Looking for July to Be a Humdinger

Texas has been blessed with much-needed rainfall recently in lots of places that have been drought-stricken for way too long. I cannot describe how happy it makes me to see social media feeds filled with photos and video clips of Hillcountry and central Texas rivers and streams running bankfull and even a few overflowing. While this will no doubt create temporary headaches for some folks upstream, all that water flowing to the coast will be like manna from Heaven, enriching the bays and estuaries. Fishing has been great all up and down the coast, even through the droughts and despite the nagging winds that just seem to never lie down. The way things are beginning to shape up I’m betting July is going to be a humdinger!

In case you are not aware, oysters are an incredibly valuable resource, not only as a seafood delicacy, but even more so in the way they filter water, redirect currents to help prevent erosion, and provide critical habitat for literally hundreds of other species…including game fish. If you’ve been following the many references and announcements relating to the status of the Texas oyster industry and associated conservation efforts here in the magazine, I am happy to report that things are really beginning to look encouraging. News from TPWD a few days ago; the most recent round of the oyster license buyback effort closed on May 31 with very positive results – 112 license holders (fully 20% of active licenses) have indicated willingness to accept the state’s offering of $30,000 to hand over their license – and this is huge. TPWD will publish an official announcement shortly, and there’s even the possibility of another buyback round being conducted prior to oyster season opening this fall. The Texas oyster resource has been under great stress due to unfavorable weather patterns and continued overharvest for nearly two decades; hopefully this success in the license buyback effort will provide relief for the resource to recover. I see this as a great win-win outcome – oystermen receiving a financial incentive to leave the industry and the opportunity for oysters to thrive under reduced harvest pressure.

A few words on boating and navigational safety heading into the July 4 – Independence Day weekend. This is the greatest holiday period of the summer season and you can bet there’s going to be crowds of people heading to every port on the Texas coast. Boat launch facilities are going to be jammed and there will be boats headed every which-way on the bays. Couple things to remember; your 10-million lumens LED lightbar can blind other boaters, don’t be the guy tying up the boat ramp, keep a close watch for wading anglers.

Take a kid fishing!