Fishing doesn't get much better than last weekend in Port Aransas. Low humidity, balmy temperatures, glassy-smooth waters and abundant fish added up to just about perfect. If, for some odd reason, you weren't catching anything, it was worth being out there just for the weather.

Capt. Tom Buckner of Corpus Christi fished offshore on Sunday, Sept. 28, in state waters north of Port Aransas.

Buckner said he had "decided to see if the rumors about using hardheads as bait were true, and they were." He caught three ling, two of them keepers, using the hardheads.

"It was the first fish I've caught using hardheads," he said. He added that it is important to clip off the fin barbs.

Buckner also said he uses a lip gripper on ling under about 40 inches, instead of a gaff, so the released fish was completely unharmed.

In addition to the ling, he and his friends caught two Spanish mackerel, nine keeper state-water snapper, a couple of triggerfish and an assortment of blue runners.

Arthur Toscano of San Antonio fished at the end of the south jetty on Sunday, Sept. 28, hoping to catch some nice trout. He rigged up with lemon rigs and live shrimp, and ended up with a Spanish mackerel and a pretty nice tarpon, instead. He was not unhappy.

Tom Creighton at Woody's Sports Center reported that offshore boats brought in limits of kingfish and Spanish mackerel. Trout and redfish were caught in the bays along with black drum. Creighton also reported ling, redfish and gafftop landed on the south jetty.

Scott Garrison at Deep Sea Headquarters said the "fishing is fantastic." He said state-water charters are catching large numbers of snapper, kingfish, black tuna, grouper and bull tigershark.

Dolphin Dock's Sandy Martin reported vermilion snapper, kingfish, b-liners, barracuda, jack crevalle, amberjack and triggerfish caught by offshore anglers. Bay anglers landed some big ling.

Maryann Heimann at Offshore Adventures said offshore catches over the weekend included vermilion and lane snapper, kingfish, ling and triggerfish. Bay anglers caught some nice redfish, black drum, flounder and sand trout.

Tracy Ingalls at Barnacle Bill's Pier House on Horace Caldwell Pier said anglers have been reeling in big redfish, sheepshead, blacktip shark, Spanish mackerel, pompano and "whiting aplenty."

John McNatt at Fishermans' Wharf said offshore trips brought in kingfish, vermilion snapper, blacktip shark and blackfin tuna. Bay guides caught redfish and flounder.