I stopped at Bulldogs on 61st for bait. It was like old home week. Darryl was there and Herbert came in as I was buying my bait. Bulldog had nice size shrimp and very fresh.

The forecast was east wind 5-10. When I arrived the wind was 10-15 gusting to 25 but seemed much stronger. Swells were 1-2' and very choppy. The were coming in at an angle against the shore. Water was a dirty green with clarity 1-2".



I had bait in the water at 7:00. I had plenty of time to rig all my gear without getting any hits. Herbert77060 arrived 15 mins after me. We both waited a while for the first fish. About an hour later I caught the first fish, a 5" whiting that I gave to Herb for cut bait. Pferox, (Jim) showed up at 8:30. We waited until 13:00 until I caught the first keeper fish, a whiting. Herb got a keeper whiting an hour later and Jim got his keeper whiting soon after that.

Last week Jim found a damaged Ugly Stik and decided to rebuild it. He dubbed it Frankenrod and it looks like one. It has different eyes and multi colored thread holding them on. Jan gave him various colors of finger nail polish to coat the thread. It took Frank about 5 hours to catch its first whiting but after that it did a good job.

Around 9:00 sea plants started floating around. The current was confused. They floated inshore on one side of the pier and out to sea on the other side. I caught the biggest one and we took a pic to offer proof.



A man, his son, son's wife and 2 grandkids had been fishing on the shallow side of us. When they saw us catch keepers they started creeping their rods down on one side until they were less than a foot away. They were using light weights and kept crossing our lines. Then we started getting bites on the other side of the pier where Jim was staked out. I had a pole there since 7:00 and it finally caught a whiting. The potlickers saw this and creeped up on that side. As we caught a few more whiting. The older man started purposely casting across my line to get to the area where the whiting were hitting. I asked him to cast straight out. He told me the wind was a problem and that was where he was catching his fish. He mumbled something behind my back about being stabbed or shot dead with a gun. Then the older man moved 3 of his poles right into the middle of where we were fishing. By now, I was more than angry. I went to the office and told them what was happening. I told them I would not start a fight, but that I was an old man and if they started a fight I would kill them. The man working the pier counter was alone and could not come out onto the pier. When I returned the potlicker asked me if I reported him. I told him yes. He told me not to be stupid about it. I told him to never call me stupid. The son got involved and told me the older man never called me stupid. He told me "Stupid is, as stupid does". I looked the younger man in the eyes and told him never to speak to me and that it wasnt his issue. The older man told me it was his word against mine. I told him not to worry because the security cam had recorded it all. He looked stunned and asked if he should report his name to the pier. I told him not to worry, "They know who you are".

I picked up my rod on the side he was taking over and told him to fish it and that I would outfish him on the other side. Luckily, I caught a sand trout and then several whiting. That drew him back over to my side of the pier but he kept his distance. When he later hooked a nice bull red I reeled in my gear to make room for him. I congratulated him on the fish. He just grunted. I feel sorry for the kids because they are going to be part of a never ending potlicker family of low lifes.

Jim had been fuming because the potlicker had cut his line fishing over him. Herb wasn't really in it but was sympathetic. I told Herb "I would not have been so brave without the TFF Mafia here".

Herb left an hour later headed for Denny's to buy a fish dinner. Yes, Herb I did put this into the report. lol

Hardheads started biting around dark. We did catch and release for a while. Around 19:00 I was trying to release a hard head. I had it against the pier railing on the outside to keep distance between myself and it. But it was hooked in the upper mouth and I twisted my pliers in a backwards motion that threw the hard head into the air. It flipped over the rail and came down on my foot. The fin went thru my tennis shoe and buried in the side of my foot. I yelled at Jim to cut off the fin so we could pull it out. He couldn't hear me clearly. He thought I had hooked myself. He heard me say foot and looked down. He grabbed the hard head and started to pull on it. I moved my foot in the wrong direction. Jim told me to bear down and I put all my weight on the foot. Jim pulled slow and steady until the fin came out. I am lucky that Jim has experience pulling fins out. If he had yanked part of the fin might have broken off and I would have been headed for the ER. I took my shoe and off and looked at the hole the fin had punched. Then I saw a large blood stain on my sock. I cleaned the wound with antiseptic and put a bandaid over it. It was throbbing a lot. I walked up and down the pier trying to get the toxins from the fin to circulate. I didn't want any toxin or infection to just sit in the puncture site. After a while the throbbing subsided and I only had a burning sensation.

From 17:00 until 22:00 Jim and I got into a decent whiting bite and came home with 20 whiting, 2 croaker and 1 sand trout. We saw 2 pompano caught, 1 keeper size drum and 2 bull reds. Even with the unusual events it was a great day. We fought the Potlicker War and Kamikazee Hard Heads and we were the victors.



Come join us at the Galveton Fishing Pier. Every trip is an adventure of some type.

The audacity of some people is appalling! Sorry you had to deal with cross threaders. Nice report, congrats on the catches and way to go for not letting a couple crummy situations ruin your trip.

wow---you should have punched him in the face .. oops Jim I didnt say that

He tried to cut another line on me, after he crossed and tangled me by yanking on the line instead of letting me untangle it. I watched the hook fly past my nose when it released. It didn't work with 30lb mono.

I guess assault with a deadly hook would have looked nice on the police report.

That's when I decided to move on and let him choke on the spot. There are many more fish in the ocean.

I have down graded this guy from Pot licker to Boot Licker. I call him a Crock Licker, but don't want him near my shoes.

That's why I don't fish piers much when there's a crowd cause there are some that have no etiquette or courtesy. It happened to me there one day before Ike. I was by myself and I wouldn't have won the fight against 3 so I just left and found another spot that produces usually. Hate a crowd when i'm fishing esp. those that potlick.

This was our first bad experience on GFP. Usually, everyone is friendly and respectful. We have made some good friends down there.

I don't want a fight over a fishing place on a pier. Its not worth it. We fish to relax and have fun. That is what upset us the most. It was that the idiots ruined the day, not the fish they caught. As one pier regular put it "they were only whiting". Not like we were catching slot reds, flounder and specks.

I agree and for the same reason i don't like to fish on the pier.

Been lurking this place for a little while. Seems I need to come copycat yall so I can actually start catching something when I go fishing. Didn't catch not one thing last year, although I didn't make it out much. Haven't been to a pier in Galveston in probably 15 years, when it was still the big t-pier.

Let us know when you have some free time. We can meet up at the pier. I think our "secret" is that we target smaller fish for action and to fill the cooler. Along the way we get big fish also.

They cheat

That's probably a more accurate account right there.

I definitely will. I'm hoping to get some time set aside in the next month. Need to take a look through the gear and see what I might need. Need another reel too, I'm down to one spinner.

Bring what you have and look at what others are using on the pier. Then you can decide what to buy. A lot of stuff that looks good in the store isn't as practical for fishing as it seems. I learned that the hard way.

Cheating? Jim and Robert??? Never lol

I owe you another liver sausage sandwich for that character reference. lol