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CURRENTSDecember 2014 / January 2015

CURRENTSDecember 2014 / January 2015

Cedar Bayouis open

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Cedar Bayou and VinsonSlough flow freely to the

Gulf once againBy John Blaha

September 25 marked the day that fishermen across the state of Texas have been waiting for, for a long time. With approximately 100 local residents, dignitaries and CCA Texas volunteers on hand,Aransas County Judge Burt Mills took to the controls of the excavatorand dug the final scoop of sand that allowed Cedar Bayou to flow intothe Gulf of Mexico once again.

“The middle Texas coast, and more specifically the Mesquite Bay complex, justunderwent a successful “double bypass” following the historic re-opening of CedarBayou and Vinson Slough,” commented CCA Texas Chairman Mark Ray. Mark com-mented further, “with dedication and closely coordinated effort between CCA Texas,Aransas County, state agen-cies and the Texas legisla-ture, the essential arteriesfor water exchange and thehighway for larval and adultfish migration are again flow-ing. This iconic natural re-source of Texas coastal wa-ters has been re-gifted to thefishing and naturalist publicof Texas.”

“CCA Texas was a greatpartner in our quest for get-ting Cedar Bayou opened,”said Aransas County JudgeBurt Mills. “All of our partnershave done an outstandingjob in working together to en-sure the restoration of thispass.”

Due to the Ixtoc Oil spillin the Bay of Campeche in1979, state agencies madethe decision to bulldoze thepass shut to prevent any oilfrom entering the ecosys-tems fed by Cedar Bayouand Vinson Slough. Prior toits closure in 1979, CedarBayou was open approxi-mately 87% of the time.There were temporary andshort term closures datingback to the early 1900s anddredging events in 1939 and1959 but in general, MotherNature kept the bayou open.After the 1979 closure, CedarBayou was never the same.With the exception of dredg-ing events in 1987 and 1995,the bayou remained open for

short periods of time. In 2003, HurricaneClaudette opened the bayou one lasttime, but only for a brief period.

The effort to open CedarBayou has been a long

and dedicated effort bymany since it was closed in1979. Save Cedar Bayou,Inc. (SCBI) was formed in1985 and struggled to makehead way. In 2003, theAransas County CedarBayou Advisory Committeewas formed to take a look atthe challenges and ob-stacles in restoring CedarBayou. The committee’s re-port energized the commu-nity once again and SCBIrenewed its efforts to seethat the bayou was opened.

Between 2006 and 2008,SCBI and the Texas GeneralLand Office (TX GLO) spent$400,000 in efforts to studyand create a plan for open-ing and maintaining CedarBayou. After continuous ef-forts to secure the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers(USACE) permit and to raisenecessary funds the effortsbegan to stall and SCBI ap-proached Aransas Countyto take over the permit pro-cess. In December of 2009,Aransas County acceptedthe request and the effortbegan to move forwardonce again under the lead-ership of County Judge BurtMills. Aransas Countyworked hard to satisfy thepermitting process of theUSACE and moved throughthe process efficiently. OnAugust 3, 2011, Judge Millsreceived and signed the

Aransas County Judge Burt Mills has been a stead-fast worker for the Cedar Bayou project. Mills wasat the controls for the last few scoops, then receiveda wading ovation from the onlookers.

On front cover: CedarBayou joins the Gulf.First moments byNorman Oates.

Photos in this article by John Blaha, Norman Oates, Lisa Laskowski,Fred Howard, James Kay, Sam Caldwell and Chris Smisek.

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USACE permit to move for-ward with the restoration ofCedar Bayou and VinsonSlough.

CCA Texas leadershipmaintained an interest in

the restoration of CedarBayou as the permitting pro-cess proceeded and offeredwritten support whenneeded. Once the USACEpermit was secured byAransas County, CCA Texasmet with Aransas Countyleadership shortly afterwardand offered to help in the ef-fort to raise the necessaryfunds to make the project areality.

In February 2012, theCCA Texas State Board ap-proved an initial commit-ment of $500,000 to jump-start the fundraising processand the partnership beganto accelerate its efforts.CCA Texas eventually com-mitted $1,600,000 to theproject through dollarsraised by local chapters, se-cured from private dona-tions and CCA National’sBuilding Conservation Trust.Texas Parks and Wildlifecommitted $3,000,000, TX GLO approxi-mately $1,400,000 and the balance of the$9,400,000 project was secured and guar-anteed by Aransas County.

With the money in hand and anotherwindow of opportunity for constructionnearing in 2014, the Notice to Bid was is-sued by Aransas County and in December2013, RLB Contracting was awarded thebid to restore Cedar Bayou and Vinson

Slough. With a tight scheduleand little room for error, RLBbegan its planning processand preparing for April 15,2014 to start one of the mostsignificant restoration effortsever on the Texas coast in theeyes of many.

The surveying processstarted and with confirmation

that whooping cranes were gone,RLB began moving equipment in onApril 15. There were many chal-lenges ahead for the workers andby mid May, actual dredging andexcavation had begun. The firsttask at hand was removal of the olddredge spoil sitting on VinsonSlough. As this was being com-pleted, dredging in Cedar Bayouwas underway and the excavatorsbegan the process of excavatingmaterials within the template ofVinson Slough.

On May 21, 2014, CCA Texasleadership and members ofAransas County CommissionersCourt made a group site visit andthe project was moving full steamahead. Construction continued

Chris Smisek, left, says he and Mark Raycan claim First dog at Cedar Bayou andFirst Cast At the Pass.

Above, the last big scoop as Cedar Bayoujoins the Gulf of Mexico again.

Left, CCA Chairman Mark Ray and on-lookers watch as the ribbon is cut afterthe opening flood.

—Continued on page 8

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2014 Ford F-150 “Texas Edition” XLT SuperCab with Haynie 23 Bigfoot, the Redfish Division prize.

WINNERS CLAIM ONEHUNDRED AND THIRTY PRIZESThe 25th Anniversary CCA Texas Ford Dealers/Tilson Homes Corp/Capital Farm Credit State ofTexas Angler’s Rodeo wrapped up at 5PM on La-bor Day, Sept. 1 with a NEW record. Approxi-mately 48,000 registered for the 2014 STAR withover 10,000 NEW recruits into CCA! This year’stournament offered over $1,000,000 in prizes andone hundred and thirty STAR participants enjoyedsome fabulous prizes thanks to entering STAR!Twenty-five top prizes were claimed. Check outthese winners below with their awesome prizepackages as well as a list of ALL 2014 STAR win-ners.

Texas Ford Dealers Redfish Division saw thirteentagged redfish caught but only FOUR were luckyenough to get to drive home a truck/boat prize thisyear. Sadly, there were NINE unfortunate anglerswho did not qualify for the CCA Texas STAR andlost out on prizes to the tune of about $45,000 -$80,000 each!!! WHEN WILL THEY LEARN?!!!

2014 TOURNAMENT RECAP - This year’s tourna-ment had hundreds of fabulous prizes up for grabs.A total of 130 prizes were claimed and the twenty-five top prizes were presented to the winners dur-ing the CCA Texas BBQ and STAR Awards Cer-emony on Friday, Oct. 3rd at the Bayou City EventCenter! These are the lucky winners of each divi-sion:

StarKids $50,000 Scholarship Division - This year’sStarKids Scholarship Division provided these threeyoung anglers with college scholarships totaling$50,000 each:

Nathan Skrobarczyk - CapitalFarm Credit StarKid Scholar-ship Flounder winner andWally Hinkle, Josh Krupa andRandal Prehoda of CapitalFarm Credit

Jacob Serna - Houston Commu-nity Newspapers StarKid Schol-arship Sheepshead winnerwith Jason Joseph and TommyLegg of Houston CommunityNewspapers

Macayla Hebert - Fox SportsSouthwest StarKid ScholarshipGafftop winner and DeniseJanowski of Fox Sports South-west.

David Johnson ofAlice, 4th Redfish –Truck & Boat win-ner

Speckled Trout Di-vision – Thesewinners took homea Shoalwater 22’Legend boat pack-age:

Mike Eckhardt – Up-per Coast Trout win-nerRyder Green - MiddleCoast Trout winner

Arthur Toscano –Lower Coast Trout

winner

Offshore Division –These lucky anglers won the Polaris RangerCrew 570 UVS in Polaris Pursuit Camo eachwith a big Tex 35a Trailer:

Seamus Caskey – Kingfishwinner

WilliamHefnerApplingIII –Doradowinner

Russell Book – Ling (Cobia)winner

Inshore Division – The follow-ing are the proud owners ofBlue Wave 180VSouthern Skiff boatpackage:

Hank Hall – Flounderwinner

Raymond Lake –Sheepshead winner

Jessica Darder -Gafftop winner

Runner-Up Winners -A total of 69 runner-up prizes wereawarded this year.First through fourthrunners-up in ALL di-visions received a plaque, “special edition”STAR runner-up cap and gift certificates fromAcademy Sports + Outdoors. Gift certificateamounts for scholarship divisions: 1st - $250, 2nd

- $150, 3rd - $125, 4th - $75 and for regular divi-sions: 1st - $500, 2nd - $250, 3rd - $150, 4th - $100:

StarKids Scholarship DivisionFlounder: 1st: Morgan Sellers (age 10) ofRosharon, 3 lbs. 15ozs. / 2nd: Carson Gill (age 7)of Corpus Christi, 3 lbs. 14 ozs. / 3rd: DellaFournet (age 10) of Orange, 3 lbs. 10 ozs. / 4th:Ricardo Leal (age 10) of Harlingen, 3 lbs. 10 ozs.

Sheepshead: 1st: Rylan Basci (age 6) of LeagueCity, 7 lbs. 4 ozs. / 2nd: Dylan Wong (age 9) ofPearland, 6 lbs. 9 ozs. / 3rd: Walter Kilgore (age8) of Nassau Bay, 5 lbs. 1 oz. / 4th: TravisPulkinen (age 10) of Dickinson, 5 lbs. 0 ozs.

Gafftop: 1st: Laken Bellanger (age 8) of Orange,6 lbs. 13 ozs. / 2nd: Gunner Grigar (age 7) ofFulshear, 6 lbs. 3 ozs./ 3rd: Joey Murty (age 10) ofBridge City, 5 lbs. 0 ozs. / 4th: Nick Bess (age 10)of Rosenberg, 4 lbs. 8 ozs.

Academy Sports + Outdoors StarTeens Scholar-ship Trout Division - The Academy Sports +Outdoors StarTeens Scholarship Trout Divisionawarded a $20,000 college scholarship to theseyouths pictured below:

Gage Schnitz – StarTeenUpper Coast Trout winnerand Raymond Gonzales ofAcademy Sports + Out-doors.

JoshuaO’Neal –

StarTeen Middle Coast Troutwinner and Sarah Cooke ofAcademy Sports + Outdoors.

Brandon Gill –StarTeen Lower Coast Troutwinner and Chris Woods ofAcademy Sports + Outdoors.

StarTeens Inshore ScholarshipDivision - The StarTeensScholarship Inshore Divisionawarded these lucky teenseach a $20,000 scholarship:

Dylan Gill, StarTeen Floun-der winner, Wally Hinkle,Josh Krupa, RandalPrehoda, Capital FarmCredit

JoshuaDimas,

StarTeen Sheepshead winnerand Mark Brown Whataburger

BeccaDeLord,StarTeenGafftopwinner,Ardia and Roy Neves ofTexas Fish & Game Maga-zine

STAR has reached $5,235,000 in scholarshipsawarded to 165 children, ranging from 6-17years of age. Many thanks to our sponsors formaking this happen. Without them, it wouldnot be possible.

