Scott(702) sent this offshore fishing report from yesterday.

We (Justin, John, Robbie and I) left Conn Brown around 10:45 this morning. It was a chilly ride to the jetties. We were aiming for the Gulf and our prayers were answered. The waves were around 3’ and 6+ seconds apart. It made for a very peaceful ride to the first line of rigs around 6 miles out. Water depth was approximately 50’. The water was murky green brown but we decided to drift one of the rigs several times. We had a couple of good bites and then Justin had a very strong pull. 10 minutes later he landed a 40” bull redfish. He chose to keep it, tag it and put it in the box. It just about filled the box all by itself. After several more empty drifts we decided to move onto the anchored ships around 9 miles out. We drifted alongside a tanker from Monrovia several times. They were a friendly crew. They kept wishing us a Happy New Year. We think that is all they knew in English. We were drifting for Kingfish and anything else that would bite but were unsuccessful. We then moved further out to a rig that was approximately 14 miles out from the shore. Water depth was 75’. The water was a more clear green. Very pretty but still no fish as we drifted past it several times. We then headed for another rig on the distant horizon . . . even further from shore. After a short run we found ourselves 20 miles offshore in 96’ of beautiful blue green water. We tied onto and unmanned rig and dropped our lines to the bottom. The catching action was instantaneous. We started pulling red snapper from the bottom as fast as we could get the line down. Some were as much as 24” in length. The bad news is they are out of season in Federal waters. We had to throw every one of them back and yes we popped their air bladder so they will live to be caught by us on another day. We caught them on cigar minnows, ballyhoo, menhaden, live perch and diamond jigs. The phrase “fish in a barrel” comes to mind. We tried fishing at the surface and half-way down in an attempt to catch something other than snapper but we were unsuccessful in that attempt. We even chummed with chopped up menhaden to try to bring in sharks but had no luck. Never thought I would be disappointed to catch large fat Red Snapper. After an hour we tried trolling several diving lures but had no luck. We then headed for several rigs that were within the 9 mile line in an attempt to catch some legal snapper. The problem was when you get that close to shore the water turns back to murky brown and the snapper will not stay in that color water. We then moved into the jetties for a final attempt at finding some keeper fish. We were there during a very weak tide and had no bites. The day was a huge success in that we tested the Mako on a run into the Gulf, we found a gold mine of snapper and Robbie can go back to California with a picture of him catching a fish in the Gulf.

I thought I had seen most all of the innovative modifications that owners have done to their condos. Last week David(307) asked me if I had any ideas about a better use of all the extra closet space in the master bedroom. I told him I didn't really know of any. However, on Saturday, I visited with Jim and Christi(208). Wow, they have the real deal. There is a wall separating the two sides of the old closet. They now have an entertainment center and cabinet storage. What an effiecient use of the space. It looks great! I hope David sees this.

About six years ago, Becky's son, Stewart, planted a small bananna tree behind their condo 706. This year we have a stalk of banannas on that tree cluster. It's probably too late in the season for them to ripen. I have had some ripen on my trees in San Antonio and they taste quite good.

If you see these small boxes around the complex, they are amplifiers for the Wifi signal. Another sending unit has been installed near the maintenance shed, but the areas that are more distant still have problems. Even with these boosters, owners tell me that their signal is not strong enough.
As I noted yesterday the reduced "suggested price" the realtor has posted for the three bedroom end unit has garnered some interest. I saw a couple visit the unit with a realtor yesterday afternoon.
Justin and John went back to Scotch Tom with their remaining shrimp yesterday morning. This time they did not get a bite at all.

Rockport real estate sales remain slow. The Pilot paper is full of ads for "newly reduced" properties. Today's paper shows that one of our three bedroom end units has been reduced from $295,000 to $235,000. I would think that price would attract a buyer, but these are different times. Financing will always be problematic with one owner owning so many units.
Jerry Hill was in town yesterday and we visited for over an hour. He is getting help from the VA for his old war injuries and has been approved for a knee replacement. He is feeling much better than the last time I saw him.
CMT lawn care was here yesterday. They worked until dark and this morning things look very nice. Bedingfield pest control will be here on Monday to treat the units.
Pop is still stressing over the fact that the security cameras are not fully operational. Only two images are available for him and the resolution is not that great. Some fine tuning will likely be done soon.
I saw a white pelican in the marina yesterday. That has never happened. They are not usually as tame as the brown pelicans and stay away from homes and marinas. On Monday I was coming out the Walmart north entrance exit. I was moving only about 10 mph when a large, tall antlered buck ran right in front of me at full speed. He was coming from the area around Chili's restaurant. Had I been moving just a couple of mph faster we would have had a broadside collision. On Wednesday, the Rockport city council purchased this whole area between the old and new Walmart as well as a tract behind the new Walmart. There are 36 acres in all and they intend to make it a hike and bike trail.
John and Justin took John's pontoon boat on a fishing trip yesterday. They caught several small trout and one keeper at Scotch Tom Reef. They tried for Sheepshead at the bridge, but had no luck.

