[jimhelm]

Originally Posted by plthijinx

freshwater...... saltwater...... doesn't matter. whether you caught your limit or only none. post some pics!

Yesterday we left out of Freeport, Tx. which is WSW of Galveston. although these pics don't do the seas justice, they were actually 4-6 foot with the occasional 8 footer and a rare 10 +/-.

We hooked onto a platform (don't know why the pic is distorted but it wasn't really bent as it appears) about 7-10 miles out and dropped our lines. Andres (the guy on the right side of the pic) was the first to hook up a fish. He got it close enough to the surface to make out the species, a King fish, but of course that one would be the proverbial one that got away.

While he was reeling his in, i was trying to reel up to make room for him and i too, hooked onto a big one. i fought this one pretty good. had to follow the fish around the transom to the other side of the boat where my roommate had his line down still. i got tangled up in his line and my fish got off the hook. i was a little pissed needless to say but no use stirring on it so i re-baited my hook and went on fishing.

Andres, he's from Moscow by the way, hooked onto and boated about a 18" shark. caught and released. After that, i hooked onto one of about the same size. I boated him and released him. now here's where the fun started. NOT.

no sooner did i release that shark did i finally give up trying to keep my wheaties down. i was seasick like nothing else. Then Andres got sick as well. That didn't stop us from fishing though. we did our business and down went the hooks again. this time i brought up the 4' black tip shark you see here.

All in all we caught 4 sharks and 1 gafftopsail catfish. after about 3 hours there we unhooked off the platform and went further out to the next platform but there was someone already hooked onto that one and due to the current and the height of the waves we couldn't hook on without infringing on their area of fishing. what to do now? I'd about had it. i was feeling rough as hell but making it. by now i was drinking lots of water as to have something to throw up when i did get sick. i dry heaved once and though my esophagus was going to rupture. holy hell that hurt.

i made the suggestion of going back and fishing west galveston bay to which everyone agreed. Wojtak (pronounced Vortech) let me drive us back into shore. I don't know what it is about being underway, let alone driving, but it was like an instant cure for my seasickness. Perhaps it was the concentrating on the throttle and navigating the rough seas. at some points we were making 17-19 knots then down to 8 or even slower.

once back into the channel we got pulled over by the game warden. (Zip? were you on the boat?? actually, Wojtak is your equal when it comes to those fellows.) everything was in order, showed them the empty cooler, provided 4 licenses and 4 life jackets then went on our way. the rest of the day was pretty much a bust as far as fishing goes but it was relaxing and all in all a good day. today my face looks like a raccoon and my arms a boiled lobster. wish i had more pics but didn't get that many. maybe next time......