Texas Ford Dealers Tagged Redfish Division –Four out of the first five winners drove home afully-loaded 2014 Ford F-150 “Texas Edition”truck and Haynie 23 BigFoot, Mercury150OptiMax outboard motor and Coastline trailer.

Derek Nethercutt of High-lands, 1st Redfish – Truck& Boat winner

Mark Richner of Temple,2nd Redfish– Truck &Boat win-ner

Mike Capellof CorpusChristi, 3rd

Redfish –Truck &Boat winner

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Academy Sports + OutdoorsStarTeens Scholarship TroutDivisionUpper Coast: 1st: RemingtonWeaver (age 11) of Rich-mond, 7 lbs. 5 ozs. / 2nd: Jacob Brooks (age 17) ofSpring, 6 lbs. 12 ozs. / 3rd: Colton Carner (age 13) ofSanta Fe, 6 lbs. 11 ozs. / 4th: Cole Chambers (age16) of Cypress, 6 lbs. 10 ozs.

Middle Coast: 1st: Micah Merritt (age 14) of CorpusChristi, 6 lbs. 12 ozs. / 2nd: John Flentge (age 13) ofBellville, 6 lbs. 4 ozs. / 3rd: Colton Knipling ofVictoria, 6 lbs. 3 ozs. / 4th: NONE

Lower Coast: 1st: Wyatt Foster (age 13) ofFriendswood, 8 lbs. 1 oz. / 2nd: Cole Cooley (age13) of Raymondville, 7 lbs. 15 ozs. / 3rd: Tanner Th-ompson (age 17) of Spring Branch, 7 lbs. 12 ozs. /4th: Kristina Anderson (age 17) of Port Mansfield, 7lbs. 4 ozs.

StarTeens Inshore Scholarship DivisionFlounder: 1st: Timothy Skrobarczyk (age 17) of Cor-pus Christi, 5 lbs. 10 ozs. / 2nd: Cameron Rodriguez(age 11) of Pearland, 4 lbs. 3 ozs. / 3rd: GageFlowkes (age 11) of Houston, 3 lbs. 9 ozs. / 4th: Aus-tin Rinn (age 15) of Lake Jackson, 3 lbs., 8 ozs.

Sheepshead: 1st: Ian Wells (age 15) of Kemah 7 lbs.7 ozs. / 2nd: Taylor Shirley (age 16) of La Porte, 6lbs., 12 ozs. / 3rd: Nathan Ancira (age 11) ofSeabrook, 6 lbs. 9 ozs. / 4th: Connor Mauzey (age17) of Brazoria, 6 bs., 8 ozs.

Gafftop: 1st: Jake Bell (age 13) of Orange, 6 lbs. 15ozs. / 2nd: Saryn Meguess (age 17) of Beaumont, 6lbs. 14 ozs. / 3rd: Sydney Pearson (age 12) of SanAntonio, 5 lbs. 12 ozs. / 4th: Colt Pearson (age 16) ofSan Antonio, 5 lbs. 11 ozs.Speckled Trout DivisionUpper Coast: 1st: Christopher Smith of Big Sandy, 9lbs. 1 oz. / 2nd: Kenneth Schupp of Lake Jackson, 8 lbs.13 ozs. / 3rd: Kevin Heiman of Texas City, 8 lbs. 10 ozs./ 4th: Jason Moore of Dickinson, 8 lbs. 9 ozs.

Middle Coast: 1st: Terry Houchin of Corpus Christi,8 lbs. 4 ozs. / 2nd: Gary Atkins of Matagorda, 8 lbs.0 ozs. / 3rd: NONE / 4th: NONE.

Lower Coast: 1st: Jerry Vordenbaum of Seguin, 9 lbs.2 ozs. / 2nd: Robert Saenz of Kingsville, 8 lbs. 15 ozs./ 3rd: Richard Gidrey of Corpus Christ, 8 lbs. 12ozs. / 4th: Eric Popejoy of Corpus Christ, 8 lbs. 12ozs.

Offshore DivisionKingfish: 1st: Chris Jacobs of Sweeney, 55 lbs. 7 ozs. /2nd: Paul Gamino of Angleton, 52 lbs. 2 ozs. / 3rd: BrettKainer of Corpus Christi, 51 lbs. 5 ozs. / 4th: JasonConnelly of Houston, 50 lbs. 15 ozs.

Dorado: 1st: Sheri Jackson of Corpus Christ, 49 lbs.12 ozs. / 2nd: Timothy Fluitt of Katy, 37 lbs. 3 ozs. /3rd: Temi Osborne of Corpus Christi, 37 lbs. 3 ozs. /4th: Marlin Johnson of Aransas Pass, 35 lbs. 15 ozs.

Ling: 1st: Kyle Holmes of Hitchcock, 73 lbs. 6 ozs. /2nd: Tony Baboolal of Seabrook, 72 lbs. 1 oz. / 3rd:Reese Conner of San Antonio, 62 lbs. 12 ozs. / 4th:James Marigliano of Dallas, 59 lbs. 6 ozs.

Inshore DivisionFlounder: 1st: Lane Meyer of San Antonio, 7 lbs. 8ozs. / 2nd: Wayne Polster of Palestine, 7 lbs. 4 ozs. /3rd: Cody Ermis of Arlington, 6 lbs. 12 ozs. / 4th:Robbie Garcia of Corpus Christi, 6 lbs. 6 ozs.

Sheepshead: 1st: Dung Anh Nguyen of Houston, 8lbs. 3 ozs. / 2nd: Trent Lake of Bastrop, 7 lbs. 9 ozs./ 3rd: Gilberto Medina of Baytown, 7 lbs. 7 ozs. / 4th:Jorge Flores of Galveston, 7 lbs. 2 ozs.

Gafftop: 1st: Janette Darder of Beaumont, 6 lbs.14 ozs. / 2nd: Cody Green of Etoile, 6 lbs. 13 ozs. /3rd: Brant Graham of Sabine Pass, 6 lbs. 9 ozs. /4th: John Riley of Dickinson, 6 lbs. 5 ozs.

Special Bonus Drawings Winners - These uniquedrawings give participants a chance to win aprize even if they never wet a line or caught asingle fish during the entire tournament. Thefollowing are the lucky winners’ of this year’sspecial bonus drawings:

Henry Ehler ofPearland was thelucky winner of theCoors Light “EarlyBird” Grand Prize –Dargel 210 Skout, Mer-cury 150 Pro XSOptiMax motor and McClainTrailer.

Martha Fry of Tiki Island wasthe lucky winner of the Mer-cury 9.9 ELPT BF Pro Kickermotor.

2014 Coors Light Early BirdDrawing Winners - Every 2014STAR entrant who registeredprior to May 24th went into thisspecial drawing. A total of 21 names weredrawn and the lucky “Early Bird” winners are:Dargel 210 Skout boat, Mercury 150 Pro XSOptiMax motor and McClain trailer: Henry Ehlerof Pearland; Mercury 9.9 ELPT BF Pro Kickermotor: Martha Fry of Tiki Island; Three (3) AllStar Reel & Abu Garcia Rod combos: BrianHodges of Houston; Robert Gilliam of Seguin;A.J. Percle of Richwood;Thermo-Electric TravelCooler: Gary Weeks of Lake Jackson; Fifteen(15) CCA “Special Edition” Posters: 1. ColetonDavis of Edna; 2. Stephen Jankevicius of LeagueCity; 3. Chris Daleo of Sour Lake; 4. DerekMoody of Bee Cave; 5. Zarion Clements of Pasa-dena; 6. James Murray of San Antonio; 7. Rich-ard Rowe of Corpus Christi; 8. Timothy Dementof Portland; 9. Michele Wehba of Seabrook; 10.Patrick Forister of San Antonio; 11. John Hinoteof Orange; 12. Mason Moran of Dripping Springs;13. Eric Menchaca of Port Lavaca; 14. GaryKonarik of El Campo; 15. Cullen Gillaspia ofKaty.

New Tide Member Scholarship Drawing Winner –All “New Tide” Members (ages 6 - 17) were eli-gible for a bonus drawing that netted one luckyyouth a $20,000 college scholar-ship. The lucky winner wasHendrick Hundl, age 11, of ElCampo.

Kelly Gratzer of KTRK-abc13 with New Tide $20K Scholar-ship winner, Hendrick Hundl.

Member Bonus Drawing Winner –Explorer by Dargel 210TVwith a Mercury 150 Pro XSOptiMax outboard andMcClain trailer.Becky Parker of El Campowas the lucky winner of theMember Bonus – Explorer by Dargel 210TV witha Mercury 150 Pro XS OptiMax outboard andMcClain trailer.

2014 Berkley Gulp/Abu Garcia Revo Reel Chal-lenge “Use Gulp and Win!” Winners - To qualifyfor prize package, STAR anglers had to catch awinning fish using a Berkley Gulp bait or AbuGarcia Revo reel, abide by all rules of the CCATexas STAR Tournament and be on the FINAL

leaderboard after the close of the 2014 CCATexas STAR Tournament on Sept. 1, 2014. Prizepackage includes a Limited Edition All StarTeam Series Rod, Abu Garcia Revo S BaitcastReel, Berkley Trilene XL fishing line, Gulp AliveBait and Berkley tackle bag. The lucky winnersare: Nathan Skrobarczyk of Corpus Christi; Mor-gan Sellers of Rosharon; Della Fournet of Or-ange; Rylan Basco of League City; Dylan Wongof Pearland; Colton Carner of Santa Fe; JohnFlentge of Bellville; Timothy Skrobarczyk of Cor-pus Christi; Ian Wells of Kemah; Nathan Anciraof Seabrook; Kenneth Schupp of Lake Jackson;Jason Connelly of Houston; Lance Meyer of SanAntonio; Brant Graham of Sabine Pass; MarkRichner of Temple; John Riley of El Lago.

2015 STAR NEWS! The STAR 2015 is set to beginat sunrise Saturday, May 23 and will run through5 p.m., Monday, Sept. 7 (Labor Day). In order towin at STAR, an angler must be registered andbe a member of CCA. You’re going to get in any-way, might as well do it now! Remember, every-one entered in the STAR Tournament, who willbe 6 years old in 2015 and older, is eligible towin the prizes being offered (even the TAGGEDREDFISH DIVISION)!!!

NEW! TEXAS FISH & GAME MAGAZINE “BO-NUS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION!” - We alllove FREE stuff, and speaking ofFREE stuff, many STAR anglershave discovered the benefit andconvenience of using digital tech-nology and have requested we dothe same. Texas Fish & Game Maga-zine is thrilled to announce 2015 CCA TexasSTAR participants are now eligible for a FREEone-year (12 issues) DIGITAL subscription. Thissubscription (normally $11.99/year) will allow youto access the latest and most in-depth outdoorsinformation anywhere and anytime on yoursmart phone, tablets and desktop. Now STARanglers have the chance to embrace the latest intechnology, plus conserve our natural resources.We are grateful to Texas Fish & Game for provid-ing this STAR-only benefit, while saving sometrees and giving you more options. If you stillwish to receive Texas Fish & Game in print maga-zine form, no problem… a special STAR anglerprice of $8 bucks a year (vs. $17.99/year) is stillavailable, plus access to the digital version at noextra cost! Please be advised your subscriptionWILL NOT be sent automatically. If you wish totake advantage of this special bonus you mustdeclare it when registering for the tournament.If you have already signed up for the 2015 STAR,but did not declare that you would like this spe-cial offer and/or you have questions regardingyour past or current subscription, please call(713) 626-4222 or email star@ccatexas.org.

