Going back a bit, this photo from 20 years ago shows just how good fishing was at Cedar Bayou. I think I count 19 trout, 3 reds, 1 flounder, and 1 mackerel.  This was not an unusual catch. We always did well there. Work is set to begin this April on reopening the bayou. That trout Ryan is holding was 27 inches. He was in the surf fishing and I was across the dune at the bayou. He came across the dune screaming for me to look at his catch. He was pretty worn out when he got to me.  Also notice the palm trees around the 600 building.
While touching on history, check out this obituary. LJB Enterprises was named after the children of Larry and Virginia. Virgina still lives in Rockport and will turn 91 this year.

James Lawrence "Larry" Stewart, 80, passed away Tuesday, May 10, 2005 in
Corpus Christi, Texas. He was born August 29, 1924 in Primera, Texas. Larry
served in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and was a World War II veteran.
In 1969, he moved to Rockport where he owned Stewart Construction. He was
also the builder and owner of Sportsman Manor Motel on Fulton Beach Road. In
1978, he organized LJB Enterprises under which he developed Kontiki Beach
Resort, Sea Shell Shore Subdivision and other properties around the state.
Larry also designed and built the motor vessel Bay Princess. He was a member
of Coastal Oaks Church and was very active throughout his life in the
revitalization of church ministries. Since 1973, he served on the Board of
Directors for Rudy Hernandez Evangelism International. Throughout his life,
Larry loved spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Frances Stewart; two
brothers, T. J. and Bill Stewart; three sisters, Beatrice Koppel, Ovie McGee
and Edna Smothers; and his daughter, Jenelle Mundine.

Larry is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Virginia Stewart of
Rockport; two sons, Larry (Rosemary) Stewart of Rockport and Benet (Melinda)
Stewart of Fort Davis, Texas; brother, Richard Stewart of Yuma, Arizona;
sister, Virginia Hussey of Winona, Texas; eight grandchildren; two great
grandchildren with one more on the way.

Now for the rest of the story. I have two very good friends in Aransas Pass, Steve and Colette Walls. Their son married Sharon Mundine last year and they just had their first child. Sharon is the daughter of Jenelle, who was the J in LJB. Benet still lives at Sea Shell Shores. At one time he told me his mother, Virgina, still has photos of the development of Kontiki. I seldom see Benet so I have not had a chance to follow up. Now I will ask Sharon to check with her grandmother to see if we can get copies of the pictures from 30 years ago.

FDA NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Jan. 17, 2014
Media Inquiries: Theresa Eisenman, 301-796-2805, theresa.eisenman@fda.hhs.gov
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

FDA warns consumers not to eat oysters from Copano Bay in Aransas County, Texas
Oysters harvested from Copano Bay linked to norovirus illnesses in Louisiana

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat raw or partially cooked oysters harvested from Copano Bay, in Aransas County, Texas, harvested between Dec. 26, 2013 and Jan. 9, 2014. 

• Oysters harvested from Copano Bay, Texas, on Dec. 26, 2013, and then shipped by Alby’s Seafood of Fulton, Texas, have been linked to six norovirus illnesses in Louisiana. 

• The Texas Department of State Health Services closed Copano Bay to shellfish harvesting on Jan. 9, 2014. 

• The FDA is warning consumers not to eat raw or partially cooked shellfish from Copano Bay, in Aransas County, Texas, harvested between Dec. 26, 2013 and Jan. 9, 2014.

• Alby’s Seafood  has issued a recall of the oysters harvested on Dec. 26; however, other shellfish harvested from Copano Bay before it was closed may still be in the marketplace. 

• All shellfish dealers, restaurants, retail food establishments and consumers are advised to check the identity tags on all containers of shellfish in their inventories. If the tag indicates the shellfish were harvested from Copano Bay between Dec. 26, 2013 and Jan. 9, 2014 the product should be disposed of and should not be sold, served or eaten.

The oyster boats are still working that same reef in large numbers. Pat(602) told me he heard that someone from out of state got sick on an oyster from Copano and they have closed the bay from oystering. Personally, I could probably eat one raw oyster and get sick on the spot.

Kevin has been doing some servicing on the wifi system lately. The plastic parts are three years old and the Texas sun and ultraviolet light have taken their toll. He tells me he has about 1,500 customers at this point.

Since not many fish are being caught, the turkey vultures are getting hungry. This one monitors the boat launch knowing that when fish are cleaned at the cleaning stand the carcass will wash up in the ramp and lunch will be served. They are patient and often wait for hours.

This picture from yesterday morning, shows what I mean when I say we have vacancies for more winter Texans. Come on down. The weather has been great this week.

The mitigation site is not fishable at this point. The green moss is thick and everywhere in the pond. Last year was about the only time I recall the moss not forming. The mild winter kept it at bay. This year's cold weather has brought it back. It will usually last until the water warms about the middle of March.

When we talk about our complex as being a high maintenance property, folks seldom realize just how high we are talking about. This large piece of the bulkhead behind 103 calved off this week. I could see at least twenty rods of rebar that had all rusted through to let it crack and fall. It's hard to budget for things like this since they happen quickly, almost overnight it seems. Do notice how clear the water is right not.

