Captain Experiences Interviews Capt. Lg

Captain Experiences: We're live. Hey everybody, thanks again for joining us. This is Jonathan, with Captain Experiences. I'm here with Captain LG Boyd, of “Quality Fishing Guides” out of Galveston Texas. How's it going LG?

LG Boyd: Doing pretty good down here. How about you?

Captain Experiences: Doing all right. Wish I was down there with you in the saltwater but I feel awesome that we've got some pretty good weather too - so nothing to complain about. Cool. Just wanted to give you a chance to introduce yourself, where you operate out of, and what kinds of trips you run. Then we can dive into it from there.

LG Boyd Alright, my name is captain LG Boyd. I live in Galveston, Texas at Galveston Yacht Basin. I mainly do bay fishing trips for trout, redfish, a little shark, and tarpon fishing too.

Shark Trips and Tarpon Trips with Capt LG

Captain Experiences: Awesome. I want to get into the sharks and want to get into the tarpon as well because the season for both of those species is coming around too, but I guess we didn't talk about the inshore, how have these trips been going?

LG Boyd: It’s been picking up all the time. The weather has been a challenge here the last few weeks. These fronts keep pushing through which changes the winds up every day and leaves the water kind of murky.

Captain Experiences: Yeah you still have been managing to do pretty well, seeing a lot of some pretty sizable speckled trout with a lot of good ones. What kind of stuff what have you been catching lately?

Inshore Fishing Trips in Texas

LG Boyd: We've been catching a decent box of trout and some days the Reds bite a little better than the trout.

Captain Experiences: Definitely. With inshore fishing, especially in Texas, the big headline species are redfish and speckled trout. But some guides are kind of more of a red-fishing guide, and some are more trout- which would you say is your favorite?

LG Boyd: Ah. Trout.

Captain Experiences: Yeah, that's what I thought. Why is that?

Fishing for Speckled Trout

LG Boyd: I think speckled trout are a little bit more fun to target and they try to get off a lot more, jumping out of the water and all that stuff. Redfish are fun too, they're just bullies. Redfish overpower but the trout seem to school up a lot more, that's just kind of what I target.

Captain Experiences: That's awesome. So you're up fishing Galveston Bay, right? Can you talk about what that was like when you were learning to fish and then how you became a guide?

How Captain LG Came to Be: From Shrimping to Fishing

LG Boyd: I grew up in the shrimp industry. My dad was a shrimper until he died. I have run shrimp boats and worked there pretty much all my life and I kind of didn’t like staying on land so I started running this guide service in the bay.

Captain Experiences: That's awesome. Are there any similarities you see between shrimping and guiding, what's different?

LG Boyd: Well, you get to interact with a lot more people guiding, you get paid for what you produce. It's pretty much just a day’s fishing.

Half-Day, Full Day, Inshore, Nearshore, and Galveston Jetty Trips

Captain Experiences: That's awesome. So, getting more into the trips that you offer, can you talk about that half-day or the full day, inshore, nearshore, jetty trips, all that?

LG Boyd: The half-day, it’s basically a 5 to 6-hour trip. It’s pretty cut and dry. Most of the time we can get it done in a half a day, gotta catch a limit of trout. The weather is challenging and sometimes it doesn't work out.

Some days, if the trout don’t bite it takes a little longer to find them because the trout are not in the same place every day. Sometimes, the weather won't allow you to go where the trout are, they are just where the water gets torn up.

Bay fishing will always throw some challenges at you.

Captain Experiences: Definitely. So, can you talk about the areas you cover? Galveston Bay is so expansive. Are you just a West Bay guide or do you go to East Bay? How far north do you go?

LG Boyd: I go as far up as Trinity Bay but mainly stay in East and Galveston Bay and in West Bay.

Shark Trips and Tarpon Trips in Galveston and Trinity Lake

Captain Experiences: Perfect! There are shark trips and tarpon trips coming up this summer. Can you talk about those trips, what it’s like and what people can expect?

LG Boyd: On the shark trips, you’re pretty much gonna catch them. Every once in a while, we'll have a really tough day. Most of the time we can find the sharks pretty well and pretty quickly and catch them.

The tarpon, it's harder to catch them on a half a day deal, you just got to do the full eight hours. It's a lot of running and we will run around 20 or 30 miles one way down the beach. We normally fish within about three to six miles from shore and we're looking across a big big area for bait.

Tarpon Fishing Bait

LG Boyd: We'd like to see the fish before we start fishing for them. If you really don't want to target just tarpon, fish the bait and sharks, jacks, kings, and no telling what will hit. You try to find them (tarpon) in an area of bait about 10 to 50 acres.