2015 EARLY BIRD DRAWINGS! Don’t forget, bysigning up now you’ll get your shot at landingone of the many great prize offerings just for reg-istering early! Be on the lookout for special“Early Bird” prizes available ONLY for those en-trants who sign up before the tournament kicksoff. Everyone who signs up for STAR by May 22,2015 deadline will be automatically entered intothe special Early Bird Drawings. Several prizeswill be given away! They are sure to be a reelcatch. The 2015 STAR entry fee is $20 for ages 18and up - an awesome bargain! Membership feeis $25 annually and an additional $20 to enterthe 2015 STAR Tournament for a total of $45. Forkids age 6–17, “New Tide” membership fee re-mains $10 annually and the STAR entry fee is“FREE”! Each “New Tide” member MUST sign-up each year for the current year tournament.

—STAR CONTINUES ON PAGE 6

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Cedar Bayou maintenancefund receives $1M grant,

thanks to the Sid W.Richardson Foundation

The Sid W. Richardson Foundation hasmade a $1 million grant to the TexasParks and Wildlife Foundation for themaintenance of Cedar Bayou in AransasCounty, Texas. Mr. Pete Geren, theRichardson Foundation’s president andchief executive officer, presented a cer-emonial check on Monday, Oct. 13, 2014,for $1 million, made payable to the TexasParks and Wildlife Foundation, toAransas County Judge C.H. “Burt” Mills,Jr. and Jay Kleberg, associate director ofthe Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation,during the Aransas County Commission-ers’ meeting in Rockport, Texas.

Through the efforts of a public-pri-vate partnership led by the AransasCounty judge and county commissioners,Cedar Bayou was reopened to the Gulf ofMexico on September 25, 2014, recon-necting Aransas and Mesquite Bays andVinson Slough to the gulf. The flowsthrough Cedar Bayou will improve the

quality of the bay system and enhancethe habitat for bird and marine life, andthe quality of life for residents and visi-tors.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foun-dation will allocate the funds toAransas County, which will oversee themaintenance of Cedar Bayou. Gerenalso recognized Coastal ConservationAssociation Texas, Save Cedar Bayou,Inc. and numerous private donors thatjoined with the Texas Parks and Wild-life Department, the Texas GeneralLand Office and Aransas County inproviding the funds necessary to com-

plete this historic $9.4 million conservationinitiative.

On hand for the presentation wereBetty Stiles, Aransas County Commissioner;John Blaha, assistant director, CorpusChristi Chapter, Coastal Conservation As-sociation Texas; Jack Chaney, AransasCounty Commissioner; Mark Ray, chair,Coastal Conservation Association Texas;Jay Kleberg, associate director, Texas Parksand Wildlife Foundation; Aransas CountyJudge C. H. “Burt” Mills; Pete Geren, presi-dent and CEO, Sid W. Richardson Founda-tion; Leslie Casterline, Aransas CountyCommissioner; and Charles Smith, AransasCounty Commissioner.

Photo by Diane Loyd

You can sign up NOW online atwww.startournament.org!!!

LOOKING FOR A UNIQUE CHRISTMAS GIFTIDEA? Register family and friends, of all ages fora CCA Texas membership and 2015 STAR entry.This Christmas gift might put your loved ones ina new truck/boat combo or pay for their collegeeducation! Get everyone signed up for the 2015STAR. See STAR Platinum Print MembershipPackage and the complete Platinum Print Seriesbelow for more, great gift ideas!

CCA Texas STAR Platinum Print MembershipPackage, Series V – We’re excited about the new2015 CCA Texas STAR Platinum Print package.Renowned artist David Drinkard has created yetanother fine print to honor CCA Texas mem-bers… stay tuned for more details! Package in-cludes your CCA membership (new or renewal),your 2015 CCA Texas STAR entry, plus a signed,limited-edition print created exclusively forSTAR, all for $125! This one-of-a-kind print isworth this price alone. If you would like to con-sider one, or several, of these limited-editionpackages, go to: http://www.startournament.orgmore details or to place your order with theSTAR Dept., call (713) 626-4222.

STILL AVAILABLE… CCA Texas STAR PlatinumPrint, Series I, II, III & IV – STAR Reds, STARSightings, School Is In Session and Working theSpoils are still available. If you haven’t pur-chased yet and would like to begin your CCATexas STAR Platinum Collectible Series, pleasecontact the STAR Dept. and we can get you fixedup. To own all five of these commemorativepieces, purchase yours today before they’re allgone! Proceeds from the sales of Platinum Pack-ages will help us continue to fund the STARscholarships.

Abandoned Crab TrapClosure will begin on

February 20 and run 10days, through March 1.

By the time this Currents reaches your mail-box, full details should be complete andposted on the website of www.tpwd.texas.us.You can also email crabtrap@tpwd.state.tx.usfor any questions.

Thanks again for the CCA’s involve-ment. We look forward to working with you.Please feel free to contact me if you haveany questions. —Art MorrisFishery Outreach SpecialistTexas Parks & Wildlife Dept.crabtrap@tpwd.texas.gov andart.morris@tpwd.texas.gov andwww.tpwd.state.tx.us

Louisiana to joinTexas in Crab Trap

CleanupThe Sabine Lake crab trap closure is sched-uled to begin at 6 a.m. February 20, 2015through 6 a.m. March 1, 2015 and also in-cludes portions of the Sabine River andother parts of Cameron Parish immediatelyeast of Sabine Lake.—Martin Bourgeois Ma-rine Fisheries Biologist http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/news/38443

DESERVING SPECIAL ATTENTION: In theSpirit of the Season, we give grateful thanksto all CCA members for remembering thatSTAR sponsors make this giant event pos-sible. Since we don’t make a dime on STAR,your continued patronage of the products andservices of these fine partners empowerstheir immense generosity to support the mis-sion we all care about… kids, education, ma-rine resources, and family fishing fun. Wethank God for our blessed members andfriends and wish you a Merry Christmas andHappy New Year!

Major sponsors for the 25th Annual CCA TexasSTAR Tournament include: Texas Ford Dealers,Tilson Home Corporation, Capital Farm Credit,Mercury Marine, Academy Sports + Outdoors,Whataburger, Ozarka, Berkley Gulp, AbuGarcia, Rio Ammunition, KTRK-abc13, Hous-ton Community Newspapers, Fox SportsSouthwest, Time Warner Cable, Haynie Boats,Shoalwater Boats, Hoffpauir Auto & OutdoorStores, Dargel Boats, Blue Wave Boats, TexasFish & Game Magazine, Texas Oilman’s CharityFishing Tournament, Coastline Trailers,McClain Trailers, Chris’s Marine and Mt. Hous-ton Marine.

For more information, including a list ofall the 2014 winners, go to http://www.startournament.org Thanks for supporting CCATexas and the STAR Tournament! SEE YOUNEXT YEAR!!!

—STAR continued from page 5

STAR has reached $5,235,000 inscholarships awarded to children6-17 years of age. Many thanks to

our sponsors for making thishappen. Without them, it would

not be possible.

~7~

CURRENTS is a membership benefit of theCoastal Conservation Association-Texas. It ispublished bi-monthly, alternate months from theCoastal Conservation Association (CCA) TIDEMagazine. Address, 6919 Portwest, Suite 100,Houston, TX 77024. Phone: 713-626-4222. FAX: 713-961-3801. www.ccatexas.org

Editor, Sam Caldwell / sam@samcaldwell.comThis is the issue of December 2014 / January 2015

Vol. 33, Issue 1

Welcome to theCCA Texas

OnlineAuction

Sponsored by Costa Del MarWe have some great merchandise up

for grabs this month!

Available online 11 am,Dec. 8 till 11 am, Dec. 15.

To bid and win, go to ccatexas.organd click on the link (left hand side)

online auction.Good luck!—Brian Weaver,Banquet Assistant, CCA Texas

Sponsored by ourfriends at Costa.

Cold-stunned seaturtle advisory

If you find a sea turtle in these upcomingcold months, please contact

Padre Island NSDivision of Sea Turtle Science & Recovery

at 361-949-8173, ext. 226.During recent years, thousands of juve-nile green sea turtles have been docu-mented “cold stunned” in Texas inshorewaters. Sea turtles cannot regulate theirbody temperature and at water tempera-tures below 50 degrees become immobi-lized. If you find any sea turtles floatingor washed ashore (alive or dead), pleasereport it immediately by calling 361-949-8173, ext. 226. For further information,visit our Facebook page at: Padre IslandNS Division of Sea Turtle Science & Re-covery orwww.facebook.com/nps.pais.seaturtles

Pamela Parsonshelped rescue a num-

ber of sea turtles inthe 2012 deep freeze.

We want you tofish for us!

CCA Texas and the Texas Parks & Wildlife De-partment (TPWD) are looking for volunteersto help with fishing surveys for the EastGalveston Bay Reef Restoration project. It'scritical to have data before and after. You canbe that important Fishing Scientist.

The $3.7 million project will restore ap-proximately 140 acres of oyster reef in theEast Galveston Bay system. Areas targetedfor restoration include one location onHannah's Reef, two locations on PepperGrove and two locations on Middle Reef.

This effort is an important part of theproject. As a Fishing Scientist, your effortswill be critical in understanding the benefits ofoyster reef restoration all along the Texascoast.

Contact: Bill Rodney, (TPWD),at 281-534-0127 bill.Rodney@tpwd.texas.gov.Or, Bryan.Legare@tpwc.texas.gov.Or, John Blaha,CCA texas at713-626-4222jdblaha@ccatexas.org

INGREDIENTS: ½ cup butter / 1 cupchopped onion / 1 cup chopped cel-ery / ½ cup chopped Tasso ham orchopped bacon2 shallots minced / ½ t black pepper½ t nutmeg / 2 t Old Bay Seasoning¼ cup flour / 2cups milk / 1 cupheavy cream1 cup chickenstock / 1 cup oys-ter liquor / 1-2 TWorcestershire1 qt oysters / 2cans artichokebottoms chopped¼ cup dry sherryoptional

PREPARATION:Melt butter inlarge stock pot;add tasso/baconand cookthrough. Overmedium heat addonion, celery,shallots and

sauté until tender 8-10 minutes. AddOld Bay, nutmeg, pepper. Whisk inflour and stir constantly until all ingre-dients are combined for 3-4 minutes.Gradually add chicken broth and oys-ter liquor, mixing well. Add Worcester-

shire and arti-chokes andsimmer a fewminutes. Turndown heat; addmilk and creamand continuestirring beingcareful not toscorch. Addoysters andsherry; simmera few moreminutes untiloysters haveslightly curledand are heatedthough. Gar-nish with freshchopped pars-ley.

Great Foods / Editor Ellen Ohmstede

Oyster Artichoke Bisque

CCA Texas Trophy CoolerJust in timefor deer sea-son. Be one ofthe lucky fewwho own thisCCA TexasTrophyCooler. Thecooler is designed to keep your trophydeer on ice until you can make it to yourfavorite taxidermist. It features a mold tokeep the head in place with the hornssticking out of the top, a must have for anybig time deer hunters this season.

Redfish Coat HangerOur red-fish coathangerwould bethe perfectaddition toany homeduring thecolder winter months, to add a bit of artand functionality. It can also serve as akey holder for you and your family whenthe winter coats are put away.

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through the summer and the weatherseemed to cooperate with the exception ofa few weeks of high winds.

