Today was another of those days hoped for when making a run offshore - seas of two feet or less, a slight breeze and sunny skies. With these great conditions to work with, Capt. Johnny Williams headed the partyboat Capt. John offshore with 44 fishermen aboard

The offshore run, to rock formations about 55 miles to the south of the Island, began shortly after leaving Galveston's Pier 19. Those first stops in around 125 ft. of water produced a red snapper limit for the boat, along with a kingfish, some vermilion snapper and triggerfish. The second area fished was the wreck pieces of the V.A.Fogg, 45 miles to the south of The Island in 100 ft. of water.

The Fogg gave up lane snapper, Atlantic spadefish and a really nice 65 lb. ling. With another of those multi-species catches in the fish boxes, the run back to Pier 19 began.

Sardine or squid baits, fished throughout the water column at all of the stops, brought this catch to the deck:
?Ģ 8 kingfish to 27 lbs.
?Ģ 12 vermilion snapper
?Ģ 1 lane snapper
?Ģ 88 red snapper to 8 lbs., a limit for the 33 fishermen
?Ģ 1 ling of 65 lbs.

David Jaeger, Houston, had the 65 lb. ling to go along with his red snapper limit to 7 lbs.

Those surface types such as kingfish and ling are once again showing up in the catch reports with some regularity. They, along with the other species, make for some interesting days offshore. Give the office at Pier 19 a ring at 409-762-8808 or 713-223-4853; reserve your spot at the rail and see how multi-species your catch will be.