Captain Experiences: Wow. that's crazy. That much bait?

LG Boyd: Once it comes down after all the fish just push all that bait together.

Captain Experiences: Wow, that's gotta be a sight.

LG Boyd: It just strings on, and just wads of it.

Captain Experiences: Wow, that's amazing. What’s the best time of the year to go tarpon fishing in Texas?

The Best Time of Year to Go Tarpon Fishing

LG Boyd: For tarpon, it's August and September. August used to be really good but seems to be over the past five years or so, our seasons have kind of changed and it seems that August used to be a real calm month and was really successful.

But, here the last few years, you just don't get those calm days and to have a really good trip on tarpon fishing you need to know exactly where they're at or have it calm so you can find them.

Captain Experiences: So, I was just speaking to another tarpon guy out of Galveston and he was saying that the best time is the last week of July, first week of August. But you kind of think September is the real hot month.

LG Boyd: The last few years, it has been.

Captain Experiences: Really, that's interesting.

LG Boyd: Tarpon come through here at the end of May and then the next month we've caught them real good and you'll catch them real good but they're traveling mainly east and they're only here for a day or two. Then the weather has got to cooperate.

How Big do Tarpon Get?

Captain Experiences: How big do tarpon get? What's the average tarpon that you're catching out of Galveston?

LG Boyd: Most tarpon weigh about 90 to 120 pounds. And every once in a while, you'll hook a bigger one. Michael Larue, I think he had a State record a couple of years ago, around 140 pounds which is a really big one.

What Makes Galveston Fishing Unique?

Captain Experiences: Wow. That's crazy... What would you say is unique about fishing out of Galveston?

LG Boyd: It’s good!

Captain Experiences: Fishing is good with all these different species... Ricky here's tuning in and he says he needs to get a tarpon under his belt. I mean it's just so tough, so what I would recommend is that people book probably two days, three days in a row so they could really have a good shot.

LG Boyd: That's correct. You just really got to play the weather. Some years the tarpon show up and they show up in areas where they're there more consistently. You can catch them every day.

It hadn't been that way for a few years here in Galveston and we've had really wet years and the rainfall really has a lot to do with where they're at, the clarity of the water, and all that.

The Captain Experience with Captain LG

Captain Experiences: Definitely. So what would you say makes your trips different from some of the other guides or some of the other experiences out there?

LG Boyd: Nah, I really don’t know. I just try to have a fun day and hope they can catch some fish!

Captain Experiences: What would you say you cater towards- is it experienced and expert anglers? Is it fishing with artificial lures? Or is it groups with kids that want to have a good day catching bull reds at the jetties? Can you talk about that?

LG Boyd: I try to do whatever the customer wants to do- they want to do whatever they want. Earlier, say pre-2017, I used all lures. But I've kind of eased up on that, we’ve kind of overfished the trout a little bit and the rainfall just balled them off and we put the hurt on them and the bay hasn't really rebounded yet.

We've had some other things happen with natural disasters. We've been under five years of extreme floods and it just makes the bay pretty tough.

Getting to Know Captain LG

Captain Experiences: What's it like for you when you put somebody on their first fish or their first big fish?

LG Boyd: Well, it's rewarding.

Captain Experiences: Are you one of the guides that say, ‘I like to put clients on fish more than I like catching fish themselves,’ or can you not lie like that, you like catching them more?

LG Boyd: I like catching too, don’t get me wrong! But I like to put the boat on top of a big school of fish where you’re catching them real good.

Captain Experiences: Yeah. That's awesome. What's your best memory as a guide? Is there one or a few that stick out for you?

LG Boyd: Not really, [chuckles] because I’ve had quite a few.

Captain Experiences: Yeah. Just every day. That's awesome. Why do we think what you do is important?

LG Boyd: Just getting people out there and getting me a paycheck!

Captain Experiences: Not gonna sugar-coat it, that's exactly right. Good stuff. Can you describe your boat?

LG Boyd: I have a 25-foot Boston Whaler.

Captain Experiences: Nice. Good stuff. You can get there fast. Lately would you say the afternoons have been fishing better than the mornings or mornings over afternoons?

LG Boyd: It switches back and forth. It changes all the time and you have to watch the tides a lot more than we had to in the past.

There were a lot more fish several years ago and you could always back on them but they seem to be a lot more finicky and tide driven.

Rapid Fire Fishing Questions with Captain LG Boyd

Captain Experiences: That's interesting. Cool. Now we want to get into some of the rapid-fire questions. With these, you kind of answer with whatever comes to mind.

What's your favorite body of water to fish?

LG Boyd: East Bay.

Captain Experiences: Why’s that?

