August 9 was a very special day for people needing help with housing in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey! Funds provided by HUD and administrated thru GrantWorks will help a number of people in need. About 20 people showed up to the meeting which will be followed by personal interviews with GrantWorks.

-Tanya DeForest

The First United Methodist Church-Seadrift had a backpack and school supplies drive to assist local families. They collected 68 backpacks. The church hosted a back-to-school night on August 3 where backpacks and supplies were handed out. There was a short service with music led by Pastor Cody Logan. The service ended with a hotdog supper. The remaining backpacks were donated to Seadrift School. It was an awesome beginning to the new school year!
-Diane Mooney

My neighbors Parker and Patty are always telling me how proud they are to be a part of Port O’Connor, Texas. They say it is a great community and so friendly. Parker recently took his preacher fishing. Early in the day didn’t go too well, but later they got into some beautiful legally sized speckled trout. Pastor Pat was so happy when he hooked in to a really nice trout. He quickly unhooked it and plopped it in the handy aluminum measuring trough Parker had used to measure other fish, hoping to have the biggest. Well, it was hot that afternoon. Really Hot! That trout went to flopping and flipping trying to escape that hot metal. Pat yelled, and Parker came to help. The fish was really jumping and pretty soon Parker and Pat were chasing a wild fish across the space above the deck rail. Sad to say, they were not fast enough. The 23-incher flopped one last big flop right over the low fishing rail and into the cool green water. Pastor Pat groaned out loud and Parker bit back an off-color remark, but the beautiful fish was gone. Pastor Pat is nothing if not a teacher so, even when he was out fishing the pastor turned it into a lesson about life. He said if he hadn’t been measuring his catch against everyone else’s on the boat, hoping to be the best, he’d be having speckled trout for dinner. Sometimes we get so busy comparing ourselves and what we’ve got or not got to everyone else that we miss what we have right there on the hook.” Pastor Pat caught a few more fish that afternoon, and when he was asked if he wanted to measure them or get a picture he replied, “No Thanks. Just catchin’ makes me happy enough.” So, today, don’t miss out on what is good by searching around for what someone else might have that is better. Catch the joy of the moment and let it be enough!

In the late 1980s bottled drinking water popularity exploded with the newer safer polyethylene terephthalate plastic (PET). What in the world did we do before this innovation especially when it comes to the fisherman?

As a kid my dad took me fishing often in the Summertime and we had many rituals and knew what needed to be done for a successful trip. We traveled by car from Pasadena to the Bolivar Ferry very early in the morning (me sleeping most of the way) and later a few years to the Galveston boat ramps when we could afford a fishing boat. In either case the night before the trip we would fill paper milk cartons with water for our fish ice (don’t forget the ice pick) and we would get the Igloo water jug out and fill it half full with ice that we had made in aluminum ice trays, then add tap water so it would get good and cold overnight. No bottled water needed!

Today, of course, my cooler is filled with upwards of a case of bottled water along with soft drinks and a handmade lunch the lodge provides for each guest. Is it really that important what we drink or how? I don’t think so but it’s neat to reminisce on times gone by and share the conversation with the guests that I am guiding. Fishing is such a personal, relaxing activity on our boats these days and the customers respond well to our preparedness on how to put them on fish and cater to their needs on the water. We take great pride in what we do because it’s much more than fishing, it’s entertaining and in most cases we are entertaining customers of our customer! I’m often asked if I still like to fish on my own since I’m on the water 270 plus days in a year. Absolutely is my answer because of that point I made, it’s a personal, relaxing activity! Besides, I am not fishing when I’m at ‘work’, I’m entertaining!

I often think about all the innovations that have come along the way in my short time on the saltwater and no matter how you look at it the basic fact remains, you are after those elusive fish! Fresh fish for a fish fry, family outings and reunions. Whatever the use you just cannot beat a fresh catch. There are many communities that are banning the use or manufacture of bottle water now days due to environmental factors. I guess the trend may be to go back to the ‘old’ days and do things the way I grew up? You can’t understand the refreshment of holding that water jug up over your head and draining that ice cold water down your throat when it’s 95 degrees out on the water, so refreshing!

Capt Stephen Boriskie
Bay Flats Lodge
Seadrift, Texas