Its hard to tell which is in worse shape, the American economy or fishing in these parts. When I catch anything at all its encouraging. Tuesday afternoon Marv and I went out to Paul's Mott. We used DOAs, perch, and spoons. The bad news is we had only one bite, the good news, if there were any, is that the trout was a keeper, by one half inch. The DOA did the trick. Wednesday, the weather conditions were about as good as they get. Marv had gone with a guide two weeks ago who took him into Sundown Bay and they caught some trout, so we tried that. I went all the way to the entrance of Mesquite Bay and then drifted across Sundown Bay to the west shoreline. Nothing happened. We could hardly lose a shrimp. We tried the south entrance to Sundown off the intracoastal and caught a few small reds and trout. We then came out to Aransas Bay and fished near the Goose Island breakwater project just off the intracoastal. We found two keeper trout there. Later in the afternoon we went out again and fished near the HEB property at Tin Can Point. I caught one trout that was 14.99 inches, but wouldn't stretch to 15 inches. Last Saturday Marv went with guide and caught just one keeper red. I guess things are tough for guides too.
Early Wednesday morning Richy, Rob, Justin, and I went in my boat out to the barge doing the work on the breakwater. The workers had reported that they had stuck concrete under the shoreguard they were to replace. Upon further review it was determined that what they hit was the broken off portion of the old shoreguard. It was noticed, as I wrote about last week, that they were using shorter pieces of shoreguard than specified. They have since begun using longer length pieces. At least one of the pieces they removed was only ten feet long. They were supposed to be 18 to 20 feet. We really had no quality control over the job Moose's people were doing and now we're paying for it.
I understand the heirs of Edd Bowers' estate are trying to sell his condo. I believe they are asking $300,000. Moyra tells me that she has her house listed on www.forsalebyowner.com and is asking $885,000 there. She is very anxious to move to San Antonio and sell her house here. She told me today that the Sea Shell Shores owners are being asked for $1,300 for building a new lift station in conjunction with Phase II and the Sailboat development. Earlier I had heard that Sailboat will become a partner with us on sharing the boat ramp and costs for maintenace of the breakwater and channel. That's probably not a bad deal. The costs for maintaining the breakwater and channel will be ongoing and not inexpensive.