LG Boyd: There's a lot of structure and just seeing the fish school up, school up good where you can get on them.

Captain Experiences: There you go. Good stuff.

If you had to be doing something different what would it be?

LG Boyd: Fishing of some sort. I really like marlin fishing or offshore fishing. It's just I’m getting a little older and the body, it's just a little harder.

Captain Experiences: Yup. That's awesome. Very cool. Donald’s here, says he loves East Bay too. That's awesome stuff.

Do you have a nickname and if so, how'd you get it?

LG Boyd: Not really.

Captain Experiences: Ah, just LG. That's awesome.

Do you have a favorite song or band right now?

LG Boyd: Nah. Not really.

Do you have a favorite movie?

LG Boyd: I don't watch movies. I just do fishing.

Captain Experiences: Yeah no, I'm with you.

What's your favorite food? You eat, right??

LG Boyd: I don’t eat too much. Some fried fish, shrimp.

Captain Experiences: Awesome.

Got a drink of choice?

LG Boyd: I don’t drink any alcohol anymore but I used to have beer.

Captain Experiences: Nice, there you go. Good stuff.

What’s your favorite sports team?

LG Boyd: Ah, sports teams. Houston Texans.

Captain Experiences: Nice.

If you could have one superpower what would it be?

LG Boyd: Staying on the water.

Captain Experiences: There you go.

What was your last Halloween costume?

LG Boyd: Man, I don't know. Shrimp, I guess.

What do you want for Christmas?

LG Boyd: Another Christmas.

Captain Experiences There you go. Good stuff. Can you name one of the Seven Dwarfs?

LG Boyd: No [laughs].

How many pull-ups can you do in a row?

LG Boyd: Not very many. I’ve not had enough days to do that lately. Probably a couple.

Captain Experiences Good Stuff.

What's the biggest fish you ever caught?

LG Boyd: What kind of fish?

Captain Experiences: Any.

LG Boyd: A Marlin, 675lb.

Captain Experiences: Wow, where was that?

LG Boyd: Out of Freeport, Texas.

Types of Lures to Use While Fishing with Artificials

Captain Experiences: No way. That's awesome. That's really cool. I see you’re wearing your Down South Lures hat, can you talk about what kind of lures you prefer when you’re fishing with artificials?

LG Boyd: Yeah, I pretty much use Down South- just on the soft plastics they give a lot of action and fish seem to like them.

Captain Experiences: Do you have a favorite Down South Lure that you use?

LG Boyd: I like the chartreuse flash. That's probably the best one, the glow chartreuse is also really good.

Talking Rods and Reels: What does Captain LG Prefer?

Captain Experiences: Nice. What about rods and reels that we talked about, what do you use out there?

LG Boyd Yeah. I use Hook Spit. I myself use the El Diablo and it's a light action rod. It's well-built, they build there in League City.

Captain Experiences Nice. It’s always nice to stay local. That's awesome.

LG Boyd And then I also use Shimano's and a few Lew's.

Final Thoughts with Capt. LG

Captain Experiences Nice. good stuff. Awesome. Is there anything else that you wanted to touch on anything else you think we need to hit?

LG Boyd It's just good weather that we have right now. Storms keep pushing through and before long they'll start losing a little power and stalling out before they get here and we can have a consistent wind.

Captain Experiences Hopefully, that comes through in the next few months as we roll into June. Good stuff. I just want to say thanks to everybody who tuned in. Do you want to give a shout-out to the troops or armed forces, first responders, everyone working hard right now?

Fishing Amidst the Coronavirus

LG Boyd Yeah, thank y'all for all your hard work. With all this Corona stuff, these health care workers, they have a tough job and I feel for them.

Captain Experiences Yeah, definitely. Can you touch on some of the things you've been doing to protect everyone against the coronavirus in terms of washing down your boat and the rods and reels?

LG Boyd Well I always use a lot of bleach. I always have. So I wash the rods and reels down with a lot of Clorox solution. It’s hard for that kind of stuff to live in my boat if you wash it down with a lot of bleach. People say the bleach washes off the wash but I say my girl there is stronger than wax.

Captain Experiences Yeah, pick your poison. Cool LG. Really appreciate it. Thanks a lot for taking the time and we'll have to do it again soon.

LG Boyd Yeah. Very good. We’ll go down there when we don’t have a hurricane.

Captain Experiences Awesome. Let me know I'm always ready to drive down and hop in. Yeah, we'll have to do it again soon.

LG Boyd Alright. Very good.

Captain Experiences: Yup. Take it easy. Yup.

LG Boyd All right. Thank you.

See the video below for the full interview on LG and all he has to say about fishing!