TOPIC: SPRING GATHERING IN SOUTH TX?

to ALL,

as the post where i asked this question yesterday has "mysteriously disappearred" from the forum, i'll ask the question again:

Is anybody interested in a Fiberglassics gathering in March or April 2012 in WARM & SUNNY south Texas? - the average temperatures by March 15 should be in the low to mid 70s.

i'm thinking of PORT ARANSAS or ROCKPORT, as both have reasonably-priced motels, hotels & B&Bs, good seafood & TexMex resturants, plenty of parking for boats/trailers & FRIENDLY city governments.
(they know "who butters their bread" = tourists & "winter Texans".)

btw, it takes an "over 5 pound speckled trout" to get your name in the local papers & a LUNKER to get your picture published. = that should tell other fishing fanatics all that they need to know about the springtime fishing on the south TX coast!

i'll help host thegathering, if anybody wants to do this.

yours, satx

If you have it, I'll be there.

Rockport is actually our home. We alternate between Rockport and central Missouri.

I'll have 1 or 2 boats there, depending on progress.

I'll make the pot a bit sweeter. We have a 40' Cheoy Lee sailboat at Rockport and a sail in the bay is available to all who'd want it.

Austinsailor,

and you want to help HOST the gathering?????

yours, satx

To some degree. We don't have any room for it where we are, but we can probably help some.

There are free launch ramps around the Rockport and Port A areas, and there is a city park on the water in Rockport with a ramp right there. Entrance to the park is free if you're launching a boat, (or have one with you) maybe $5 a car otherwise. I'll be there next week and can ask the particulars of hosting something there.

If there are other places you are thinking of I can do some legwork.

An advantage to the Rockport park is that the Ski Basin is right there at the ramp and speedboats are allowed, without no-wake zones and a beach you could pull your boat up to.

Austinsailor,

to me, "hosts" are persons who have EXTENSIVE local knowledge about places to stay/eat/launch/golf/shop/fish/buy bait/etc.

imVho, it does NOT imply having to spend a lot of time OFF the water, as that's why all of those "summer places" have CofC, visitor's centers, etc. & are HAPPY to provide other sorts of "administrative" assistance to a money-making (for the local economy) operation of the sort i'm suggesting.
(my home county, far up in East TX has a "Christmas Festival of Lights" each year & LOTS of bass tournaments. - the CofC discovered that the AVERAGE spent by each "boat" was about 350.oo per day.)

yours, satx

Well, since we've been there since '96, spending probably one third of our time there, I guess we do qualify as local knowledge! Numerous local places know us by name. We also are members of the local yacht club.

I expect that all boats will have to be registered. In some out of the way place it might not matter so much, but this is right in town. I get permits in Missouri for my meets that let you run un-registered boats, but I've never heard of them in Texas.

It would be a great place for a meet if the park doesn't cause difficulties. There is the ramp, land facilities right there, the protected water right in front of it where you can go any speed, and open bay with bigger water about 1/4 to 1/2 mile boat ride away. Eats, Walmart, and motels with in almost walking distance.

We keep our boat, which is also our home, about 1/2 mile as the crow flies, or a mile by road from this ramp. I'll ask around next week.

And - the winter Texans will be gone, the summer tourist crowd won't be there yet, so it should be nice. It would be a great deal if we pull it off.

Austinsailor,

EXACTLY SO!

yours, satx

I'll be there in spirit.

The only problem I see is that all the places you named are saltwater.

Being raised here on the TX gulf Coast and having a place in Matagorda, TX I will not run any of my classic boats nor motors in the salt...it just does not wash off every place and a few months later you find a place you missed.

talltexan,

fwiw, there is NO shortage of freshwater lakes/rivers down in that area.- actually saltwater is good for WOODEN BOATS & fiberglass boats that have wood components. - it's freshwater that causes ROT!

yours, satx

satx78247 wrote:

talltexan,

fwiw, there is NO shortage of freshwater lakes/rivers down in that area.- actually saltwater is good for WOODEN BOATS & fiberglass boats that have wood components. - it's freshwater that causes ROT!

yours, satx

However salt on the paint and older aluminum of motors is why I will not run my antiques in the salt...Now I have a Robalo R245 and a Newport 30 that live in the salt (The Newport is in the salt 51 weeks a year and taken out on the Gulf often), however both are newer and has the after 80s aluminum in/on them.

BTW if we do not get any rain the lakes will not have water to the ramps, and ALL of the rivers have had the salt back up inland to new records (all but the ones like the Brazos, Trinity and Colorado that have the inflatable saltwater dams in place)

talltexan,

well i hope, that if this gathering happens, that you DO come.

maybe i'm just lucky, but i've (at least not yet after some 50 years of fishing the TX coast) "ever had any noticeable damage to my johnnyrude "big twins", as i'm really careful about throughly flushing out the saltwater after each use.

yours, satx