# West Galveston Bay Obstruction & Report



## FishFinder (May 25, 2004)

Hit west bay yesterday with Naterator and the NasaKid! Had to convince the Kid to go and that we would only get just a bit wet lol...On the way to lauch ole Naterator called and said he wanted to get into some of the action! We ended up launching at 10:30am and headed for upper west! Our first stop was only for a few minutes so I could see what the wind and tide was doing in order for me to make a decision as to where we would fish. With only a half day of drifting ahead of us it was an important deicision! We ended up drifting some heavy shell off the ICW working about 4' of water and throwing as close to shell as possible! We caught a few trout on plastics and 52mr's working the reefs on the incoming tides. Once past this area, I decided to cruise west doing my usual zags to find some bait and mud boils just west of greens in about 5' of water! We drifted the mud boil and it's outer edges and had non stop action for about 4 drifts. On the way back in we decided to hit the reefs again and picked up a few more trout! Most of our fish were caught on TX Avacado Assasains, Berkley Natural 3" Gulps on 1/4oz jig heads, 52CH MR Series 3, and Black/Gray X-Raps (Man, ole Naterator was on fire with that X-Rap for a few minutes, but den I broke out da GULP lmao)! We ended up keeping 14 trout to 22", 5 reds to 26", 1 flounder @16", and 1 16" croaker! The kid needed a few fish (I think he may have a decent pic)! We probably released another 12 or so keeper trout and reds! Not to mention, we released a ton of rats and just 15" trout! Great day on the H20 with 2 good buds! And since we were not in Mata and on my bote, I'm sure ole Naterator won't giva me H&!! about this post right bro!

Tight Lines!

BTW, Last Tuesday when I was out I told y'all about a huge tractor tire in upper west just outside of N. Deer on the flat! Here are the GPS coords and maybe a pic! Definitely could do some damage to a lower unit! 
N 29.16.443
w094.56.418


----------



## kenny (May 21, 2004)

Sounds like a good time with friends and some winter action.


----------



## nasakid (May 21, 2004)

*Fun Fun*

Fun times with 2 good buddies. You didn't mention that the deer jerky wasn't half-bad either!  Those Gulps made a believer out of me. I've never caught much on them, but it was ON Saturday.

First pic is of the takehome catch and the 2nd picture is the GINORMOUS golden croaker.


----------



## nasakid (May 21, 2004)

Oh, and it was 13 trout, not 14. We had a miscount due to the croaker.


----------



## PrisonerOnGalvetraz (Sep 12, 2006)

Great report! Sounds like y'all had lots of fun.


Thanks for the location and heads-up on that tire.


----------



## fishin geezer (Jul 20, 2004)

*Thanks for the coords on the tractor tire*

FishFinder,

Thanks for the coords on the tractor tire. I first saw that tire (didn't know what it was at the time) in very clear water last winter. Should have marked it then. On lower tides typically encountered in the winter, it's definitely in range of your lower unit.


----------



## troy merrill (May 21, 2004)

Nice job T-Lo. Hopefully I can break free soon and join you guys.


----------



## Melon (Jun 1, 2004)

Man that is one nice croaker. I ain't seen one like that since the sixties! LOL


----------



## Naterator (Dec 2, 2004)

*biggest*

dang croaker I think I have ever seen! Thanks guys, enjoyed it, wish yall could have made the Sunday trip, twas good.


----------



## FishFinder (May 25, 2004)

Please Nate,

Tell is about your Matagorda trip? I heard through the grapevine you got skunked lmao...


----------



## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

It might get better than that but you would have to pay for it...


----------



## gsb (Aug 7, 2006)

Thanks for the report and the heads up on the tire. Entered it just now.