The construction equipment took a beat-ing, but RLB and their support crews

stayed on top of things to ensure thetimeline remained intact. By mid Augustthe connection between Cedar Bayou andVinson Slough was made and the finaldredging and excavation in Vinson contin-ued. At this point, excavation for the finalstretch of Cedar Bayou began. The end wasnear and the anticipation of completion be-gan to grow for not only the residents ofAransas County and CCA Texas membersbut for the entire Texas fishing community.

“The opening of Cedar Bayou is aproject that I have been working on for thepast 8 years. It has historically been anephemeral channel, which means it hasbeen intermittently open and closed de-pending on the weather conditions. Sincesand was placed in Vinson Slough, the chan-nel was unable to re-open during optimalweather conditions. This also caused a con-tinual accumulation of windblown sandwithin the inlet’s natural path,” commentedCoast & Harbor Project Engineer MattCampbell. Campbell continued, “We real-ized early on in our analysis how importantit was to re-establish the connection withVinson Slough, because it would help pro-vide sufficient flushing within the inlet that isneeded to maintain the hydraulic connec-tion between the Gulf of Mexico and Mes-quite Bay.”

In the final month and a half of the project,the Cedar Bayou and Vinson Slough area

began to come alive once again withbaitfish, shore birds and predator fish. Eachtrip to the job site was met with stories of in-creased fish and game activity in the areaand the feeling that the end was near. Sep-tember 25, 2014 is a day that will be etched

in the memory of many as the day thatMesquite, Aransas and surroundingbays and the area marsh came to lifeonce again.

“Cedar Bayou is one of thosegreat projects that have benefits on somany levels. Not only will it help theecosystem in the surrounding bays,but will strengthen our fisheries, water-fowl and whooping cranes, while pro-viding a world class fishing destinationfor all Texas anglers to enjoy,” CCATexas Executive Director Robby Byerscommented. Byers continued. “This istruly a fantastic project for the Texascoast and CCA Texas looks forward toseeing the benefits it presents to thearea ecosystem as well as the localcommunities and fishermen.”

Cedar Bayou and Vinson Sloughhave been open for over amonth as this Currents is

mailed, and the results of the openinghave been amazing. The path of thetwo water ways seems to change dailyand a strong flow of water continues tobe present both incoming and outgoingas the tides and weather dictate. TheCenter for Sportfish Science and Con-servation at Harte Research Institutestarted their formal post constructionsurveys in late October and the staff isfinding an abundance of redfish larvaein the monitoring areas within CedarBayou and the surrounding areas. Theprior two years of monitoring found nolarvae in these areas before the open-ing. This finding alone is monumentaland speaks volumes to the value ofthis natural pass when open and func-tioning. Cedar Bayou/Vinson Sloughand the surrounding bays are aliveonce again.

Red Drum larvae foundin Cedar Bayou

Evidence of New Life Found Shortly AfterOpening of Historic Pass

Researchers and students with the Centerfor Sportfish Science and Conservationwere out only a few days after CedarBayou had been opened to do some pre-liminary sampling assessments. Theywere pleasantly surprised to already finda high abundance of very young andnewly recruited red drum to the area.

While the post-studies are just in thebeginning phase, this is certainly a verypositive sign of the impact the Bayou willhave. In stark contrast, the pre-studies inthis immediate area over the prior twoyear period showed an absence of thesefish when the inlet was closed even afterintensive sampling. Now, only days afteropening, it appears that the young larvaeand early juveniles of spawning redfishand small fish about the size of a pinkynail in the Gulf have already found theirway through the inlet to access the lushnursery habitats in the region.

This is a remarkable finding, giventhat we are just beginning to enter thespawning phase for red drum. Thingsshould only get better as the peak ofspawning season begins.

--Continued from page 2

Photo by James Kay

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CaughtRedhanded!

Report from TP&WGame Wardens

On April 1, 2011, Galveston County GameWarden Bobby Kana received an Opera-tion Game Thief (OGT) call advising himthat three individuals at the South Jettiesin Galveston were in possession of 30 bullred fish. Warden Kana notified WardensVu Nguyen and Mack Chambers of theviolations and requested their assistancein locating the violators.

While in route to the South Jetty,Warden Kana made contact with the com-plainant who advised him that the threeindividuals had loaded into a grey pickuptruck and were leaving the area. WardenNguyen contacted the GalvestonPD and advised them of the vio-lations and vehicle description.Within minutes, Galveston PDresponded that they had the ve-hicle stopped. Wardens Kana,Nguyen and Chambers arrived

at the location and found a pile of reddrum in the back of the vehicle. Thethree individuals were transported to thelocal JP where a total of $13,500 in fineswas assessed. The violators were in pos-session of 29 red fish, of which 28 werebull reds, one black drum and one Jackcrevalle.

During Memorial Day Weekend, 2014, avessel was contacted to do a watersafety inspection. When finished with theinspection, Game Wardens asked the oc-cupants if they had been fishing and theyresponded, "No." The Game Wardens in-spected the coolers on the boat and no-ticed a few slot red drums were visible.

Upon further investigation of thecooler, a plastic bag full of slot red drumwas pulled out, totaling 23 red drum.

The Wardens then escorted the ves-sel to their dock for further investigation.

While investigating thevessel, 10 more red drumwere discovered in a hid-den compartment underthe deck.

The four individuals onboard the vessel were inpossession of 33 reddrum, ranging in sizefrom 19.5 in to 27 in. Cita-tions were issued totaling$2,400 dollars in fines and

$7,707 dollars in civil restitution.

Visit the CCATexas Online

Store and checkout our newest

products!joincca

store.com

Catch Cedar Bayou inphotos and video!

We have a Cedar Bayou section onthe website, mentioned in the socialmedia column. It tracks the progressof the entire project with weekly up-dates, photos, and videos:www.ccatexas.org/cedar-bayou

Also, the two videos we createdon Cedar Bayou can be found here:www.ccatexas.org/project-videos .

To view them directly offYouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFfag7ZMr0M(Opening Day, 9/25/2014)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oatAe3ekFhA (Check Pre-sentation, 5/21/2014)

Currents Editorial Policy is No "DeadFish" Pictures. However, these images showthat the problems faced by TP&W GameWardens continue all along the coast.

~10~

Middle CoastUpper Coast Lower CoastCapt. Bill ShekaBy Capt. Ralph Frazier By Capt. Jay Watkins

A cold winter? Adjust.All the predictions for the end of 2014 andthe beginning of 2015 are that it’s going tobe an extremely cold winter. If that'strue, we are going to have to start think-ing more about deep water channel fish-ing which is not done very often in ourarea.

Learning how to fish drop-offs can beextremely challenging but also very re-warding. Lucky for us, the invention of allthe new electronics should make it easierto zero in on the depth the fish are at.Side scan and remote control troll motorswith GPS technology are taking a lot ofthe guesswork out of fishing. Still, themost critical part of deep water fishing isfinding the exact depth. As all the bassguys know, suspended fish are the hard-est to catch.

Always count your line down andmake sure you pay close attention to ex-actly what you were doing when you gotthe strike as presentation is always themost important part of filling the icechest. If you are not lucky enough tohave all the high tech stuff, turn yourdepth finder so that you can see it whilerunning your troll motor to stay on thedrop-offs. Making sure to have properclothing “layered”can sometimes be thekey to catching more fish, as it’s a loteasier to concentrate when you’re notfreezing. Good Fishing—Capt. RalphFrazier 281-337-0321 Ralph2fish@aol.com

Gamefish respond to frontal passagesThe winter months have long been my favoritetimes of the year to fish. Lower tides and coldwater temperatures concentrate both trout andredfish along the Middle Texas Coast. We havea ton of shoreline drop-offs with deeper sub-merged grass beds, scattered areas of oystershell. Locating the proper structure along witha food source is never more important than inthe winter months when food can be scarce.Rockport area bay systems provide some re-ally nice wind breaks during high wind situa-tions, definitely an added attraction.

Recent rains and the opening of the CedarBayou and Vincent Slough area promises toimprove salinity levels as well as add muchneeded tidal circulations, particularly in theMesquite bay and Spaulding areas.

A special thanks to the CCA’s John Blahaand Aransas County’s Burt Mills for working tosee that the pass was reopened.

Resident trout and redfish alike will be re-sponding to frontal passages by moving up tothe mouths of the drains and areas of grass orshell and waiting for falling water to pull baitfish to them. Patience, and paying close atten-tion to your Solunar tables will increase yourodds of scoring big. Bass Assassins in the 5"Shad and Die Dapper patterns and Corky’s aremy go-to lures. A 1/16th ounce jig head 99%of the time, preferring the slowest fall time that Ican get during the winter months. I have foundthat Corky’s with clear silver or gold sides andlighter colored backs work very well.www.customcorky.com provides some reallygreat color patterns. I hope your fishing adven-ture provides you and your family membersgreat memories that will last a lifetime. MayYour Fishing Always Be Catching—Capt. JayWatkins 361-463-1074 www.jaywatkins.com

Colder? Slower, deeper, bird actionIn December, the extreme high tides that scat-tered fish and shrimp will be back to normal, sofor a quick fix on gamefish location we'll bewatching bird action. And, we'll be back to oc-casional winds. That can be good, since itbrings the gamefish up under the birds, andmay mean fewer human competitors.

Colder water, so slow down that retrieve,and start deeper. On those warm stretches ofDecember, wadefishers will work shallower ar-eas, but slowwwwly. When the fronts move inas the month moves on, look for the deeper ar-eas on your chart. Consider working the LandCut area, which can be a lot of fun and produc-tive to boot, with sight casting a possibility inclearer water. Incidentally, the large number ofblack drum in that area seem to be back tohealth.

Be careful around the rocks in Baffin, buttry the old Alameda Rattler, with live bait orGulp! In fact, Gulp! is like that credit card ad: Inever leave port without it. I like light baits, 1/8oz, up to 3/8 depending on conditions. And,slowwwww.

Of course, January fishing can be similar,but even colder and windier. Remember thatconditions change fast, so know before yougo and go prepared. It's important to leaveplenty of room for your fellow fishers—this re-source is all ours.

It's also important to remember our fami-lies this special time of the year. I wish you aMerry Christmas, and may God Bless!—Capt. Bill Sheka 361-991-7191billsheka@msn.com www.billsheka.com

Old salts on the Texas coast know Capt. Billas a knowledgeable guide concerned for theresource, and appreciate his military service.

Great Action Photo by Chase Stanzel. Stanzel has gone from massive tarpon in the surf to shin-deep redfish in the back bay.

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CCA Texas SocialHappenings

Alvin-PearlandEmery Sadler 713-501-2778

Hello All. 2014 has been a great year for theAlvin Pearland Chapter! We have had a greatline-up of speakers for our “Angler’s NightOut”events, we had another successfulFundraising Banquet, and our Chapter Member-ship continues to grow. Much thanks goes out toour dedicated Chapter Board, Businesses,Guides, and Individuals who continue to sup-port CCA and our Chapter. Without all of you,none of this would be possible!

We will not be having “Angler’s Night Out”events for the rest of 2014. We are already work-ing on our Chapter Schedule for 2015. Our first“Angler’s Night Out” is scheduled for TuesdayFebruary 3rd. We will be sending out the com-plete 2015 schedule as soon as dates have beenconfirmed.

We are looking forward to 2015 being an-other great year for the Alvin Pearland Chapter!If you have an interest in getting more involvedwith our chapter at the board level, please sendan email to AlvinPearlandCCA@yahoo.com tofind out how and what is involved.

