Another month has flown by and we are still dealing with COVID and hurricanes! Blessedly, hurricanes have passed us by. Many prayers have been said for our Texas and Louisiana neighbors who have had much more than their fair share of hardships in 2020.

Bulletin! Bulletin! Bulletin! Our choir is now allowed to rehearse and sing again on Sunday mornings! All of our choir members have missed being able to gather together and sing. Maybe this is the start of more normal times returning. God is good.

Prayer at the Pole was held at our church this year. POC School was unable to host it because of the pandemic. Sadly, it was not well attended because teachers and students were not able to be there. That didn’t stop those who were there from praying for our country, our president and government leaders.

The Samaritan’s Purse Shoe Box Project has been growing and growing. We had a work day last week to fill boxes. Our goal of 100 boxes, set in January, could become a reality, even though we have had to deal with so many obstacles. Many donations have come from church members, but just as many have come from wonderful people in and out of our community who have a heart for the children that will receive these gifts. THANK YOU, EVERYONE!

Our pastor, Phillip Miller, is waiting to welcome you to any of our services and activities. We abide by all the COVID guidelines and you can feel safe when you are in our buildings. Sunday school is at 9:45 and church services are at 11:00 and 6:00. Tuesday at 3:00 is women’s Bible study and men meet at 7:00. Prayer meeting and youth activities are Wednesday evening at 6:00. If you have questions or needs, please call Pastor Miller at 870-681-0541.

Dr. Likover sent us these aerial photos of Sunday Pass/Beach (above) with all the sand bars and of Pass Cavallo (below) after the recent storm. He advises that it is very treacherous to try and get into Fish Pond. Sand bars have nearly closed it off. Lot’s of people have run aground before the storm. It is worse now.

Port O’Connor VFD

June 1st 2020 was the official opening day for the first annual “Red Snapper Roundup” tournament. The “Red Snapper Roundup” is an offshore tournament that began the opening day of the Federal water Red Snapper season. This tournament ran for the full 62 days of Red Snapper Season and ended on August 3rd, 2020.
Jimmy Norman, and Ron Simpson of Port O Connor (POC) formed the tournament. The purpose of the “Red Snapper Roundup” was to offer a competitive offshore tournament that extended past the standard two-day offshore tournament windows (Friday and Saturday).

“The Red Snapper Roundup” allowed anglers to compete in the following categories-

• Largest Red Snapper
• Largest Wahoo
• Largest Dolphin
• Largest Ling
• Largest Kingfish
• Largest Grouper

Proceeds from the tournament went back to the community. Donations were made to the POC Volunteer Fire Department, Magnolia Beach Voluntary Fire Department and the Port O Connor Chamber of Commerce.
“The Red Snapper Roundup” will be returning back to POC in 2021. Event organizers are already diligently working on the planning of the return. Participants can look for updates and 2021 entry information on the event Facebook page. -Darla Parker

Magnolia Beach VFD

POC Chamber of Commerce

We have been dodging some bullets lately with this year’s Hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico. Poor Louisiana! Huh?

I’m glad that Hurricane Season is closing and Hunting Season is wide open.

Really the only thing good about Hurricanes in the Gulf is it makes for awesome fishing. Trout are still plentiful especially for wade fishermen and fisherladies. Great time for artificial lures. The standard tops and tails make for the best ammo. I have been seeing some Trump 2020 top waters that make for a WINNING COLOR! MAGA topwater lures make for a GREAT color no matter what the conditions. All the puns were intended. Just so you know. Hey if your reading this article I know who you are voting for because its simple. We want to keep our Liberties. Especially 2A.

Hey, I like my column to be real like if we are talking to one another. Of course I have a writing filter not a talking filter. The beauty of being the Captain.

Anyway, let’s talk about a tough trip we had the other day. We hosted a husband and wife team from Dallas on a Combat Redfishing Trip. The morning of the trip we wound the Airboat up and headed for the back bays. The tide was up so high it wasn’t really any back bays per se. Beautiful morning sun was rising and all of a sudden the AB fell on its face. Spitting and losing power. Ugh! Not a good showing for the new couple. My mind starts racing who to call, what is it?, bad gas, save the day, call it, should I take a job at Bucees so I don’t have to worry about all this, am I eligible for Social Security. It drives you crazy. Plus drives your blood pressure through the roof.

The AB died. The fuel pump is pumping like normal. That’s a good sign. Well, let’s try a crank on the key. Slowly, but surely, the engine fires and we are slowly getting on plane. It seems to be water in the fuel issue. We live on the water and that’s par for the course. The motor picked up power and we pushed on. Oh, it gets better. The redfish and drum are everywhere. Should be a good rest of the day. Wrong, the full moon, I don’t fish at night so I am not a fan of the full moon time of the month. The fish feed all night. Its just a rule of thumb. Eight moves on the fish later, still no take downs let alone a red in the box. Finally about 11 AM we have a monster take down. Shew! My blood pressure can drop, PING, the keeper red runs into the marsh grass. OMG! ITS 1030 AM, AIRBOAT IS NOT PERFORMING, I’M NOT PERFORMING, Can’t catch even a hard head. #TrueGuideLife

Well, I’m thinking a redo is in order. 11:45, now Noon, Its getting hot with no wind. I’m down to the last straw. I hit a spot that only works on a high tide, I take it easy approaching because I can’t afford to bust a school in this back pocket. Pitch, drift, pitch drift, WHAM! ITS ON! Finally another take down by a nice redfish. It made it to the net, the skunk left the boat at 12:30 pm at the last spot. Now we are cooking with some grease. We stayed til we got a limit and the new Combat Redfishers are booked for another round in a few weeks. So the lesson here is we all have days we don’t whack and stack ‘em even though we promote all the full ice chests and stringers. However, this time of year is magical and I encourage all of you to Book a Local Guide and enjoy your time Outdoors.

We are also still shooting 2 to 3 cases a hunt in Mexico for White Wing. The Mourning Dove have also migrated south of the border to miss the hurricane winds but their flight patterns are getting stopped by my Mexico Wing Shooters. Duck Season opened today in Mexico and it was a great opener with tons of Teal, Widgeon and Pintails.

If you have any questions about hunting or fishing please give me a call,

Captain Jeff Larson
281 217 0399