The Early Bird Beats the Heat GALVESTON

Reported by CAPT. DEREK YORK

THE HEAT IS ON THIS TIME of year and that usually means early mornings for my clients and myself. Most of my days shing this time of the year start well before the sun comes up to try and enjoy some cooler tem- peratures. Speckled trout shing is typically very good this time of the year, especially when targeting deeper oyster reefs in West and East Galveston Bay. ese areas o er lots of oyster reef habitat and the deeper water which stays a li le cooler during the day. Other areas that are highly productive on Galveston Bay are the numerous oyster reefs along the Houston Ship channel. Dri ing these areas with arti cials or live bait such as croaker or shrimp can produce some quality sh and good numbers.

My tackle is fairly simple when shing in the summer, 1/4oz jigheads with your favorite so plastic or about an 18 inch leader with a kale hook when using croaker or shrimp. e cha er weights are a great product that you can a ach to the front of your live bait rig to produce lots of sound and the added weight to keep your bait in the strike zone. Don’t be surprised if you hook into a nice red or ounder also! is is also a great time to look for some of those sh species that nd their way into our nearshore waters and bay systems in warmer months. Sharks, jacks, tripletail and cobia can be targeted here in Galveston when the conditions are right. ese sh rarely turn down live bait and can provide some great action when hooked. Cobia and Tripletail are notorious for being around oating structures. Areas to target could be anything from sargassum to trash and even color changes. For cobia, I am typically using 60 pound uorocarbon leader about 18 inches long with a good circle hook. Live bait is usually my go-to for catching cobia and tripletail. I will use a 25 pound uorocarbon setup for tripletail with just a small circle hook in a 1/0 or 2/0 size to a small swivel. For sharks, you are typically using some sort of wire leader. is can be a single strand wire, but I prefer using the coated multistrand wire which is much easier to handle and less likely to cut you when you are handling it with a sh on the other on the other end! Even of my

Even though most of my shing is done from a boat, there are numerous