Are we fishing at the rigs today capt?
It doesn’t matter if we are fishing at the jetties (no rigs) or on a dolphin watching harbor tour (no fishing)… The question always finds a way to arise. As with many things, the vision of what fishing looks like in the Gulf of Mexico is often different than reality… this is exceptionally true when it comes to fishing “the rigs” on a Galveston deep sea fishing trip.
I give people an honest answer every time:
“Maybe…”, “…Sometimes”, or “it depends on the weather”
When we leave the marina on a deep sea fishing trip, I rarely have a detailed picture in mind of where I’ll be fishing that day. Not from a lack of experience, but from a healthy respect for the ocean and the weather. When you make a living on the water and in the Gulf of Mexico, you learn that the best laid plans go overboard about the same time as the marine weather forecast from yesterday does…. Quickly! Wind, waves, current, rain, and other factors often determine where I choose to fish on a daily basis. I may only fish at rigs on one day, and not even stop at one the next day. Each captain has different preferences and perspectives; but they’re such a popular topic of discussion that I wanted to give people a window of understanding how they play into deep sea fishing trips for my trips.
If a platform is towering from the bottom of the ocean to often 50+ feet above the surface it is doing two things very well: attracting fish and attracting fishermen! The structure and habitat provided by oil and gas platforms is nothing short of incredible. Fish of all shapes and sizes can be found at these structures, it’s a great opportunity for fishing. But the same can be said for fishermen! A towering structure, visible for miles around attracts a similar collection of boats and anglers of all different shapes and sizes as well. On a nice, summer day there may be as many as 10 other boats joining you to fish the same platform since they’re so easily visible. This can create more competition for the number of hungry fish, or stubborn fish that have learned their lesson already to not bite whatever hooks may drop in front of them!
Bottom structures such as rocks or wrecks typically don’t have the same allure because they’re essentially invisible, but not to the fish that live around them. There may be more or less diversity depending on the spot, but there’s rarely the same number of people fishing these spots… leaving more fish for us to catch and enjoy!
At the end of the day, we may spend the day of fishing around rigs… but we may not see one closer than a few miles away as well. If that’s something you really have your heart set on seeing as part of your deep sea fishing experience, make sure you let the captain know. There may or may not be fish around it, but they’re an incredible feat of engineering and a really interesting sight to see during a great fishing experience from Galveston.