Port Aransas. It's Texas - Island Style

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Big fish caught off south jetty

In Port Aransas, you don’t have to go out in a boat way offshore to catch fish that weigh more than 100 pounds.

 

Sharon Keehlisen at Woody’s Sport Center said folks fishing from the south jetty lately have been catching spinner and hammerhead sharks weighing more than 100 pounds. Some of the catches have been from boats off the jetty, she said.

 

Standing on the rocks, anglers have been nabbing black drum, using live crab and sea lice as bait, Keehlisen said. Large sand trout also have been making their presence known at the south jetty.

 

Anglers have been reeling in pompano and black drum in the surf, and guides have been coming back with redfish, black drum and a few sheepshead, Keehlisen said.

 

The Island Queen has been getting into redfish, shark, Spanish mackerel, gafftop and sand trout, she said.

 

At Fisherman’s Wharf, Jay Porter reported that customers on 12-hour trips offshore have been hooking limits of vermilion snapper. Ling has started moving in, Porter said.

 

On nine-hour drift trips, anglers have been catching limits of Atlantic sharpnose shark and a few kingfish, Porter said. Someone hauled in a 100-pound bull shark on the most recent such trip, he said.

 

Bay guides have been catching trout and a lot of black drum, Porter said.

 

At Dolphin Dock, Gary Carter said the last few offshore trips have resulted in some nice spinner shark and vermilion snapper catches, plus a few amberjack.

 

Bay guides have reported catches of a lot of gafftop and some whiting, Carter said.

 

At Deep Sea Headquarters, the most recent 24-hour trips have come back with lots of blackfin tuna and a few amberjack. Vermilion snapper, grouper, a few amberjack and some nice African pompano were caught on a recent 12-hour trip. Bay guides are starting to get some stout trout, and also redfish and black drum.

 

Blake Wallingford at Horace Caldwell Pier said anglers there have been catching whiting, pompano, small blacktip shark and a few redfish.

 

Report courtesy of Port Aransas South Jetty Newspaper

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Texas Highways Magazine

 

The arrival of summer inspires mixed emotions in Texas. There’s no getting around the heat of our most extreme season, a months-long series of blistering days that test the endurance of even the proudest and most stoic among us. But it’s the high summer temperatures—along with late sunsets, school vacations, and a blessed number of swimming holes—that also make the season special. For generations, Texans have embraced the summer not because it’s inevitable, but rather because it’s packed with opportunities for recreation, travel, and fun. It’s in that resilient spirit that we scoured the state to bring you our list of unbeatable activities to shunt the summertime blues and enjoy your best summer ever.

 

7. Cast a line in Port Aransas

 

Identifying the best time to fish in Port Aransas is like asking a room full of kindergarteners to identify their favorite type of candy. But we have it on good authority that the summer months are hard to beat when it comes to fishing from Port A’s four piers and two jetties. Read on...

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The action has been good lately at Horace Caldwell Pier.

 

“Looks like people are catching blacktip and hammerhead sharks left and right really easily right now,” Blake Wallingsford said late this afternoon, Friday, April 12. A woman on the pier also caught a 50-inch red drum today, said Wallingsford, who works at Keepers, a store on the pier.

 

At Woody’s Sports Center, Sharon Keehlisen said bay guides have been doing well.

 

“Lots of redfish and black drum” Keehlisen said. “Sheepshead are starting to slow down a bit, but in the last couple of days, speckled trout have been showing up.”

 

One guide came back the other day with a bunch of trout, including two that were 25 inches long and one that measured 27 inches.

 

Anglers also have been catching black drum at the south jetty, gafftop from piers in town, Black drum and pompano in the surf and redfish in the flats, Keehlisen said.

 

Folks offshore have been catching Atlantic sharpnose shark, said Eric Peschke at Dolphin Dock.

 

Paula Housman at Deep Sea Headquarters said anglers fishing offshore on a recent 24-hour trip caught about 90 blackfin tuna. An eight-hour trip got into some Atlantic sharpnose shark. Bay anglers have been catching redfish and black drum, she said.

 

Wyatt Hickman at Fisherman’s Wharf said anglers on a 12-hour offshore trip Tuesday hauled in vermillion and lane snapper, grouper, kingfish and 40 or 50 Atlantic sharpnose shark.

 

Bay guides have been returning with redfish, sheepshead, black drum and a bunch of trout, Hickman said.

 

North jetty anglers have been catching numerous trout and a lot of Spanish mackerel, Hickman said. Tarpon also have been seen around the north jetty, he said.

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