Freeport???

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SmileDoc
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Freeport???

Post by SmileDoc »

My son just graduated from UT and has accepted a job in Freeport, YAY!

We are used to fishing Rockport, via Austin, but now he needs to learn a new bay system.
Are there any concerns about the quality of fish with all the industry there?
Any general suggestions for where you guys like to go? (Specifics are also good! :D )

Thanks.
He will also be looking for people to go fishing with.
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Cityfisher
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Re: Freeport???

Post by Cityfisher »

Congratulations to your son! My daughter graduated there also some years back!
You have Drum and Christmas Bay there and I have never heard of any issues as far as not being able to eat any fish there. I don't think all those chemical plants have any direct access to contaminate those bays.
WestTXFisherman
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Re: Freeport???

Post by WestTXFisherman »

Congratulations! My son is a senior there so I know you must be proud that your son is done. I have tried to talk him into grad school at A&M Corpus Christi.
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karstopo
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Re: Freeport???

Post by karstopo »

https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outd ... advisories

Link to TP&W consumption advisories.

Chemical companies are watched pretty closely and are also staffed by plenty of fishing folk including friends of mine that fish for and consume the local fish (I also regularly eat redfish, trout and flounder caught locally). I believe anything untoward going on out there is very rare to non existent for some time now. Mercury contamination beyond the natural levels isn’t from local source so much, exception might be marine anti-fouling paints used on boat hulls, but worldwide from burning of coal and other things. So fish worldwide have mercury in their system, but some of the longer lived top end predators accumulate more. PCB contamination is from local sources mostly from the cooling oils of large electrical transformers, but those PCB type oils have been banned decades ago and the PCB containing sediments are slowly being buried/washed away/diluted. Levels in fish, always parts per billion, have dropped in the ensuing years and some consumption bans have been rescinded over the years.

Christmas Bay might be the most like Rockport since Christmas Bay has a large area of submerged sea grasses. Bastrop Bay is another good bay with plenty of reef, so is Drum Bay with its shallow shell structures. The myriad of marshes and estuaries off the ICWW are great for kayaking. Christmas Bay is easy to wade, the perimeter, with mostly a firm bottom. Parts of Bastrop bay can be waded, only a little of Drum Bay is firm. None really any of the marshes are good for wading. Really just pick a spot on Google Earth and there will be fish there at least some of the time.

Obviously, there are better consistent fish holding structures than others, but there isn’t a reasonable sized stretch of shoreline or reef that we’ve come across in any local bay that we, my friends and I, haven’t caught quality fish at times. Same goes for any local marsh or estuary. I never have much of a desire to fish anywhere else for the same basic types of fish, so while I’ve been down the coast a few times, I’d just rather fish here and save on gas, lodging, restaurant food, and windshield time (I have nothing against traveling to fish, just a personal preference). But I’m not trying to win tournaments or necessarily catch a wall hanger every time I fish, so if that’s what you need you might want to broaden your horizons.

The water probably won’t average as clear here as down the coast, but it doesn’t mean the fish are absent or can’t be located. I’m definitely not knocking any other bay system or area. All I’m saying is there is good fishing and good fish on either side of Freeport.
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Yaklash
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Re: Freeport???

Post by Yaklash »

In the Freeport area, you have numerous nearby options, especially relative to your Austin to Rockport drive.

Christmas Bay, Drum Bay, Surfside and Quintana jetties (especially Surfside), Quintana Beach (careful at the mouth of the Brazos River) and Surfside Beach all the way to San Luis Pass. Then there's SLP itself, Chocolate Bay and Lower Galveston West Bay (30 minute drive).
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