Written by Captain Greg Verm

Current Water Temperature

Galveston North Jetty:  57.7F

Galveston Causeway:  55.9F

Eagle Point:  56.8F

San Luis Pass:  56.7F

60 mile buoy:  69.8F

 

Well, we made it thru the first month of the 2020 year and January had it’s great days for fishing and Mother Nature played her part to protect the fish on others.  If I go back thru all my years of Galveston Fishing Reports I have written, 2020 is just another January in the books. The first part of the month was great in the back lakes and marshes for speckled trout and redfish.  The deeper areas of the bayous and drop offs held nice speckled trout and when the tides were moving, they were fairly easy to catch.  Soft plastics fished slow in these areas work best.  Once the sun came up, we would move to the shallow flats adjacent to the deeper water and redfish and flounder were on the target list.  Soft Plastics, live shrimp or live mullet all are working well.  Now Mother Nature plays a major role in this great sport we love, and she dropped almost 8 inches of rain in Galveston County during the month of January!  The long-term effects of this rain fall is good in our back lakes and bayous.  However short term – these areas experience a tremendous amount of runoff, making water clarity the major suffering factor.  It only takes three to four days and sometimes less for the water to get right again…. After the runoff stops.  As I write this article, these areas are returning back to normal.  If the weather forecast is correct – we will be battling redfish, specks and flounder in these areas this weekend.

February is now here , and so many great things happen during this time.  Both the back lakes, bayous and bays will be holding good numbers of specks and reds as well as the Galveston Jetties seeing great annual spawns in the beginning stages.  Big Black Drum are already showing up along both the North and South Galveston Jetties, and these Dinosaurs of the Gulf are great fun to catch on big game tackle.  Once they reach over 18”, their table fare quality goes down tremendously – Giant Black Drum are great fun to experience a Big Game Battle while still seeing the shoreline in sight.  Another great fish that will be stacking up along the granite rocks are the BaySnapper, aka Sheepshead.  These fish are migrating from the Gulf to all the passes along the Upper Texas Gulf Coast, and they are high on our target list for February.  For those that enjoy eating their fresh caught wild fish, the BaySnapper ranks up on the top 2 in my home for fish of the Bays.  These fierce fighters are fairly easy to catch with the right direction and usually the action is fast and furious.  As we target these fish with live shrimp along the jetties, we will also be catching nice slot reds, black drum and it is a great time to catch the trophy speckled trout of a lifetime.  With so many spawning BaySnapper – the specks have a lot of competition, but February has yielded some Giant Specks fishing along the Galveston Jetties.

Water-Front Lodging & Great Fishing

Another great area we will be targeting during February is the waters close to our Water Front Lodge, Bay’s Landing.  Nestled on beautiful Oyster Creek, your family can enjoy an affordable getaway and enjoy some incredible fishing for reds, speckled trout, flounder, BaySnapper and more.  We have an incredible Winter-Time Special going on thru the month of February, and you don’t want to miss out on this deal!  For only $625 you can stay at the Bay’s Landing and get picked up at the dock the next day to enjoy a guided fishing trip.  You want to stay another night?  Heck for only $50 more… stay night two!  With a large back patio, and all the tools for a crawfish boil, why not?!

Give us a call, and lets get you on the water or book online here.  409-739-8526