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Pampered Pink Bay Area Breast Cancer Event at South Shore Harbour Resort & Conference Center

By Capt. David C. Dillman galvestonbaycharterfishing.com (832) 228-8012

Remember your days back in grade school? Every couple of months, or even monthly, you would receive a report card. I would apprehensively open it before showing the report card to my parents. One side of the card would be for academics, the other for how well you followed directions, interactions with classmates, and your overall behavior. Every year the Galveston Bay Foundation gives a report on the overall health over our bay system. The grade it much like report cards of old, A through F grading scale. Now this report is just from their perspective. In the article, I'll give a report from what I see myself, and from other anglers that fish the waters of Galveston bay. Better than that, I'll break it down by the bays. West Galveston Bay receives a B minus from my observation. Over the past few years, this bay has been the place to fish for speckled trout and redfish. While some anglers, mostly guides, have had a good summer of catching, the average angler has struggled for the most part. Now mind you, most of the good catches have come from those anglers using live croakers. As far as habitat, this bay is thriving because there's been so many environmental projects that protected the marshes and shorelines along with planting of sea grass.

East Galveston Bay receives a C grade. I fished this bay a few times in late Spring and early Summer, and while I caught fish, many were undersized speckled trout. Some guides did okay in the Summer by fishing live bait over the reefs in the Summer, but the bite didn't last

Grading Galveston Bay

long. Hurricane Harvey destroyed the bay’s oyster reefs, along with recent floods, due to the freshwater. Finally, the bay is receiving some environmental projects, in hopes of restoring the reefs. It may take a few years to see if closing Rollover was a good idea or bad. Most of those folks in the oyster business are in agreement this will be beneficial to the bay's overall health. Trinity Bay receives a C minus. Although it's hard to access this, the largest bay in the complex, speckled trout catches have rebounded this year. During the Spring, anglers did have some good catches from the East shoreline. Those fish vacated the area as we moved into the Summer months. The fish caught this Summer mostly came from the upper shell reefs, near the Houston Ship channel. The true test for this bay system will happen this Fall as the weather cools. For the first time in many years, the bay is salty. Will it remain that way? At the time of this writing, it appears so, as long as we can avoid any type of tropical weather. It would be nice to be able to fish the North end of this bay system, to truly give an accurate assessment of the fishery. Environmentally, not much has been done to protect the habitat. It's really a shame to witness the loss of habitat caused by commerce. Now for Galveston Bay, I'll have to give it an overall C. A lot of people including myself caught speckled trout. Fish were in their usual areas; shorelines in the Spring and during the Summer, out along structure and oyster reefs near the Houston Ship channel. Was it lights out, super-fast and furious? No, but it was consistent. Winds played a factor early in the Summer, but once they settled, the catching was good. Now this part of the bay will be faced with the dredging of the Houston Ship Channel. Twenty or so years ago, the channel was dredged and it changed the bay system, by removing live oyster reef and caused silt to cover other live reefs. Something environmental groups don't want to talk about. Organization like the CCA and Galveston Bay Foundation need to step up and address this issue. Galveston Bay has lost so much habitat, it's time for something to be done, so future generations can enjoy the fishery.

ABPW supports local shelters with white linen drive

The Association of Business & Professional Women (ABPW) recently donated $9,000 worth of shelter supplies to the Bridge Over Troubled Waters (BOTW) and the Bay Area Turning Point (BATP) including mattresses, pillows, sheet sets and towels. Linens and mattresses account for a large line item in the budget for each of the shelters.

It is estimated that in prior years ABPW has donated $150,000 in supplies to the two local shelters.

BOTW and BATP offer support, provide safety and prevent domestic and sexual violence. They are a visible force and leaders in the community as advocates against the occurrence and effects of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The Bridge Over Troubled Waters is currently working to complete the final $2.3 million of a $7.5 million capital campaign to build a large children’s center. This will allow them to house all services under one roof and provide increased services, stability and support for traumatized children.

For more information, contact BOTW development director Becky Kyles at rkyles@tbotw.org or call her direct at 870-648-5913. For general support of BATP, contact development director Kat Clemons at kclemons@ bayareaturningpoint.com or call her at 281-388- 7600.