Artificial Reef for POC, CCA STAR, and Snook!

I hope you haven't felt the need to blink too often recently you might have missed snapper season. Feds ought to be pretty happy. Seems they don't want us catching them anyway, and the stormy weather during the first ten days of June pretty much sealed that deal. I have a few friends that were able to make it out and they either battled rough seas or had to dodge storms. They all got their snaps though. A friend that ran out of Port O'Connor in a sleek twin-powered 32-footer said he left shortly after daylight and was tied back to the dock a few minutes before 10:00 am. They'd have stayed and fished for other species but, after a few drops all four anglers aboard had their snappers, and the radar was lit up with multiple storms closing on them. Being 30 miles offshore, they weighed options and decided to blaze a trail back to port. By the way their eight fish averaged a tad over eleven pounds. I can see why the feds are so worked up; being there's so few out there.

Much better news inshore. Trout fishing all up and down the Texas coast has been exceptional. Through the first week of the CCA Texas STAR tournament the Speckled Trout Division already had a 9-pounder leading the Upper Coast and a 9lb1oz fish leading the Lower Coast. The Middle Coast had an 8lb12oz fish in the lead. Results of polygraph are still pending on all three at press time. Rumor has it that even heavier fish will be on all three leaderboards when the standings are updated next week. I cannot recall a more torrid pace during the first week of this event and we can all thank TPWD for sound management of this fishery.

More CCA Texas developments. CCA Texas and Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation went public last week with the story of the $1M artificial reef they will soon begin building off Port O'Connor. The site of this nearly 370-acre project will lie within Texas territorial waters and promises to be a godsend for recreational anglers. Non-producing oil and gas platforms are being removed at a frightful rate all across the Gulf of Mexico and it may not be long before artificial reefs are all that will remain for the small-boat fleet to target.

Pam and I will be headed to the Lower Laguna next week our annual snook vacation. A fish like the one on this month's cover is what we will be hoping to land. Good friend and TSFMag writer, Capt. Ernest Cisneros, reports good numbers of solid fish thus far in June. Texas snook of this class only appear in the far southern reaches of our coastal waters and we revere them as true trophies. If you have never targeted them specifically it should be on your bucket list.

I will close with another encouragement to take the kids fishing. And please make sure they have been registered for the STAR Tournament. Make a special effort to always set a good example in boating etiquette.