Hillman Guide Service

[CaptSteve]

I’ve had to cancel as many days as I’ve fished here lately because of high winds and low tides from late cold fronts. It’s that time of year. We’ve continued to focus on big trout above all else. There are areas we could probably go to catch more numbers and certainly a lot of redfish, but large trout tend to get your blood pumping. We have been catching some reds and flounder mixed in with the trout as a bonus. Most of our larger trout have come from water depths of 2 to 4 feet over scattered shell and mud. Corkies and MirrOdines have been the best baits, but Salt Water Assassins and topwaters have been good on some days as well. Slicks and the occasional mullet have led us to the fish. We’ve already had a great shad hatch, but they are miniscule and hard to catch fish out of right now.

Feb. 17th - 18th - Cancelled due to stiff SW winds

Feb. 19th – Chris and Jared wanted to try to trick a big trout or two so we grinded hard for just a few bites. The guys were rewarded with 12 nice trout to 6.25 pounds and a few throwbacks. Jared caught his personal best (6.25 lbs.) and we caught several more in the 5 pound range. All of the larger trout were released including Jared’s big trout.







Feb. 21st – Haley and Scott fished in the evening hours with me to try to get their chance at a big one. We never really caught anything big, but landed 9 trout to almost 5 pounds (all released).




Feb. 22nd – Kent & Shalor fooled 14 trout to 5 pounds on their afternoon trip. All but a few of the trout were over 3.5 pounds which were released.



Feb. 23rd – 25th – Spent some time at the ranch helping dad build a 24' pier in the new pond and doing some other work. Scott came down to lend a hand. Wind was gusting to 60 mph on the way home. Drove through a dust storm on the way home.




Feb. 26th & 27th – Cancelled because of extremely high winds and low tides.

Feb. 28th – The wind was really cranking the day after a cold front, but Matt, Steve, Aaron and John found a way to scrape up a few in protected waters. They ended up keeping 8 solid trout and 4 flounder to 4.25 pounds. All were caught on Limetreuse Assassins while drifting color streaks.




March 1st – Chris and J.D. didn’t really care about big fish all that much so we hit a different area than I’ve been fishing. The wind was brutal once again, but they still managed to put 10 trout, 1 red and 1 flounder in the cooler. The trout ranged from 17 to 22 inches. They also caught at least 15 throwback trout. I consider this a good day for March on Galveston Bay.


March 2nd – 5th – Too windy to catch much so we rescheduled.