Thanks again to all of you who have madeour Chapter such a great success! We hope ev-eryone has a Safe and Happy Holiday Season!Tight Lines To All! Chapter Board: If you knowsomeone who would be interested in receivingChapter Event information, sign them up byclicking the [Join Our Mailing List] box (Downbelow the Redfish) and entering their e-mail ad-dress. Or... just forward this e-mail to them andlet them sign up themselves.—Emery Sadler

Aransas BayCarter Crigler 435-

830-5984jccrigler@hotmail.comWhat a year! CedarBayou/Vinson SloughRestoration Projectwas completed aheadof schedule and guesswhat, red drum larvaehave been found inCedar Bayou Channel.Come on down.A big “Thank You” toevery person and ev-eryone associatedwith an organizationor government entityinvolved in the suc-cessful completion ofthe project.

The chapter ac-tivities in 2014 cannotcompete with theopening of CedarBayou but we had an-other great year. Ac-tivities for the year: Babes on the Bay XV was abig success, support for the Abounded Crab TrapClean-Up program continued, a large contegenttook part in the Billy Sandifer Big Shell Cleanup,winners of the ICC, Aransas Bay Chapter Ban-quet XV had the largest gross/net ever and sup-ported the Fulton 4-5 Leaning Center in Rockportto conduct its annual ‘Wetlands Field Trips’,where every student caught a fish.

The 15th Babes on the Bay and Banquetwere great success stories thanks to strong par-ticipation/attendance and exceptional support

Chapter Updates are edited forbrevity to allow everyone’s voice tobe heard. For the full version, go to

your chapter’s area in theCCA website. Drop by

www.ccatexas.org,click on Local Chapters.

from sponsors and donors and strong volunteersupport for community activities. We are lookingforward to a great 2015.

January 2015 is just around the corner andthat signals the beginning of registration forBabes on the Bay “Sweet Sixteen.” As for the lastseveral years, online registration will be usedexclusively to sign up for the tournament. Karolhas been hard at work designing and selectinggoodies for the swag bags. Tournament colorswill be neon blue and neon pink. Look forwardto some unique items to celebrate this 16th re-union! Please visit the website(www.babesonthebay.com) in early January andreview the registration process to determine ifyou have any questions. If you have questionscontact Karol Scardino, Tournament Director, at361-386-0028.Mark your calendars:15-16 May 2015: Babes on the Bay8 August 2014: Aransas Bay Chapter BanquetWe wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and a MerryChristmas with family and friends.Tight lines —Carter

AustinScott Sanderson

512-637-1750scott@mbsquoteline.com

We owe a very special thanks to Chef Gilmoreand Jack Allen’s Kitchen for an unforgettable An-glers’ Night Out in September. Over 200 CCAersjoined us at his soon to be Westlake location forincredible food and an old fashioned tackleswap. Chef went over the top serving prime rib,shrimp and too much more to list. The night willgo down in the ANO record books for sure.

The exciting news of late is that Cedar Bayou isofficially open! We have a great video of theopening event from September 25, 2014 on theCCA Texas Project Videos page, which can beviewed at www.ccatexas.org/project-videos!Curious about everything that went into theopening of Cedar Bayou? We posted weeklyupdates, so check http://www.ccatexas.org/cedar-bayou for all the info!

Thank you to everyone who has joined inon the CCA Texas online discussion throughour various social media platforms. Your inter-est, engagement, and continued support helpsspread the word about the positive impact CCATexas is making along the coast!

In each issue of Currents, CCA Texas willfeature a recent Facebook photo, TwitterTweet, and Instagram photo. Please “Like” ourFacebook page and follow us on Twitter andInstagram to get the latest updates from CCATexas and become a part of the conversation!

FacebookChris Turner’s sonJake caught this 4+pound flounder inTrinity Bay. Greatcatch Jake!

Twitter@SportfishCenter:CSSC Director GregStunz took his fisher-ies class to CedarBayou to study estua-rine ecology & tidalinlets @CCA_Texas

InstagramToday is the day! Ce-dar Bayou has offi-cially opened, and itcouldn’t have hap-pened without YOU!A giant thank you toour generous anddedicated membersand partners whomade the restorationof this iconic pass areality!

CCA Texas on Facebook:facebook.com/CCATexasCCA Texas on Twitter:twitter.com/CCA_TexasCCA Texas on Instagram:instagram.com/cca_texas Austin's 21 Shallow Sport with countless options incuding a T-Top

this year, on a Coastline Trailer.

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~13~

~14~

Capt Scott Sommerlate is up next at Abel’son the Lake in November and will talk fly fishingfrom Texas to Florida and beyond. We’ll have afull report next issue. Come out to Austin’s An-glers’ Night Out events! They’re FREE and FUN,you’ll get a great meal compliments of SmokeyDenmark’s, and we give away tons of greatprizes. Watch the website www.ccaaustin.orgfor what we’ll have in store for the JanuaryANO, and to keep up with all the Austin Chapternews.

We get calls all year wondering when we’llget our banquet boat and how to get tickets.Well, this is hot off the press, she has landed inAustin and tickets are on sale now! ShallowSport did it again with a beautiful 21 Sport withcountless options incuding a T-Top this year!Coastline Trailers again made sure she travelssafely atop an eyepopping Coastline Customtrailer. Go to www.ccaaustin.org for info abouttickets or contact Blake Masters atblakeatc@gmail.com But don’t wait! These sellout early every year.

If you want to keep up with our fun and ac-tive chapter, but aren’t getting Austin communi-cations, call the CCA Texas office at 713-626-4222and ask them to put you on the Austin mailinglist. Save the Date- May 7th, 2015-and join us forAustin’s 34th Annual Banquet. Watchwww.ccaaustin.org for tickets and all the infor-mation you need on the absolute best event inAustin.

Be sure to Friend us on Facebook bysearching Coastal Conservation Association Aus-tin Chapter. It’s a great way to keep up with ev-erything going on in the Austin Chapter andmake sure you don’t miss a thing. Best wishesfor the happiest of holidays from the CCA AustinChapter! —Scott Sanderson 512-637-1750scott@mbsquoteline.com

Bay AreaCurtis Anderson 832-421-6377

Brazoria CountyWes Dingee 979-299-8245

Brazos ValleyJohn Ben Strother 979-220-1738

jbsunlimited@yahoo.comWe had a great time at our Fall Club fishing tripto Matagorda. It was a perfectly timed eventwith the weather and fish cooperating well. Wewould like to thank the Fish Jump Inn for thegreat accommodations again.Their house willsleep 10 people and have two big tv’s for thefishermen to watch football when they can’tcatch fish.

It is not too early to start making plans forthe Brazos Valley CCA Banquet on March 12. The10 item raffle tickets are printed for the January13th meeting. We will be having a general meet-ing at C.J. Barbeque and will have a speaker. Allthe people in the Brazos Valley that are CCAmembers and receive this Currents need to beat this meeting.

As always there will be food, beverages,and plenty of fish stories. Give me a call, text, oremail if you need more information. Have awonderful Christmas and a Great New Year.Hope to see ya there. —jb

BrenhamDennis Crowson 979-451-2472Dennis.crowson @hotmail.com

The Brenham Chapter held their last generalmeeting on October 23rd. Michael Bosse gave avery enlightening presentation on catching floun-der in the Galveston Bay area. The next generalmeeting for the Brenham Chapter will be Janu-ary 22, 2015. We hope everyone has a happy andsafe holiday season. Tight lines to all.

For more information about the BrenhamChapter, contact Dennis Crowson atdennis.crowson@hotmail.com or (979) 451-2472.Thanks—Dennis

Brush CountryHank Henry 361-215-6803

CentexBrad Hensel 254-776-3411

Wayne Webb – 254-405-1300 sheyhunt@aol.com

Central HoustonTodd Buster

Mobil, 713-545-1897As noted in the Oct/Nov Currents, Central Hous-ton had a fine year and an outstanding banquet.We're looking forward to 2015. Best wishes formany big fishes, —Todd Buster

Colorado ValleyJames Loehr 979-250-3958

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all ofour donors, sponsors, table buyers and our gen-eral membership for contributing to what was arecord year for our chapter.

Colorado Valley Chapter is gearing up for2015. We have started planning for what prom-ises to be a great event. We are scheduled forThursday March 26th at the KC Hall in La Grange.We will have a fantastic raffle package andsome new and exciting auction items. If you areinterested in helping with our event please con-tact any one of our board members. Our chapterwishes you and yours a very Merry Christmasand Happy New Year. See you on the water!—James Loehr

Corpus ChristiJay Gardner 361-658-7159

jaygardner@scientist.com– Poco Rojo pixGreetings from Corpus Christi! We have just finished ourFall events, the Guides Cup, Poco Rojo Kidfish event, andof course the Babes on Baffin Ladies fishing tournament.All events went well and had large turnouts. We are nowtaking a short breather beforewe get ramped up for our 2015banquet, which will be heldearly this year on February26th at the American BankCenter.

We will have a kick-offmeeting in December to get theball rolling. We welcome NyatiServices back as our hat sponsoragain this year, thanks.

Banquet Chairman CodyRoesener has been filling posi-tions and getting the ball rolling,however we could always usemore help. Contact him atcbroutfitters@yahoo.com or myself to learn howto become a sponsor for the ban-quet or to get involved. In addi-tion, Boat Chairman JosephBriones and crew are already sell-ing tickets for our Bull RedRaffle, a Majek Illusion Boat infront of Academy most weekends.Please drop by and purchase aticket and say hello. As you know,funds that we raise go to greatprojects such as the recent open-ing of Cedar Bayou, which has al-ready shown an increase in redfishlarvae into the bay system.

Awesome! Please help ussupport these projects. We at theCCA-CC Chapter wish everyone aHappy Thanksgiving and a Merry

Christmas! —Jay Gardner Environmental Scientist /Naismith Engineering, Inc. /jgardner@naismith-engineering.com

Dallas / North TexasWelcome new president, Hal Thomas

972-612-1684The Dallas Chapter welcomed John Blaha to agathering at Tail Waters on McKinney Avenue inOctober. John presented a fantastic informationupdate regarding CCA projects including thegreat news about Opening Cedar Bayou. Thephotos are great and clearly show the currentflow and circulation in Cedar Bayou.

John and Drew explained to the audiencehow local dollars from Dallas and other Chap-ters are impacting our fisheries and communi-ties. We enjoyed bratwurst and refreshments,fellowship with friends and with your donationsraised over $600 for CCA. Thank you to all whoattended.

Our next event is being hosted by MarineMax located at Pier 121 in Lewisville. By the timethis is published, the event will have concluded.With anticipation I am sure we will have had agreat time. Frank invited manufacturers knownto be supportive of CCA to attend and share tipsregarding product developments, techniques forgetting the most from the equipment we usewhile fishing and teased us with shiny newboats and gear. The Dallas team has also in-vited all of our prior banquet sponsors to attend,invite friends and bring products to demonstrateas well. Based on the planning thus far, thefood, refreshments and fellowship with fellowanglers should be great.

This event is our last event for 2014 and weplan to make it our annual Fall MembershipDrive event. The purpose is to present sponsor-ships, table sales and individual ticket sales forour April Banquet. We also plan to use thisevent to introduce our friends and associates tothe benefits of becoming a CCA member.

We plan to presale our April Banquet whichwill be held at the Frontiers of Flight Museum onApril 16, 2015. Additional Chapter meetings areplanned for January, February and March. Spon-

sorships, enhanced tablesales reservations, and in-dividual tickets are nowavailable from any of theDallas team or by contact-ing CCA or by attending anyof the remaining Chaptermeetings.