I have visited with Justin the last two days concerning the dredging, breakwater design, and pier building. He tells me that Rob will start on the crosspier very soon and more than likely the pier perpendicular to the crossbridge will be removed. This will not require any permitting. After that Rob will rebuild the Phase II pier as it exists. At a later time when permits are obtained, additional T sections will be added. The dredging company has raised their price to $135,000. Justin has met with a representative of Derrick Construction about getting a bid from them. This would bring Moose Johnson back into the mix, but this is still a work in progress. Nothing will begin on the dredging until after the first of February. The redesign of the breakwater to prevent filling back in again is not an easy issue. I'm not sure Belaire Environmental has a lot of experience with this. They have suggested an additional section attached to the north wall that would extend a considerable distance at about 60 degrees south of the existing wall. This, to me, defies common sense, but I'm sure they have looked into it. The cost for this would far exceed the $25,000 that was approved. I don't believe that shoreguard will ever work in water that is this deep. The section that Kinsel repaired last month continues to fall apart, almost on a daily basis and the wind has not even been that strong. It would be my opinion that the shoreguard will never work and was not designed for water over five feet deep. I would remove the last section of the breakwater and reuse what I could to create an L to prevent backfill. I suggested to Justin that he contact an engineering firm that has experience in this type of design. Urban Engineering did the work on our lift station and they might be a possibility. We may pay a little now to save a lot later. Justin wants to do the redesign construction in conjunction with dredging so we need to work pretty quickly to get the permit after the design is decided upon. For January, the usual monthy maintence fees will have attached the fifth installment of the major improvements as well as the dredging and breakwater redesign construction cost. This will approach $3,000 for each unit.

Friday was another good news bad news good news day for local four fellows. They put in at Fulton and went to the causeway to fish for Sheepshead. They caught the five very large ones in the top picture. It's hard to tell in the picture, but they all looked to be between 20 and 24 inches. About 4 pm. they started back. Before they reached the area between our piers, they ran out of gas. Then a bit of luck came their way. Within minutes three game warden boats plowed their way out our channel. They were going to check local oyster boats. The men in the stranded boat waved frantically and were noticed by one of the boats. The second photo shows the two boats lashed together as the wardens towed the fellows back.
Yesterday morning I saw the Wright(307) family land a 24 inch red about halfway out our pier. I offered to fillet it for them. They had never landed a red. Interestingly, when I opened it up the stomach appeared to be full. They said they had used a live mullet so I thought that was what was in there. To my surprise the red had a jig and three inches of what was left or what looked like a bass assassin. The lead head of the jig was pock marked and had started to digest. I don't know of any chemical that reacts with lead. That red must have had some strong digestive juices. From the rust on the hook, I would say the lure had been in there for about three months.
I saw no cars this weekend, other than owners, that were not here on Thursday. I guess we had no weekend rentals.
Gas prices continue to fall as they reached $1.41 on Friday.
Jim's(210) son Weston and his friend John waded the HEB shoreline on Friday and said they never caught a thing.
My electrical services contract with YEP Energy was for a year and has now expired. Prices are up since last year, but I think they will be going down. My new rate with YEP is 30% more than I was paying. I see on www.powertochoose.com that Reliant Energy now has the lowest rate, but it can change daily. I talked to CP&L about their rates and they are not really in the mix for the best rates. I don't know how they keep any customers. I'll keep looking.

Yesterday, me and some hungry feeding trout found ourselves at the same place at the same time. The larger one was 18 inches and the smaller one was 15 and one half inches. The weather conditions were just about as good as it gets. I found it hard to get motivated since my success rate at catching trout has been so poor. I really don't wade much because when I purchased my waders some 15 years ago. I bought the size to fit a 200 pound person. I've only added about 2 pounds a year and the waders are more than a little snug. I could probably make an "America's Funniest Videos" if I filmed getting those things on. They ought to make a maternity style for us older guys. I checked the bait bucket that Scott had left and the shrimp were still lively so I just had to get out. The cold front was due at dark. I drove over to the usual spot near the causeway and saw five waders not doing much. I convinced myself that this area gets a lot of fishing pressure and maybe I would do better walking from our place down the HEB beach. I came back and walked to the area where the shoreline turns from north south to east west. I made the first cast at 4:45 pm. Immediately, I began to catch small trout. Almost every shrimp made a one way trip except for those that came back in the mouth of a trout. I was able to fish for an hour before it got dark I only got those two keepers, but what a lot of fun. I must have caught 20 total.
I talked to Justin yesterday about the progress of our projects. The channel dredging is probably going to have to wait until after the first of the year because our maintenance permit expires in two weeks and in addition, we are permitted for a mechanical dredge and are planning to use an hydraulic method. Belaire Environmental is working on the new permit. They have also been contracted to redesign the breakwater to slow down future shoaling.
Justin has not had a chance to meet with the people from the GLO to begin the permitting for the super pier.
The work on the parking lot concrete work may have to wait until after the winter Texans leave. Justin said it can't be finished in the two weeks we have until the parking area is filled with traffic.