----------



## Texxan1 (Dec 31, 2004)

Ya'll that dont go to west very often, would be very suprised at how many TIRES there are in west bay... Lower shore, upper shore, near the islands, in greens, in jones lol they are as bad as the crab traps.. Unfortunately they are to heavy to remove 

Be safe out there with these low tides and watch the water carefully


----------



## Alex258 (May 27, 2006)

Yea I saw one the other day too, almost hit the sucker


----------



## MsAddicted (Jan 25, 2005)

Texxan1 said:


> Ya'll that dont go to west very often, would be very suprised at how many TIRES there are in west bay... Lower shore, upper shore, near the islands, in greens, in jones lol they are as bad as the crab traps.. Unfortunately they are to heavy to remove


And a lot of them stand vertically so even if you are a little deeper they can still get you. I guess they just float to somewhere shallow, get stuck and there they sit.


----------



## Silverspoon (Jun 1, 2005)

That's one big "bull" croaker! Some good eatin' too! Pound for pound, croaker might be one of the best fighting fish there is! Use to catch/eat tons of them when I was a kid.


----------



## Dani California (Jul 20, 2006)

MsAddicted said:


> And a lot of them stand vertically so even if you are a little deeper they can still get you. I guess they just float to somewhere shallow, get stuck and there they sit.


Those are the ones that will really get you! They are everywhere.

Biggie


----------



## FishFinder (May 25, 2004)

This report was from last year folks...But, I guess it is good since it has the tire coords on it...A few weeks ago, I launched at Fat boys tides down 2 feet and ran through Jones! Super skinny h20! I could not believe all of the crab traps everywhere! I lost count on those abandoned bad boys. And, if y'all think that croaker was big. The next week I caught one that measured 19" in west bay on an arty! Now that was a beast! I actually put it in the livewell and was gonna go weigh it for a water record. But at the ramp decided not to as I did not want to be known as the state or west bay croaker record holder lmao (so it was released to fight another day)...BTW, there are no fish in west bay this year 2008 They are all in trinity bay from what I hear...


----------



## jjjj (Aug 17, 2005)

Dang it! That tire was my secret redfish spot.


----------



## JimD (May 25, 2004)

Hey Tim,

How did you get a Pass for the NasaKid? 

I thought his fishing days had ended since he is home changing those diapers. NOt to say what that smell on his hands does to the fishing.

Who caught the most fish on the trip? You or Nate?


----------



## nasakid (May 21, 2004)

I put a hurtin on 'em that day and did the same thing a couple weeks later with Tim L. I was in the slot red ZONE!

I hear that Trinity is HOT!!!

Only pass I get now is on Holidays and when I'm not hunting. I've been all over the state this year bird/deer hunting. Oh, and thank you Dr. MLK and Mr. Presidents for my time off from my lovely government job.


----------



## gsb (Aug 7, 2006)

LMAO! I thought that pic looked familiar! Wonder why I didn't enter the #s last year? hmmm?


----------



## JimD (May 25, 2004)

Allright Kid- Guess those diaper changes camo the human smell on your hands. 
Though it seems the smell would attract hardheads. 

Put it on Tim when you can. You know how he likes to put it on you and me. With winter big trout starting I am going to have to watch him close.


----------



## SpecklFinAddict (Dec 19, 2004)

Texxan1 said:


> Ya'll that dont go to west very often, would be very suprised at how many TIRES there are in west bay... Lower shore, upper shore, near the islands, in greens, in jones lol they are as bad as the crab traps.. Unfortunately they are to heavy to remove
> 
> Be safe out there with these low tides and watch the water carefully


Yeah..I've seen a few just off Meacoms. Funny thing is, I was looking at Terraserver images of West Bay awhile back and satellite images were taken in the winter sometime in what was obviously clear water. You could make out perfectly round images of what looked like tires. I'm not saying it was, but it looked very close to where I'd spotted one before.


----------



## FishFinder (May 25, 2004)

*Left y'all out*

Well,

JimmyD you did not watch me closely enough over the x-mass and ny's holidays...Several big trout were caught!

tlo



JimD said:


> Allright Kid- Guess those diaper changes camo the human smell on your hands.
> Though it seems the smell would attract hardheads.
> 
> Put it on Tim when you can. You know how he likes to put it on you and me. With winter big trout starting I am going to have to watch him close.


----------



## ductman (Jan 9, 2008)

have not seen croaker that big since 2001 near sabine causeway. nice catch and great report!


----------