As the holidaysapproach, our wish is foreveryone to experience ajoyous season, familyhealth and happiness andof course Tight Lines. —HalThomas 972-768-3521

East TexasDr. Jim Norman 936-

554-3165jnorman7@suddenlink.net

Fort BendRobb Gaston 281-239-

9755Greetings all. The tablesare filled with food and thebedrooms are filled withfamily. It is the time of yearfor family, fellowship, andlike always fishing. Somesay winter fishing is slowat times, but I'd rather beon the water than in the of-fice. Our group of guys gota chance to go fish in some

Coastal Conservation Association CorpusChristi Chapter at Tpwd Hatchery:Poco Rojo Update ... CCA Corpus Christi Chap-ter would like to recognize Ms. Brooklyn Wall.At the Annual Poco Rojo Kids Fish, we over-looked the fact that Brooklyn caught andlanded the largest redfish. This oversight keptBrooklyn from being presented 1st prize in thepresence of her fellow competitors, and notgiven the chance to tell the story behind thefish. Brooklyn, we apologize for the oversight.Here is our first place winner, her fish and hernew spinning rod combo. Brooklyn and her sis-ter have fished the event three years now, andshe promises to be back again next year. Con-gratulations Brooklyn, well done young lady,well done.

~15~

Cajun water last month, andlet me tell you it was ablast. We stayed in Hack-berry and fished four harddays in Lake Calcasieu. Itwas a blast to fish in somenew water and see how ourneighbors fished.

GOOD NEWS! Our 2015Fort Bend CCA boat hasbeen built and is now get-ting a wrap put on it. Con-tact any member to get aticket. We are selling 1000tickets this year. If you don’tknow a member, feel free tocall me or request a ticket atwww.facebook.com/fortbendfishermen. Our ban-quet will be held April 23, 2015 at the Fort BendCounty Fairgrounds. All information can befound at our Facebook page. Until next time, —Robb

Fort Worth Welcome new president, Hunter Baird

817-437-8351Your Fort Worth Chapter held its annual fallGeneral Membership meeting on October 30th atRahr Brewery with record setting attendance.The weather was perfect as the board prepareda fish fry and the bar backs poured refreshing lo-cally made brew. Thank you to all who wereable to make it out. Two lucky guests wenthome with raffle prizes! Our annual banquet is setfor Joe T Garcias on April 30th. We are reallylooking forward to next year’s banquet as weare working to revamp things and throw in afew changes.

Recent changes to the board: Hunter Bairdelected as the new President, AndrewSherwood as treasurer and Bradley Wallace asthe new VP. Congratulate Hunter, Andrew andBtadley the next time you see them. Thanks toFearn Mastin for the many years he served aschapter president. —John Black

GalvestonDr. Ken Ellis 713-962-7731

The Galveston Chapter hosted our fall member-ship meeting at M & M Bar and Grill inGalveston on October 29th. We had a great turnout with standing room only. Anja Borski withGalveston Bay Foundation was on hand andgave us an entertaining and informative report ofthe health of our bay system. We raffled off arod and reel and gave away a few door prizes.

M & M Provided some fantastic appetizersfor our group. A special thanks to those whocame out and participated with us. We hope thatour members enjoy these programs. We want tokeep everyone informed on events, programsand projects happening in the Galveston BayComplex. We are looking forward to a super2015 and have already started planning what wehope will be another incredible year for theGalveston chapter.

If you are interested in participating withus, please reach out to any of our board mem-bers or call me directly. We wish all of our mem-bers a fantastic holiday season. Be Safe andMerry and enjoy some family time on the water.Tight Lines—Dr. Ken Ellis

Golden TriangleWelcome new president Trey Browne

409-338-0803 tbrowne@ocbm-tx.comGreater Sugar Land

Weems Turner 713-857-8897wturner@ducommun.com

At our October meeting Fred Howard providedpictures and a narrative of the opening of CedarBayou and Vinson’s Slough. It was very impres-sive to witness the investment CCA has made inimproving this area for all sportsmen.

Sam Caldwell was our October speaker andhe presented a video documenting the formationof GCCA and its transformation into CCA. Samkept us laughing as he presented many of hishumorous experiences. Sam also provided twowater color art prints that we will give away atfuture meetings.

We held our Greater Sugar Land CCAPresident’s Cup fishing tournament in October atSargent, TX. Bradley Kveton won the President'sCup with a stringer of redfish, trout and flounderthat had a combined weight of 10.3 lbs. TanyaDannhaus was second with a stringer weight of8.3 lbs. Bradley also won first place trout at 1.95lbs and Guy Sullivan took second place troutwith 1.55 lbs. Buford Jurica took first place red-fish at 6.2 lbs and Pam Canavan took secondplace with 5.75 lbs. Chris Hall took first placeflounder at 3.0 lbs, and Steve Meyer took secondplace with 2.7 lbs. Both donated their prizes toour Kid’s Fish program, so Tanya was awardeda prize for her 1.5 lb flounder.

All participants and guests enjoyed thegood weather and fishing. We owe a big thankyou to David and Judy Kveton who provided theirhome in Sargent as tournament headquarters.The biggest winner from this tournament wasour Kid’s Fish program which received almost$600.

Robby Byers will be our speaker at ourThursday, November 6 meeting at Quail ValleyCity Center, 2880 La Quinta Drive, Missouri City,TX 77459.

Our banquet will be April 9, 2015 at StaffordCentre at 10505 Cash Rd. at the intersection ofMurphy Rd. and Cash Rd. in Stafford, TX. Join usand support CCA.

Future meetings will be the 1st Wednesdayof each month through May of 2015 at SpringCreek BBQ, 4895 Hwy 6, Missouri City, TX 77459at 7:00 pm.—Weems Turner

Greater WoodlandsJames Kay 281-363-4417

www.ccatexas.org/greater-woodlandsMerry Christmas and Happy New Year! This willbe the last Currents article of the 2014 Year and1st of the 2015 Year. The CCA TX GWC welcomesnew officers for the 2015 year, Thanks for step-ping up and taking on new responsibilities.We would like to say Thank You to our 2014sponsors and look forward to seeing you in 2015.Dyna-Therm Corporation, Royal Purple SyntheticOil, Texcraft Construction, Anadarko, VCC, PolarRig Specialties, Total Depth Supply, Praxair,Nautic Group, Kinder Morgan, Gullo Ford, BMWof The Woodlands, Capital Farm Credit, Jeff Bur-ton Insurance, SEC, CDM Resource Management,

Mustang CAT, KneippProperties and RussellPolygraph Service.

We had great pro-viders & suppliers thatassisted in the success ofour banquet and chapterfor 2014. We also wouldlike to acknowledge andThank them as well.Academy, Silver EagleDistributor, The GrandPalace, Papa’s Ice Houseof Spring, Clints KuntryKatfish Catering, Ink Fla-mingo, Wright’s Printing& Marketing and GoneCoastal Jewelry. KeepConserving…To Keep

Fishing! —James Kay

Guadalupe ValleyJon Eric Rodriguez 361-243-1017

Hays CountyTim Young 512-573-7939

hayscountycca@gmail.com

Heart of the HillsRandy Plummer 830-377-0737

We held our 12th Annual Heart of the Hills Ban-quet at the Boerne Community Center on Sep-tember 11th and everyone had a great evening.Special thanks to our Bull Red Sponsors - Acad-emy Sports and Outdoors, Jennings AndersonFord, Boerne Marine and our Trophy Trout Spon-sor - JN Ranch.

Cajun Country Cookers did a great job boil-ing the shrimp and thanks goes out to Keg 1O’Neal for donating Miller Lite, Coors Light andLone Star! Pedernales Brewing in Fredericks-burg was actively involved in our success aswell - thanks Hereford family! Donations alsocame from Bear Arms and Full Service AutoParts.

We appreciate everyone’s involvement inthe raffles and auctions and noticed BoerneMarine’s staff and customers were eager to sup-port conservation efforts. This event would notbe possible without the dedication of our volun-teers - Tom Wayland, Rodeana Reynolds and fam-ily, Darrell Steubing, Mike Saur and KathySimmons to name a few. See you again nextyear! —Jim Simmons 210-380-5709

Hill CountryDarlene Cook 800-594-2056 ext 217

Houston Real EstateDale Couch 281-953-2510

Our banquet is fast coming upon us. Tuesday Feb.10 is the day. Once again a great event is antici-pated with great food and great folks. Thanks toBruce Grover for his donation this year as wellas Peter Houghton of Bridgelands, Ken Kapelkaof Firemark Insurance, and Jim MacIntyre ofCentral Bank. –Dale Couch

KatyClint Hilton 713-515-3991

The Katy Chapter put a wrap on 2014, and whata year it was! The Katy group strung up anotherbanner year; exceeding all other banquets inboth dollars raised and attendance, hostinglarger meetings than ever, hosting great speak-ers, having fantastic donors and buyer, and hav-ing more involvement from Board members thanever before! Without all those ingredients, oursuccess would be very limited. I personallythank everyone who helped our Chapter andCCA Texas this year. Years like 2014 make melook forward to the next!

Cedar Bayou meets the Gulf of Mexico, with applause for many months ofhard work by hundreds of dedicated Texans.

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We ended our year by hosting Chickenboyof Chickenboy Lures. Chickenboy is perhaps theGLOBAL LEADER in flounder catching knowl-edge, and he was gracious enough to be “openbook” to the Katy crew on the hows andwheres. If you aren’t familiar with the life storyof Chickenboy, you need to check his websitewww.chickenboylures.com.

Chickenboy was born half boy and halfchicken. Obviously, he was confused about whohe was and taking his father’s advice, he fo-cused on becoming the best at one thing. Thatone thing is catching flounder, and he amusedus (that’s putting it lightly) while sharing hisknowledge and passion for the flat fish. It’s nofluke (see what I did there) that Chickenboycatches the bottom dwellers frequently, and hegave us information, lures, underwear, shorts,stickers, and signs that prove he’s the FLOUN-DER KING.

Chickenboy was also gracious enough todonate a kayak to our chapter and we raffled itoff after he spoke. There’s no doubt Chickenboyis passionate about his fish, and he gave CCAhuge kudos for our effort in keeping his fisheryhealthy and happy. It’s always fun to host a greatspeaker, and makes our CCA efforts feel worth-while when thanks is returned.

The Katy Chapter will come out of hiberna-tion in January, and will host a speaker for our2015 kickoff meeting. We always meet at RedRiver BBQ on Mason road, and are always look-ing for ways to improve. If you’d like to get in-volved, we hope to see you in January.

Until then - may your lures run true, gunsshoot straight, Turkey brown nicely, and mayyour Christmas wishes come true. Have a safeholiday season. We’ll see ya in January!—ClintHilton

LaredoJesse Martinez jmartinez@bushlan.com

956-763-5555Lee County

Jason Seale 979-412-0270jason@basslerenergyservices.com

Live OakBrad Kotrla 979-732-1669

Lower ColoradoTim Munos 979 332-2876

The Lower Colorado Chapter held its 6th AnnualFundraiser/Banquet Friday evening, August 15th,at the Bay City Civic Center. We had a wonderfulturnout and want to say Thank You to thepeople of Bay City and surrounding MatagordaCounty for coming out and supportingour event. This was our best fundraiseryet. We are gearing up and planning fornext year’s banquet. We will mostlikely be offering a boat package againnext year because of the great re-sponse and feedback we received fromsupporters this year.

