Galveston Party Boat ship that holds 100 fisherman, fortunately we only had about 70 so it wasn't quite shoulder to shoulder - but there were still some of the inevitable tangles which can be pretty frustrating. Tracey and I were both impressed by the cleanliness of the ship - the guys worked on keeping it that way -and the helpfulness of the crew. Overall a very positive experience for us.

[MobyYack]

it was a fun trip - we found out that our spots were amidships, so cigar minnows weren't much of an option - those are better when you are on the fantail.

We brought home 20 vermilion snapper, a couple of other odd snapper's and a whitebone porgy, which all together will make for a very nice fish fry.

We went out on a Galveston Party Boat ship that holds 100 fisherman, fortunately we only had about 70 so it wasn't quite shoulder to shoulder - but there were still some of the inevitable tangles which can be pretty frustrating. Tracey and I were both impressed by the cleanliness of the ship - the guys worked on keeping it that way -and the helpfulness of the crew. Overall a very positive experience for us.

sounds interesting. what company did you go with?

[Yaklash]

Chief Brody,

Years ago, I was walking down along the docks with my girlfriend and her teenage son. We had just come out of one of the seafood markets with a bunch of shrimp and crab for that night & I noticed one of their boats pulling into the dock. I wanted to check out the anglers coming off with their hauls so we strolled over. Mostly different snapper, but some Kings and one guy had a nice ling, then an older man, must have been 65, came walking off with the biggest red snapper I'd ever seen in my life (that wasn't mounted on a wall) - must have been at least 30 lbs. I asked a deck hand how big it was and he said, "it ain't a record but it's the biggest I've ever seen." I asked the gentleman if he was in the STAR tournament and he said, "you know, you're about the 20th person that has asked me that today, and half of them told me I woulda won a boat with this fish. I already got a boat." He walked away, seemingly miffed by all the attention.

[Chief Brody]

funny. Fisherman can be an odd lot...

One of the deck hands on the boat we took had to be about 60, but looked to be in great shape and obviously was enjoying what he was doing - he was the voice of the crew, giving the briefing ("don't puke in the galley, don't puke in the head, don't puke on the upper deck, don't puke in a trash can..."), and once we got out close to the fishing grounds, he changed into a pure white dress shirt and shorts that were brown with stains and shredded from cuts. Then when we pulled in, he put a black dress jacket on - quite the character...

[Chief Brody]

it was a fun trip - we found out that our spots were amidships, so cigar minnows weren't much of an option - those are better when you are on the fantail.

We brought home 20 vermilion snapper, a couple of other odd snapper's and a whitebone porgy, which all together will make for a very nice fish fry.

We went out on a Galveston Party Boat ship that holds 100 fisherman, fortunately we only had about 70 so it wasn't quite shoulder to shoulder - but there were still some of the inevitable tangles which can be pretty frustrating. Tracey and I were both impressed by the cleanliness of the ship - the guys worked on keeping it that way -and the helpfulness of the crew. Overall a very positive experience for us.

sounds interesting. what company did you go with?

it was called Galveston Party Boats: https://www.galvestonpartyboatsinc.com/