Pier Pressure Part 8

  Somewhere around 1998, my parents purchased a house that sat on the north shore of Copano Bay, just a few miles from Rockport TX. It was a beautiful property as it was in a perfect position to avoid the constant southeast wind that is so prevalent here in Texas, and the sunsets were simply stellar. The house, as it was purchased did not have a pier, just a concrete seawall to keep the shoreline from eroding under the constant wave action. Shortly after they purchased the house, they decided to add a 500-foot lighted pier for family and friends to fish off of.

  The pier proved to be a great addition to the house. Not only did it add value to the real estate, but there are few things more fun than throwing a size 4 Clouser minnow into a large school of feeding Speckled Trout under the floodlights of a pier. Before getting married, I spent MANY nights doing this very thing. It became a bit of a ritual for me to hit the lighted pier on Friday night after arriving, then kayak Port Bay or Wilson's cut the next morning with an 8wt. in hand.

  When Emily and I started dating in 2002, I was a bit concerned about how my infatuation with saltwater fly fishing would be received. Thankfully, Emily's family is all from Galveston Island a few hours north of Rockport, so she grew up a "beach girl". This proved to be a real positive in our relationship as she loved being at the coast as much as I did. I believe I still have a picture of Emily somewhere with the first (and only) Speckled Trout she has ever caught off of that pier in Copano Bay.

  In 2003 when Hurricane Claudette came through, the storm surge lifted the pilings of many of the piers in the area out of the sand, causing the 12-foot sections to "domino" up on themselves on the adjacent shoreline. Unfortunately for me, I was the only one in a position to initiate the clean-up. Let me tell you, demolishing 500 feet of pressure-treated lumber weighing in the tons, with nothing but a chain saw is not fun. And, in fact, for a while, I wasn't sure I wanted the pier to be rebuilt, for fear of having to go through that again if another hurricane came through! Ironically enough, a few years after the pier was rebuilt, a second storm did come through, but with much less damage involved than the previous storm.

  My parents ended up selling that house in 2010 for several reasons. Emily and I thought seriously about buying it from them, but we had just had a baby and were in no position, financial or otherwise to make such a significant investment in a vacation property. However, we talk about that house very often, and in fact, have driven by it many times during our visits to Rockport. And, it never fails that one of us will observe how much Jackson would have LOVED having that fishing pier available right outside the back porch. I feel certain that as intense as I was about fishing off of that pier well into the late night hours, Jackosn probably would have had me beat.

  As with most things in life, circumstances change, and the house and pier at #17 Belaire St. in Fulton TX is now under someone else's watch. I drove by there last year about this time, and the new owner and his girlfriend happened to be out in the yard doing some landscaping. I stopped and introduced myself, and they were gracious enough to invite me in to see all of the updates they had done to the house after Hurricane Harvey wreaked so much havoc on the Texas coast back in 2016. The place looked fantastic....and the pier was still there. Although it was now about 150' shorter than it was originally, as they had decided not to rebuild the section that Hurricane Harvey destroyed.....GOOD CHOICE.

  As I stood there in their living room, the girlfriend was showing me all of the upgrades they had done to the place. I'll be honest...I wasn't really listening. I just kind of nodded my head in agreement, and looked past her, through the big window that overlooked the pier and thought about all the nights I spent with 6wt. in hand tormenting those Trout.

Hope you all are having a great week,

Andy