Sturgeon fishing 06-04-2012

Catching one of these prehistoric looking fish has been on my list for awhile. We have tried in the past to make the trip with Alan and Nolana, but other things would bump it off the calendar. So we were glad that things worked out this year. Check out the site of our guide Brad Hadfield and notice the picture of the guy at the top of the left margin, it's Alan with an over sized Sturgeon. Alan and Nolana have been out with Brad several times, and once landed a 10-footer.

We met Brad at the dock at 6:30 am and headed out to a spot that had been good for him the day before. After a while other boats (see picture above) started showing up. 

I was the first to hook up, but it came unhooked at the boat. Shortly after I caught this keeper. In order to keep a Sturgeon the length must fall between 41" to 54", this one was 50" and 25 lbs.

Alan brought in the next one. It was 0.25 to 0.50 inches short of being a keeper.

The bait we were using was either bait fish as shown above or shrimp. 

This is how it was rigged up.

White Sturgeon are found along the west coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands to Central California. It is the largest "Freshwater" fish in North America, and is known to reach a maximum size of 1799 lbs and 20 ft. They can live to be over 100 years old. Typically, they reach six feet long around 25 years of age.

Sturgeon have changed very little since they first appeared, over 175 million years ago and thus have the appearance of a very ancient fish. 

Sturgeon have no scales, instead they have large bony scutes that serve as a form of armor. 

Sturgeon live and feed on the bottom of rivers and bays. 

 They come equipped with a super sucker.

Next it was Nolana's turn, a nice one just a little short of being a keeper. 

I picked up another keeper, this time 51" and 28 lbs.

Both of the fish I caught had been tagged. The fish and game officer at the dock took the tags and said they would send me a little history about the fish I had caught. UPDATE, I received the information on the fish: They were originally tagged with in a couple days of each other, and almost exactly two years from the time I caught them. They had each grow about eight inches, and were tagged approximately five mile from where I caught them.   

These little Bullheads kept trying to steal our bait. 

Alan displaying this Sturgeon and one of the one-thousand origami (paper) cranes he folded in honor of people with cancer.

Grandpa hooks into one, but didn't care to get a picture so it was unhooked and released at the boat. 

Coming back into the dock.

One last picture before having the fish filleted.

This is Andy and his son Tyler, rumor is that they are the best at filleting. If you are interested in seeing how Andy fillets a Sturgeon click HERE 

We had a fun day fishing with Brad and would recommend him. I would like to do it again and go after over sized (over 54 inches) Sturgeon, or just a day of catch and release when the fishing is fast.

Check out the Video (Best viewed Full Screen)

Bolivar Peninsula 10-14-2011

In the afternoon on the 14th we took the ferry from Galveston over to the Bolivar Peninsula to do some surf fishing.

Brad and Diane 

Diane with a fish on. 

Diane's fish, a Croaker. 

Alan caught these fish in his casting net. The bigger fish a Croaker was probably chasing the smaller Mullet when the net came over them.

Linda with a fish on.

Linda's fish a Whiting.

Nolana had one on that got off.

The next few picture show how to throw a casting net. Luckily I did it right this time, with a nice open circle landing on the water. It didn't always work out that well.

Some bait fish (Menhaden) caught with the casting net.

One more Sunrise outing 10-14-2011

Friday morning we decided to surf fish the west end of Galveston island by a place called San Louis Pass, it's were the water from the Gulf flows in and out of the Bay.

We started out using shrimp. 

It wasn't long before I caught a Stingray. 

Alan went out to catch us some live bait. 

The live bait, a Mullet. 

After not having much luck at this location, we went over to the bay side to fish for Reds. I didn't get any pictures over there. While Brad and I wade fished the flats with no luck, Alan stuck to fishing the pass, he ended up catching a couple fish, one was a Piggy Perch.

Galveston Bay 10-12-2011

Brad arranged for us to fish Galveston bay with a guide on Wednesday. We met up with the guide at Fat Boy's Bait & Tackle at 5:30 am. After about a 30 minute boat ride by moon light, the guide stops the boat in the middle of the bay and says "this is where we get out to fish". It seemed a little weird sliding over the edge of the the boat in the middle of the bay, in the dark, into dark water. This spot was on a submerged oyster shell island. The water was nice and warm.

Click the PLAY button below to watch a short video.

Getting rigged up to start fishing at the first location.

Brad fishing by moon light.

Alan at sunrise. 

In the distance you can see the nearest shoreline.

Me

Getting ready at the second location. A small sand and oyster reef.

Alan and the guide fishing on the reef, just beyond the boat.

Brad by the boat.

Brad with a nice Speckled Sea Trout.

Alan with his stringer of Speckled Sea Trout.

At the third location, I tried my hand at fly fishing the grassy flat's. At this location there were lots of stingrays and you had to shuffle your feet while walking so you wouldn't spook them.

At the forth and last location Alan caught this Spanish Mackerel and a Flounder.

Alan with the largest Spec of the day, 19-inches. In order to keep a Speckled Trout (the type of fish we were after) they had to be over 15-inches. Alan had the hot rod, catching the most fish (8 or 9) and three different species, Speckled Trout, a flounder, and a Spanish Mackerel. Brad caught a couple less than Alan, and I got a lot of casting practice, only catching two, a Speckled Trout and a Sand Trout. It was fun trying another type of fishing.

Back at Fat Boy's dock with the catch of the day, or should I say the fat boy's at the dock.

These fish are made to hold on to what they catch.

That night Brad cooked up some of the fish, they were delicious.