An old landmark on the road to Aransas Pass will cease operations at the end of the year. I understand that a developer has plans to build 600 upscale homes on both sides of the road at or near the old plant. This could be centered on the old abandoned marina known as Lindsey's Landing. It will be interesting to see what effect this will have on real estate in Rockport.

Evonik Degussa to Close US Carbon Black Plant

By Notch

On August 28, 2008, Evonik Degussa Corporation announced that it planned to cease production at its carbon black plant in Aransas Pass, Texas by the end of 2008. The move will affect 30 of 38 positions at the plant. The plant will continue to ship carbon black until year-end to fulfill existing contracts. After manufacturing has ceased, the site will be used as a warehouse.

The Aransas Pass plant, located 220 miles south of Houston, began operations in 1941 as a two-unit channel black plant. Furnace black production at the site began in 1977, when the plant was purchased by Ashland. Degussa bought the plant in 1988.

Degussa Evonik said that the decision came after an intensive review of its North American operations, and is accompanied by an investment program to increase efficiencies at the company’s remaining US plants, located in Ivanhoe, Louisiana; Orange and Borger, Texas; and Belpre, Ohio. These investments have already begun, according to the company.

It was a good new bad news kind of day. First the tide came back up over night and the channel was possibly deep enough for boat traffic. The bad news was that the discharge tubes for dredging have been placed across the channel to block traffic. This may be to encourage boaters to find other access while the channel is being dredged.
With few other options, Jim(210) and I decided to use the shrimp that Scott had left over from his trip yesterday and go back to wade the shoreline near the causeway. The bad news there was that in two hours we had only one bite. The good news was that Jim put a 17 inch trout on his stringer. The better news was that he gave it to me to have for lunch tomorrow.
The good news was that gas dropped to $1.49 per gallon yesterday. The bad news is that my boat is sitting in the parking lot with 80 gallons of gas that I paid $3.38 per gallon for about five weeks ago.

These pictures show the latest problems with the breakwater. We just had Kinsel out here to do the repairs. The top picture shows a split down the middle of a shoreguard. The bottom picture shows a gap that is exactly where the repair was to end. The allthread can be seen coming out and some are already missing. The last time I talked to Justin he said he had not given Kinsel the final payment. We should have at least a 30 day guarantee.

These pictures show how low the tide has been. The top picture is of the channel near the picnic area. The pipe is the dredge operation equipment that I posted earlier. The bottom photo is across the channel and shows the channel bottom exposed. It was interesting to see a Saturday morning with no boat trailers at the ramp. Its possible even the ramp was too shallow to launch. Since boat use was not in the picture, Jim(210) and I went wading off the HEB property near the causeway. We saw one fellow walk out with a catch of three trout that were all between 18 and 19 inches. He had used a motor oil and yellow cocohoe without any other terminal tackle. We tried for an hour, but didn't get a one. It was good to see some trout. I have tried on the pier this week and have not seen a living marine organism.
Barbara and Jim arrived back from New Mexico this week. Rob also arrived back from California.
Ron changed smoke alarm batteries this week. There are very few folks here right now. I hope the parking lot replacement can begin before the winter Texans again repopulate our complex.

John was working late this afternoon to put the finishing touches on the security camera system. It should be up and running very soon.
I was told that Bill and Donna will not be coming to Kontiki anymore. They have purchased a home in Alabama and will move there from Minnesota.
I also learned that the channel dredging will not begin until after the first of the year. Until then it will be most difficult to get any boat out of the channel. With the low tide it looks as if you could walk all the way across and not find any areas over ankle deep. It will be interesting to see if any boats try to get out this weekend.
Gas prices here dropped to $1.55 today.

These pictures show that low winter tides have arrived. The strong winds last evening lowered the already low tide. The top picture shows the need for a new crossbridge. The bridge looks fine until you look below the water line. Most of these posts have been in the water for 25 years and are showing the results. The second picture shows the mitigation site and the exposed oyster bed. The tide will usually get even lower as we approach the winter solstice.