This is a slack time of the year forus, with the Thanksgiving Season justbehind us, and the Christmas Seasoncoming up soon. It is a good time totake in some cold weather fishing, ei-ther locally, or make plans to check outsome great areas to the south likeBaffin Bay, or maybe, head for Louisi-ana. Whatever you do, have fun andstay safe doing it. So, from our chapterto you, tight lines, and enjoy the holi-days. Welcome new secretary, ClintHewitt. —John Kubecka, Past Secretary

Lower Laguna MadreOscar Garcia III 956-491-8148

MainlandEric Minor

281-534-6242Matagorda Bays

Chad Hensley 979-543-2734The Matagorda Bays Chapter has had a fewchanges in the executive board since the last re-port. A big thank you to our outgoing officers ona job well done. Past President Linc Luctrick,Vice President Troy Prasek and Treasure HeathRadley left the bar set high, just as the past offic-ers of our chapter have done on their way out. Iwould like to welcome Tyler Williams as thenew Vice President, and Blake Barger as thenew Treasurer, and myself as Chapter Presi-dent.

The Chapter had a great 2014 and we arelooking forward to an even better 2015. I wouldalso like to thank all our chapter members, andour continued support from our sponsors. Forany information about the chapter feel free tocontact me. —Chad Hensley

MidCoastDavid Jenkins 361-578-5580

All is good along the coast of Port O ConnorTexas. Cedar Bayou and Vincent Slough are nowopen and it already seems that redfish havespawned in the area.

We had a successful Speedy Stop GuidesCup Tournament in October. Thanks goes out toall of the guides and fishermen/women for com-peting in our annual tournament. We had 21guides and teams compete for our coveted tro-phy this year. Captain Clint Anderson, Team SPSBwas the winning team with 15 lbs, 1 red fish, 3trout. Team members were Clifford Smith, DustyPutnam, Jesse Smally, and Matt Barnhart. Theyalso won biggest red fish and trout.

Captain Clint Anderson was presented abeautiful men's watch from Eichorn, Gonzalesand Miller Fine Jewelers. 2nd place Team Acad-emy, Captain Brad Graham, 3rd place TeamWhiskey Business, Catain Ken Griffin.

We now have our CCA Boats and are sell-ing tickets for each one. Our main boat is a fullyloaded Majek Extreme powered by a 250 Yamaha 4

Stroke. Thank you Krestas Boats andMotors!

Our second boat is an 18' Ex-press, with a trolling motor and pow-ered by a Yamaha 70 4 stroke. Thankyou Bernies Boats and Motors! Theseare two beautiful boats and tickets willbe drawn for the lucky winners at our2015 May 9th Banquet. Tickets for theMajek are $100 each, and only 1200will be sold. Tickets for the Expressare $20 each.

Tickets are available at TheTackle Box of Victoria and VictoriaAll Sports Center, both in Victoria. Iwant to thank Cliff Thomas, SpeedyStop Stores, Jimmie Burns, WaterlooRods USA, Krestas Boats and Motors,Bernies Boats and Motors, CompadresInk, Sign Crafters and Flatrock Com-pression for their support of the CCAand our Mid Coast Chapter. —DavidJenkins 361-578-5580 / 361-648-9185

The Mid-Coast boats. Our 18' Express boat will be at the Tackle Box: $20.00 ticket. Thebig boat is $100.00 a ticket.

This fly-hungry speck, released by Joseph Sanderson, is headedyour way.

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Northeast HoustonJason Law 713-898-8594

Northwest HoustonAlan Massey 281-414-6341

Orange CountyScott Bandy 409-988-3667

sabandy@ymail.com

Port O'ConnorBill Moore 361-983-4690

The 15th Annual POC CCA Banquet was held onOctober 18, and was a complete sellout beforethe doors opened. We apologize to those whoshowed up at the door to purchase tickets, butthe facility will only accommodate so many.

The banquet was another success, with ev-eryone enjoying the great weather, good food,

and good time enjoyed by all in attendance. Itcould not have been a success without the dili-gence and dedication of all board members,chapter members, volunteers, and donors. Spe-cial thanks to banquet chairman Carl Ray andJim Busby, VP’s Mike Sharp and Dain Whitworth,Treasurer Ann Brownlee, SecretaryDebbie Busby, and Sergeant at ArmsSonny Cook.

Also, our outstanding board mem-bers Ann Brownlee, Barbara Skalak,Candice Stryker, Carl and Pam Ray, ChrisSmisek, Dain and Judy Whitworth,Donnie and Julia Klesel, Fred Carr, Jerryand Virginia Lichac, Jim and DebbieBusby, Jimmy and Barbara Crouch,Linnie and Steve Mashman, Lefty andJoanne Ward, Mike and Maxine Sharp,Monique Morlan, Pam Johnson, PattiElkins and Suzie Onishi.

Thanks to Pam Johnson for an outstandingjob on the program and to Liz Hewitt for the pro-gram cover. To our Asst. CCA AD Ellen Ohmstedefor her assistance and to Sam Caldwell, for againmaking another visit to assist.

Again our appreciation to a special groupwho help make our banquet a success, the do-nors that make possible all of the items, gifts andtrips, you will be notified individually to saythank you. To all the table sponsors who will belisted in the next issue. To all of those folks thatattended and helped make this banquet a suc-cess. We thank the local businesses who helpedsell the tables and tickets: Sonny’s Marine,Coastal Boat Services, Coastal Bend Marine,Tigrett Real Estate, and Port O’Connor Rod andGun. So, come spend some of your holidays withus- visit some of these businesses and donors orjust kickback- enter you boat in the boat parade

in POC, “where it all began.”—BillMoore

PrairieSharon Goebel 979-877-4103

In the last issue of the Currents ( Oc-tober, November) part of the articlewas left out. On August 9, we had ourannual Kids Fish at the WietstruckFarm, the winners in the four age cat-egories 1st 2nd and 3rd place werementioned, but the awards were notmentioned. 1st place in all age groupsgot a handmade Wahoo game boardmade by John and Norma Thompson.2nd and 3rd place winners in all agegroups got a CCA logo rod.

In our April Banquet live auc-tion we had the Rockport Madnesstrip up for bid, Winners of the trip this

year were Gerald Harwell, MichaelBerry, Michael Hollman, Larry Hollman,Stanley Kollatschny, Kenneth Nelsonand Don Domny.On September 26th and 27th the Boardmembers hosted the weekend withfood, beverages and good fellowship.Friday night we served fajitas preparedby Brian Wietstruck and Saturday was aday of fishing thanks to Scott Stastnyand James Henderson for being theguides. The weather was not the best

(it rained all day) but they had a greattime on the water. That night weserved ribeye steak and boiled shrimpwith all the trimmings. We all had anoutstanding weekend. If interested in theRockport Madness trip it will be on the2015 Banquet in the April live auction. Weare working on a Christmas party be-tween the holidays. Date will be men-tioned at our November meeting.Thanks—Ron Chess Sr. 979-992-3295

Redfish BayNorman Oates 361-758-0266

Thanks to our donors, sponsors, Board, and vol-unteers, Redfish Bay Chapter has had a greatyear! Your Redfish Bay Chapter stays active in

the community and in conservation efforts. Wehad our annual Banquet, Beeville Fish Fry, andTake a Kid Fishing event.

We also participated in the Big Shell BeachCleanup on the Padre Island National Seashore.We had a General Membership meeting on Oc-tober 29 – thank you to Jake Herring, Director ofLand Conservation for Coastal Bend Bays & Es-tuaries Program, and John Blaha of CCA Texasfor speaking about joint conservation efforts andthe opening of Cedar Bayou.

The Wetlands Field Trip for fifth graders inRockport, as usual, was a success. MarthaMcCloud does a great job of organizing theweek, and two classes attended each day. Inevery class, there are kids who have nevercaught a fish, but they are successful fisher-per-sons now. TPWD Game Wardens and CCAmembers, Redfish Bay Chapter and Aransas BayChapter, help the kid’s fish. Like in our Take aKid Fishing event in Port Aransas, it is a blasthelping the kid’s fish.

We are looking forward to 2015! Our annualBanquet is scheduled for April 18, 2015. Join usfor this fun family event.

We always need volunteers who are inter-ested in conservation, if you would like to jointhe Board, please call me on 361-758-0266.—Norman C Oates 361-758-0266 H / 361-790-2748 C

Rio Grande ValleyGeorge McCaleb 956-984-8688

gmccaleb@hotmail.com Sabine-Neches

Darin Johnson 409-790-9855Greetings everyone! Happy Thanksgiving andMerry Christmas! We are in the early stages ofprep work for our March 5th banquet. This is go-ing to be great! Right now is the calm before thestorm at the Sabine Neches HQ.

Keep checking our Facebook page for im-portant meeting dates, we are going to crankthings up again in January and be at it 110% tobring you another top notch banquet served w/the best crawfish and coldest drinks in SETexas! In the meantime we are go-ing to chase ducks, deer and big Sabine troutwith family and friends! Have a safe holidayseason and we’ll see you outdoors! —Darin MJohnson

Sam HoustonBrandon Kolaja 281-797-6908

Season’s Greetings from the Sam Houston Chap-ter. Hope everyone has had a great year. Thecold weather is here and the fish are still biting,with warm weather and spring fishing rightaround the corner. I want to wish everyone aMerry Christmas and a Happy New Year.Thanks again for all the support in closing an-other successful year for our chapter. Tightlines,—Brandon Kolaja

Port O'Connor, "Where It AllBegan," as Chapter PresidentBill Moore says, was anothersellout. Fred Carr, a previousPOC president, holds theevent puppy, which appar-ently didn't like Carr's pinkand blue ensemble. Below,San Antonio artist and CrabTrap Champion Liz Hewittholds her stained glass art.

Left, smiles were in style at the Red-fish Bay Take A Kid Fishing event.Right, Don helps bring in fish foryoungsters.

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San AntonioJimmy Gibson 210-287-4378

Your San Antonio Chapter hosted a CCA NightOut October 30th with special guest speaker,Captain Jay Watkins [see Jay's ForeCast on page10], who gave us an update on what is going onin the Aransas Bay System, Cedar Bayou and hisprediction of what the next few years will bring.

Jay excited the crowd with his brand ofhow to “FISH SMART” along with tactics, tacklerecommendations with a goal of producing bet-ter catches. John Blaha gave an update on theopening of Cedar Bayou and the effects it willhave on fishing from San Antonio Bay to PortAransas. His slide presentation included somegreat photos of the work that has been com-pleted. Lots of notes were taken by our mem-bership/guess and as always we thank THECAPTAIN for taking the time to address ourgroup. If you weren’t there YOU MISSED IT!

Another big project that Beth Vacek and theSan Antonio Chapter hosted was the DellviewElementary School 5th graders which took their3rd Annual CRUISE TO CORPUS FOR COASTALCONSERVATION field trip where they toured theTexas State Aquarium, caught fish and touredthe hatchery at the CCA Marine DevelopmentCenter, and dipped our toes in Corpus ChristiBay.

Students left Dellview at 7:00 am on RegentBuses and headed to the Texas State Aquarium.The students toured the Aquarium and sawamazing sea animals. They petted sting rays,sharks, hermit crabs, and sea urchins. Then onto watch the amazing Dolphin Show and three ofour students were chosen to be judges as wewatched Shadow and Ki do Dolphin tricks. All ofour students sat in the Wet Zone and all our stu-dents got REALLY WET! Theyloved it.

We had lunch at the Shore-line Grill, then headed acrosstown to the Marine DevelopmentCenter. Then we split into twogroups – one group did a tour ofthe Marine Development Centerhatchery and one group went fish-ing in the brood ponds. CCA volun-teers assisted with baiting hooks,taking fish off, and modeling catchand release.

