Although the swells in the open Gulf were only running a foot or less, squalls were out there also. With those squalls well off to the south, a choice was made to run to the SE for today's offshore fishing by the partyboat Capt. John. After turning the end of Galveston's south jetty, that offshore run began.

At around 55 miles out, Capt. Tony Langston stopped the Capt. John and the 83 fishermen started working their baits at a series of rocks in the area's 120 ft. deep water. Those baits, pieces of cut squid, whole squid, whole shad or Spanish sardines, were worked from the near surface area to the bottom. Those baits and the fishermen's efforts produced this catch:
?Ģ 142 red snapper to 10#
?Ģ 9 lane snapper
?Ģ 20 vermilion snapper
?Ģ 2 Atlantic sharpnose sharks
?Ģ 40 gray triggerfish
?Ģ 1 scamp grouper
?Ģ 22 kingfish
?Ģ 1 wahoo of 60#

Today's total catch was indeed one of multi-species qualifications. The red snapper portion was a little short of a boat limit for the 83 fishermen at a little over 85%. The individual catch highlight was the beautiful 60 lb. wahoo that Sharica Brown, a Washington Redskins cheerleader, coaxed into hitting her freelined shad. Later in the fight, she called for backup and her fiance, Rashan Clark finished the job off - teamwork wins again! That was a great tradeoff, a possible "whatever", i.e. snapper, ling, etc., while using a mono leader, for a magnificent 60 lb. wahoo. The bullet that Sharica dodged was those wahoo teeth, she had a mono leader and fortunately, a circle hook. A "J" hook could have struck home early, resulting in the mono being sliced clean in two by the wahoo's teeth. The circle hook penetrated the corner of the wahoo's jaw with the mono safety outside...whew! Had she known the wahoo was in the vicinity, the insurance of a wire leader would have been used. Looking at it another way, the wire may have caused the wahoo to shy away. You never know what's going to work out there.

Today's catch shows again that you never know what will show up on your hook. To get your ticket to this virtual fish lottery, give the office at Pier 19 a ring at 409-762-8808 or 713-223-4853 to make your reservation at the rail on the Capt. John, Galveston's newest partyboat.