Larry,

These were caught in about one hour around 6:30 pm on Tuesday evening using cut bait (skipjack/ladyfish), wire leaders and 6/0 hooks.  The gafftop catfish and black drum were just over 15”.  The black-tip shark was about 30”.

Norman Frank

Owner 321 and 219

Norman spends a lot of time on the pier and pickin's have been poor, but he usually comes back with something. I just don't even bother to go out their much anymore. Even  the mitigation site is not producing anything. I put out three poles with live perch for six hours on four days last week and never got a bite.

This afternoon Keith(508) was trying to load his jet ski on the  trailer and with the low tide he backed a bit too far into the ramp. His rear wheel drive Silverado started to slip on the ramp and we had a  potential problem. The trailer wheels were over the edge of the ramp and it wouldn't come up and only slid backward. Fortunately, Mike(608) was sitting on his deck and saw the problem and jumped into his F250 to to go to the rescue. Keith had a chain and they hooked it up gave a pull. The F250 spun its wheels a bit until the trailer wheels hopped over the lip at the end of the ramp and out it came. It would have made a good commercial for Ford.

Last Saturday I took my boat to all the usual places and in four hours we had only one 19 inch trout that we found at  Half Moon Reef. It took a DOA shrimp.

We've had the usual full house crowds for most of July, but the security folks have done a good job in keeping things running smoothly.

Another note from Scott.

BIG piece of machinery!!

The family and I were anchored up at Lydia Ann channel across from the light house this past Saturday when we looked up to see this "machine" coming down the channel.  It was the most impressive structure I have ever seen.  We all jumped in the boat and ran over to get a better view.  They had to shut down the ferry for a while as the rig moved passed that area.  For perspective, the tugs at the bottom of the rig are very large ships in their own right but they are completely dwarfed by the overall size of this structure.

Note from Scott.

New Personal Best Trout

Ray Luna and I went fishing this past Sunday morning in St Charles in pursuit of a few trout.  Using live shrimp we caught a number of hard heads until this beast hit my line.  I could tell immediately it was a good trout.  It did not go the bottom like a large gafftop and it did not run as fast as a skipjack.  I could feel it shaking it's head while taking out a little drag.  It was exciting to see that big silver back as it got close to the boat.  This trout measured 23" and beat my previous personal best of 22".  Ray and I ended the day with four trout.  It was a beautiful morning on the water and a little more special with a new best trout.

 

 Ralph(101) and two friends went back to Paul's Mott on Thursday and caught these drum in two hours. The week before Ralph and Cheryl took their grandchildren on a guided trip to catch trout. It looks as if they did pretty well.

The Time Warner service in the 400 building has been problematic for some time. Richard, who worked here for five years before leaving to go to Sandollar Security, came out and tried to improved the signal, but the problem seems to be more systemic and JR is trying to find someone to perhaps rewire the whole building.
Kevin has been having problems with the WiFi system being overloaded too. He should have his system upgraded by the end of this week.

On Friday afternoon I noticed an owner had placed this chair and a serving cart in the dumpster. I thought about it a while and decided that by Monday this dumpster would be overflowing with these items taking up much needed room. After rearranging some bagged garbage, I was able to get them out and placed them next to the dumpster. By the time I came out to take this picture, the serving cart had already found a new home. By the next morning, the chair had also been claimed. The bottom picture shows the dumpster on Monday morning. I can imagine what the scene would have been had the chair and serving cart been left inside. We have the total weekend volume for the dumpsters pretty well worked out, but anything extra will cause a messy overload.

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Jerry has spread all the new rock in the flower beds and added edging materials to improve the appearance of the beds. It looks really nice.
There has been some progress in resolving the pier issue and the board may be ready soon to bring a proposed agreement to the owners.
Tony is back doing a remodel in 602. It's good to see him back. I understand there may be a couple of other condo owners who want to let Tony do what he does so well to their condos.
Ralph and Cheryl(101) picked up their limit of drum yesterday in the exact location at Paul's Mott that I found the drum and reds a couple of weeks ago.
JR hired a guy to crawl under the buildings and clean out years of trash. He filled two dumpsters will all the things he pulled out. We can't directly see the cleanup, but the varmints who found a hiding place there will have to look elsewhere.

The large holiday crowds have finally departed from Rockport. The crowds seemed to be larger than in the past, but fairly quiet. It was nice to see the large number of folks enjoying the grounds and amenities here at Kontiki. All things went well until after midnight on Saturday. At that time we had a crowd of people who were getting into it with each other. Our security guard tried to intervene and they then turned on him.

The person seen over John's right shoulder was shouting at John that he was told that even though he was a Phase II guest he was entitled to use all the facilities at this resort. John called the sheriff's office and two officers responded to diffuse the situation. We now have four employees working security and longer hours. They have had their hands full. They have reported that some of the condos have been severely overcrowded. Last weekend 501 and 210 gave our guys a lot of grief. Mingo is experienced and good at what he does and even he found these folks difficult to deal with.
To some extent we are the victims of our owns success. The lighted tennis court and basketball goals have proven to be very popular. The new cabana has drawn large crowds and sometimes not even our guests.

This truck pulled up to the new cabana to unload all their picnic gear and enjoyed a long afternoon of barbecuing.

Scott and I went out with a contractor on Monday to survey the continuing deterioration of our breakwater. We just spent almost $10,000 shoring it up, but it still seems to be coming apart. Most likely we will be removing the last 175 feet on each side. The length is not needed and will still leave five foot deep water at the end. The breakwater is ten years old and the original contractor walked off without finishing the job and now the structure is just not as stable as it would have been had it been completed. Some of the posts removed can be used to shore up sections that were left incomplete. Removing the damaged and failing sections will be required before the GLO will issue us another permit which is overdue now. Consequently, this job will need to start soon. Presently, we are trying to locate a barge or pontoon boat that will be needed. The contractor has agreed to buy one to do the work. We will get a complete scope of work and price before work begins.

San Antonio Bay has been holding a lot of trout at Cresent Reef. My friends from San Antonio got this limit on Sunday.

Trout and Reds from Lake Charles

Lisa Holsonback, frequent Kontiki guest, sent this picture of her success on a fishing trip to Lake Charles. Here is her quote:

2 reds - one 27 1/2 inches long

30 spec trout (limit there 15 each starting at 12 inches long)