West Galveston Bay Night Time Action – 7/10-11/18
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 6:19 pm
At 11 pm on 7/10/18, DandyDon, MWatson71 and yours truly launched into a partly cloudy, pitch black West Bay nighttime sky and fished the summertime bite. Good tides were forecast for the night – strong outgoing until midnight and strong incoming from 2 am to 8 am. We also had a major solunar feed scheduled from 11:26 pm to 1:26 am and a good minor feed from 4 to 5 am.
Tally for the night for me: I caught 25-30 undersized specks that ranged from 10 to 14 inches, and six legal specks to 18 inches. All were caught on a silver Yo-Zuri crystal minnow (1/8 oz I think) with a steady retrieve through underwater lights, a Down South 4 inch paddletail in glo/chartreuse affixed to ¼ oz jighead bounced through the underwater and surface lights (tipped with shrimp Fishbites or Saltwater Procure), and three legal fish on a bone SS Jr. worked over feeding fish on a grass flat, as discussed in greater detail below.
The highlight of the night for me was catching three legal fish on topwater only by sound and feel. Let me set the scene. A sliver of the moon rose over the bay in the east sky around 4 am as DandyDon and I ventured to the marshy area to anchor up and catch one of Don’s famous “man-naps” so we could be fresh to fish the sunrise bite at first light. As we ventured to our chosen spot, I could hear, about 150 yards away, fish busting up mullet on a grass flat in the bay, but could see nothing. So, I slowly ventured over to the sounds, got within casting distance and fired off my trusty Bone SS Jr. A 17 inch trout tore into the lure, rounding the speck total to a lower coast limit. After that, I slowly peddled around the flat listening for more tell-tale signs. As I got close to what sounded like another mullet murder, I launched the SS Jr. into the night sky once again. Another 17 inch trout tore into it (with one hook impaling him in his right peeper) and then a few minutes after that, a 24 inch redfish inhaled it and gave me a good fight. After bagging that brute, I then ventured into a grass flat cove, where I heard mullet being slurped. This time, however, I got too close to a school of hungry redfish working the flat over in a tight bunch about the diameter of a small box truck. A marsh jacuzzi then erupted all around me, and dozens, if not a 100 of them, spooked and hauled ass, with 20-25 of them hitting my kayak in 2 feet of water, rocking me and the Hobie Outback back and forth. It was nuts. Unfortunately, I never could find them after that, so Don and I fished the grass flats with topwaters and a weedless TSL Grasswalker (with a few half hearted swipes here and there) but no more fish came to hand. We called it at 7:30 am and were off the water and on our way back to Houston.
Epic nighttime trip for sure.
Winds were S/SW to 8 and temps were a pleasant 78 degrees. Water temperatures were 84 degrees, with visibility ranging from 12 to 30 inches in the grass flats.Tally for the night for me: I caught 25-30 undersized specks that ranged from 10 to 14 inches, and six legal specks to 18 inches. All were caught on a silver Yo-Zuri crystal minnow (1/8 oz I think) with a steady retrieve through underwater lights, a Down South 4 inch paddletail in glo/chartreuse affixed to ¼ oz jighead bounced through the underwater and surface lights (tipped with shrimp Fishbites or Saltwater Procure), and three legal fish on a bone SS Jr. worked over feeding fish on a grass flat, as discussed in greater detail below.
The highlight of the night for me was catching three legal fish on topwater only by sound and feel. Let me set the scene. A sliver of the moon rose over the bay in the east sky around 4 am as DandyDon and I ventured to the marshy area to anchor up and catch one of Don’s famous “man-naps” so we could be fresh to fish the sunrise bite at first light. As we ventured to our chosen spot, I could hear, about 150 yards away, fish busting up mullet on a grass flat in the bay, but could see nothing. So, I slowly ventured over to the sounds, got within casting distance and fired off my trusty Bone SS Jr. A 17 inch trout tore into the lure, rounding the speck total to a lower coast limit. After that, I slowly peddled around the flat listening for more tell-tale signs. As I got close to what sounded like another mullet murder, I launched the SS Jr. into the night sky once again. Another 17 inch trout tore into it (with one hook impaling him in his right peeper) and then a few minutes after that, a 24 inch redfish inhaled it and gave me a good fight. After bagging that brute, I then ventured into a grass flat cove, where I heard mullet being slurped. This time, however, I got too close to a school of hungry redfish working the flat over in a tight bunch about the diameter of a small box truck. A marsh jacuzzi then erupted all around me, and dozens, if not a 100 of them, spooked and hauled ass, with 20-25 of them hitting my kayak in 2 feet of water, rocking me and the Hobie Outback back and forth. It was nuts. Unfortunately, I never could find them after that, so Don and I fished the grass flats with topwaters and a weedless TSL Grasswalker (with a few half hearted swipes here and there) but no more fish came to hand. We called it at 7:30 am and were off the water and on our way back to Houston.
Epic nighttime trip for sure.