It's not real easy to see, but if you look at the horizon what  you see is about 38 oyster boats working the reef just this side of Scotch Tom Reef. I'm thinking they may have closed Copano to the oyster boats and now they are working for the lower quality oysters of Aransas Bay. This all started on Friday. From here it looks as if they are so close that they would run into each other, but they are really clustered I'm sure.
It was good to get some warmer weather this week. The high was 79 degrees on Friday. When I came in on Tuesday the temperature in my condo was 43 degrees. It was so cold the water through the door on the fridge froze up. It didn't thaw until Saturday morning.  Maybe some of the cold weather nation wide will send us some more winter Texans. It appears to me that we are just shy of 20 winter Texans as it stands right now.
Friday evening Johnny and Colton(705) worked hard to try to find some flounder to gig. They ended up with one large sheepshead. The flounder population is way down from last year.
Marcelino and Jerry worked most of last week to straighten out the crossbridge. It looks so much better now. They raised the decking and the railing too.

Floundering report from Scott.

Another fun event this past holiday week was the floundering and fishing.  Ray Luna, his son Esai and I went floundering Saturday evening.  It was a little cold but the wind was light and water was clear.  We launched Ray's boat at Conn Brown harbor about 6:30 pm Saturday evening.  We ran down the shrimp boat channel trying several spots only to find them very murky.  Then ran a little around Lydia Channel with the same result.  After discussion we decided it would be best to move away from the jetties so we moved up to the ICW between Conn Brown and Palm Harbor.  We found some shallow, clean water . . . so we started walking.  As it turns our Esai's young eye's were very adept at spotting the flounder.  The three we gigged, he saw before anyone else.  It was a beautiful evening and a fun trip to get out and do something different.  Without going into details I will share three lessons we learned that evening.

1. If you plan to use the transom ladder to board your  boat, back your boat into the shallow water, drop the power pole and the anchor.
2. Do not separate from your fishing partners because it makes things more stressful than necessary when you need to communicate.
3. Know your surroundings and where you are walking at all times so as not to get lost.

 

Ray Luna and I went fishing Saturday afternoon.  We were targeting trout and did not get a single one.  We did however find a nice blackdrum and nine large Sheepshead.  One sheepshead was 19.5".  This is the largest I have every seen myself.  It fought like a big fish.  It was taking drag.  That is always fun.  Since the fish were all fairly large we decided to keep them.  Their meat is very white and firm, so they are good eating but they are loaded with bones which makes them very tough to clean.

 

Here are some pics from the adventures.  One is a pic of a Sheepshead that hit both my bait and Rays.  As we both reeled it in we found both our hooks in its mouth.  That is a first for me.

 

Pat(602) sent this awesome video of Redfish feeding on the top.

http://vimeo.com/33872683

Mike and Jim show some of their trout from last week at Cavazos Creek.

Report from Scott.

Another fun activity we did this week at Kontiki was the 2nd annual Oyster Party.  The Lunas hosted this event at their condo.  It was attended by the Westburgs, Bernhards, Schomburgs and Blackwells.  We bought a 110# burlap sack of oysters from Alby;s for $35.  These were caught in Copano bay the day before.  We spent the first several hours shucking the oysters.  This is a fun adventure in itself.  It really goes back to spending time with great friends.  After shucking the oysters we prepped some shells for cooking them with various toppings.  Of course we also ate many raw.  It is a real blessing to have this great fishery in our backyard.  We try to embrace it and partake whenever we have the chance.  Here are a number of pics of this party.

There seem to be fish in Cavazos Creek. Paul(505) shows one of the drum he caught on dead shrimp on Tuesday. On Monday Jim(210) and Mike(502) went there and picked up 10  good sized trout on lures. On Sunday Jim caught on trout that was 24 inches.
I did finally get my electric bill for December. It was not as bad as I had thought, just under $150. One owner said their bill for the month was $388, but that was with CPL. I am using Infinite Energy and so far so good. They don't itemize any charges. They just take the kilowatt hours used and multiply by 9.6 cents.
Calls are already coming in for summer rentals. If anyone wants to save and rent directly from one of the four owners who do their own rentals, better not wait too long.

Joyce(710) and her family did a beach cleanup on the HEB beach this weekend. She said they barely made a dent. So much stuff washes up every day.  Thank you Joyce and family.

Jerry and Marcelino started working on the crossbridge yesterday. They plan to raise the decking to again be level and to level out the handrail. The only "Whoops" so far was Jerry dropped his hammer into the water. He was able to fish it out.

Note from Scott.
We had a lot of fun this past week despite cold, wet conditions.

Wine Tasting - The Schomburgs (504) hosted the third annual Wine Tasting this past week.  It is always a lot of fun.  It was attended by the Lunas, Schomburgs, Westburgs, and Bernhards. Each couple brings two bottles of red wine; one under $20 and one over $20.  All bottles are bagged so we do not know which wine we are tasting.  Our servers (the older kids) serve everyone a taste from a bottle.  We each rate the wine on a 1 to 10 scale and make notes about flavor, fragrance etc.  The kids then rinse our glasses and then serve a taste from the next bottle.  After all 8 wines are tasted and rated by each of us; the wines are revealed.  It is always a good time discussing the flavors.  It is interesting how different people like or dislike different wines.  What tastes great to one person might taste like bath water to another.  The best part is of course the fellowship and friendships that grow stronger each year. Here are a few pics from the night.  The pic of the eight bottles is how the wines rated as an average of all eight participant's scores.  It goes left to right . . . best to worst.