Sheepshead Fish Run Returns to South Padre Island Jetties

by Tony Vindell/LFN

Fishing is always an unpredictable thing for anyone who likes to catch a fish or two.

Just ask Eric Loya.

The La Feria resident has been taking bay and deep sea fishing trips with Capt. Murphy Charter Services of South Padre Island for many years.

He said he usually makes about half a dozen bay fishing trips and two or three trips to the open waters of the Mexican Gulf.

Just recently, he made a trip after hearing the sheepsheads are back.

Loya said a Friday, March 22 fishing trip by the north jetty did not produce any keepers for him.

“I caught several undersized sheepheads,” he said. “But that is how fishing is.”

But on the day, he and another friend each caught their five fish limit.

“This time it was different,” he said. “We caught some good ones in the 18 plus inch sizes.”

During Loya’s first trip by the jetty, others such as Gil Bristol caught one fish short of the five-fish limit.

Most of the fishermen and women said they were going to either cook their fish or pack them for their trip north as a good number of them were seasonal tourists known in this part of the country as Winter Texans.

Loya said he would probably make another trip before red snapper season begins on June 1.