After an hour, the groupsflipped so that everyone learnedabout the cool things Texas Parksand Wildlife are doing at the Cen-ter and everyone got to fish! Ourfifth graders caught over 40 fish,many of them oversized redfish.What a great day of fishing!

At 3:00 we boarded ourbuses again and headed toMcGee Beach in downtown Cor-pus Christi. We took our shoes offand ran to the water’s edge totake pictures and enjoy the beach.Too soon it was time to head forhome. On the way, we stopped inMathis and picked up dinner, thensettled in for the ride home. It waswonderful to listen to the excitedconversations about this magicalday.

Beth Vacek, CCA San AntonioVP Youth said, “We are so luckyto have amazing friends of CCASan Antonio pay for this trip! Ahuge thanks to our San AntonioBanquet Live Auction buyers who

make this trip possible every year!” Angel, oneof our fifth graders, said, “I had an amazing timein Corpus Christi and thank you CCA for lettingus go!” Natalia said, “THANK YOU CCA! Thiswas the best day of my life.” Another 5th grader,Jacqueline said, “This was my best field tripever! Thank you for letting the 5th graders ofDellview Elementary go to fabulous CorpusChristi!”

In closing, we wish you and your family awonderful Holiday Season, be safe, smile, enjoyyour family and Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas.Contact me for any information, or e-mail me:jimmy.gibson@CSTBrands.com. Vaya Con DiosMi Amigos—Jimmy Gibson

San BernardJayson Zahradnik 281-202-8438

Hello, all. Just a friendly reminder that our an-nual banquet is coming up in a few months. Itwill be Thursday, February 26, at Riverside Hall inEast Bernard, Texas. If you are looking for agreat gift idea for the upcoming holiday season,consider a presale raffle ticket for our banquet.This year’s prizes are a little different: GrandPrize: Polaris Ranger 570 Crew Cab!

Also on the ticket will be a Bushmaster AROptic ready .223, Beretta A300 Outlander 12 Ga.,Weatherby VGD2 Bolt 7mm Mag, 65 quart Yeticooler, and a Sony GoPro Camera. Six greatprizes this year! Tickets are $100 each and therewill only be 300 tickets sold. For tickets you cancall Jayson Zahradnik at 281-202-8438 or KennethSchatz at 979-533-4385. Corporate tables willalso be available with details to follow.

I wish everyone a safe and happy holidayseason and hope Santa brings everyone the tro-phy trout we all wish for. Fish on! —JZ

San GabrielJohn Melnar 512- 497-

8284San Jacinto

Jim Wilson 713-828-7639

As we rapidly move to-wards the holiday season,I wanted to thank every-one who made our year agreat one. It takes a lot oftime and effort to makesuch events like thesepossible and more impor-tantly, fun. We had bothour Sunshine Kids FishingDerby and Kidfish events atSylvan Beach park, andwant to thank the City ofLaPorte and all our volun-teers with and withoutboats for everything.

The highlight ofour year was the banquet.The bidding was back upto old levels and we ap-

Many fish and a lot of grins at SanAntonio's 3rd Annual CRUISE TOCORPUS FOR COASTAL CON-SERVATION field trip.

~19~

preciate all the new members and new compa-nies that attended as well as the ones that havecome every year. We will be posting upcomingevents and want to invite new members to comeaboard.

On behalf of the San Jacinto Chapter, I wantto wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season andmay 2015 see all of us on the water more. —JimWilson

SouthwesternRobert Hart 830-879-5541

TAMUCameron Blackwood 713-591-7097

Texas State UniversityRyan Wishnow 832-444-3598

rw1303@txstate.edu

Tomball/MagnoliaMatt Maddox 281-770-7858

Tri-CountyJason Trial 830-570-2988

Trinity BayGerald Payne 281-385-2894

The days are getting shorter and the weather ischanging, giving us folks on the Upper Gulf Coasta much needed break from the heat and humid-ity. Coats and waders are being removed fromstorage to protect us from the elements as wetake a wade on the flats, tromp through themarsh or sit in a deer stand. It is the time of yearthat it is difficult to choose between a fishingpole or firearm. Nevertheless, it’s a great time toget outside and enjoy wildlife.

Chapter News…The numbers from our 2014banquet are now final. The 2014 event was byfar our best ever as we topped the 100K mark for

the first time. Based on the good news, membershave already secured August 21, 2015 at the samefacility in Baytown, Texas. In addition, we aretossing around an array of ideas for next year, toinclude reformatting our raffle into a multi-itempackage.

Trinity Bay Members are looking forward tothe upcoming year as we have several Barbe-cues, Shrimp and Crawfish Boils to host as weprepare for our next banquet.

As always we want to sincerely thank ourdedicated sponsors that repeatedly support andtake part in our mission towards conservation.—Gerald “Get er Done” Payne

Trinity ValleyJohn Hebert Jr 936-334-2528

We held our 2nd annual Trinity Valley CCA Ban-quet on September 11. It was a huge successand grossed over $60,000. We would like tothank all of our board members for their hardwork and dedication. We would also like tothank everyone who attended the banquet andsupported Trinity Valley CCA.

We have a general meeting every othermonth on the third Tuesday. Our next scheduledmeeting is on January 20, 2015 at Navrozsky’s inLiberty. We invite anyone who is interested inCCA to attend. For more information please callJennifer Creel at 936-334-2314 or email atjencreel936@aol.com. —Jennifer Creelwww.youniquebyjenncreel.com

West HoustonWelcome new president, Mike Ayers

832-248-9352Busy… that has been the key word for the WestHouston Chapter the past couple of months! Westarted off October with a bang by lending ahand to the 3rd annual CCA Texas/CastAwayCup fishing tournament held at Harborwalk. Theturnout was fantastic as we had 232 entries com-

peting for big prizes and a Rolex watch donatedby the Houston Gold Exchange.

Special thanks to all of the participants, do-nors and volunteers for making this a greatevent! This is a live weigh in tournament andwe were able to return 68 of the 104 weighedfish back to the water to fight another day!

We had a great November General Mem-bership featuring Anja Borski with the GalvestonBay Foundation who provided some great insightto the health of our bay system. Thanks to all ofthose that came out to participate. Our next Gen-eral Membership meeting will be held in Febru-ary 2015. Please check our page on the CCATexas website or our Facebook page for furtherdetails in the near future as we are lining up ourguest speakers now.

As 2014 draws to a close, we would like tothank all of our members that helped supportthe West Houston Chapter this year at our An-nual Banquet, the CCA Texas/CastAway Cup andthe General Membership Meetings. We had avery successful year and are all very proud ofwhat our Chapter was able to return to CCATexas. Without the support of our members, itwould never have been possible.

Our sights are now set on 2015 and we arelooking forward to increasing our activity. If youwould like to get more involved with our Boardor CCA Texas, please let us know. We have setthe date for the 29th Annual Crawfish Boil andBanquet for Thursday, May 14th, 2015. Pleasemark you calendar’s to join us for what alwaysis a great event.

On behalf of the West Houston Board, wewish everyone a very Merry Christmas andHappy New Year! —Mike Ayers

West TexasCraig McDonnold 432-682-3499

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Existing Life Members, please contact CCA Texas or email Kim at kogonosky@ccatexas.org for your special CCA Igloo cooler offer!

~21~

~22~

samcaldwell.comTexas State Artist 2004

DU State Artist 2010-2011281-455-9390

The Last Laugh

Road to MarathonA small study for a large oil, available at the up-coming Houston Real Estate banquet, Feb. 10.

Drop by my Web Cave for re-cent and ancient paintings, anda visit to the D-Day beaches ofNormandy.

Want to share even moreof your Great photos?

Currents had many fine images submitted again this is-sue. Limited space means we can use only a few photos,but there is a good option for your Great Photo: send itto CCA via our new social media. See Page 7 for connec-tions to Facebook and Instagram. Every entry there willalso be an entry in the Currents Great Photos Competi-tion.

Enter Great Photos 2012Categories:

Best In Show / Action / Scenic / Humor / Kids /Wildlife / CPR

Important: for jpegs, be sure you include name of subject,title, your name and address. On back of prints, write your

name and address, as well as the names of anyone in thephoto. email jpegs to: sam@samcaldwell.com

Color prints to: CCA Great Photos Editor / 6919Portwest Dr., Suite 100 Houston, Texas 77024

Art prints for Best In Show, First, Second and Third Placewinners.

Give us your best shot, and keep Currents anaward winning newsletter.Ardea alba, this particular great egret, just looks funny. Great Wild-

life/humor photo by Pauline Osborn. Apologies to Pauline for thewrong attribution last issue of her superb green heron photo.

~23~

~24~

NON-PROFITU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDHOUSTON, TEXAS

PERMIT 2532

U.S. Coast Guard Air & Sea RescueNational Response Center: 800-874-2143Port Isabel: 956-761-2668Corpus Christi / Marine Safety Office:boating emergencies, chemical andoil spills: 361-888-3162Port Aransas: 361-749-5217Port O’Connor: 361-983-2616Freeport: 979-233-3801Houston, Galveston: 409-766-5620Sabine: 409-971-2195

COASTAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION TEXASMEMBERSHIP APPLICATION (including STAR Entry)

Name Phone______ Date _________________________

Address City State Zip_______________

NEW MEMBER _______ RENEWAL ______ (Member ID for renewing members only)_______________________________________ EMAIL ____________________

MEMBER: $25 ___ Membership card, decal, bumper sticker, Texas CURRENTS newsletter & TIDE magazine. ASSOCIATE: $15 ___ Per each family member. All membership privileges except TIDE and CURRENTS.

PRINT MEMBER: $100 ___ All of the above plus CCA Texas print of your choice. LIFE MEMBER: $1000 ___ CCA Life Membership piece, print, plus member gifts. Payable in four $250 installments.

STAR ENTRY FEE: $20 ___ Tournament entry fee. Must be a current CCA member. NEW TIDE: $10 ___ Tide newsletter, decal.

Members 17 and under only Age: ______ Date of birth: ________ NEW TIDE / Star: $10 ___ Same as above, plus “FREE” STAR Tournament entry. Age: ______ Date of birth: ________

Credit card number ________________________________ Signature _____________________________________________________________________________________

Credit card expiration date _________________________ By entering this tournament, I agree to be bound by the STAR Tournament Rules, Release and Indemnity Agreement. I understand that thereare specific rules governing the conduct of the tournament and that upon request a copy will be mailed to me. 6919 Portwest, Suite 100 / Houston, TX 77024 / 713-626-4222 / Website: www.ccatexas.org

Method of payment___ Check/Money order Charge to my:___ MASTERCARD___ VISA___ AMEX___ DISCOVER

The Texas Parks & Wildlife website isyour starting point for almost any-thing you need to know about outdoorTexas, including links to many areas.Visit http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us To focus on fishing andboating, visit http://www.tpwd.-state.tx.us/fishboat/

Current size, bag and possession limitsare now available through the TexasParks & Wildlife website: TPWD has anumber to report game violations. 1-800-792-4263. A partner with CCA in aiding Texasgame and Game Wardens is OperationGame Thief. Dropby and put this website on your favoriteslist: http://www.ogttx.com/

CoastalConservationAssociation

Season’s Greetings from CCA& Cedar Bayou!

Thanks for the art,Kim Ogonosky

and Ben Kocian

6919 Portwest Suite 100 / Houston, TX 77024

CURRENTS NEWSLETTERDecember 2014 / January 2015