Love For Our Coastal Resources

Texas is indeed a one-of-a-kind place. You can go nearly anywhere in the world and when the conversation turns to where you are from, Texas is arguably more recognizable than America. Maybe that last statement is just my state pride showing a bit but I feel that I’m treated differently amongst the residents of other states and countries; especially when I tell them more specifically where I’m from in Texas. I love this state!

Texas is big and broad and includes some of nearly every geographical characteristic within her borders. We have the gulf coast, high plains, rolling savannahs, mountains, desserts, large forests and expansive marsh areas. Scattered throughout the state, there is plenty of wild game that can provide someone with recreational opportunities and tasty meals.

Living on the gulf coast is a great example of that. People have been living here many thousands of years and I completely understand why. As they say, the sea will provide and one can always catch, trap or harvest something for dinner. Even though survival these days is much different than for the people who lived in this place before us, the Texas coast always has and hopefully always will be a great place to live.

During my childhood I was blessed to have been born to parents that loved to be at the beach. My grandparents built a cabin at Gilchrist back in 1957, near the old Rollover Pass, where we spent nearly all our summer weekends. The cabin itself was crude, never had hot water, no private rooms, and no air conditioning. It was pretty much a square wooden structure 7 feet off the ground on piers, with large shuttered windows all around for ventilation.

Far from the beach homes built today, we sweated at night, swatted mosquitoes, and took cold showers. Despite the less than favorable conditions, we always begged our parents to go there. We would crab all day, swim and fish at the beach, play in the sand, and repeat. It didn’t matter if it was hot, cold, rain or shine – we would have a fresh seafood gumbo, fish fries, boil crabs and shrimp, and enjoy the resources that Texas provided us. These are some of my first and fondest memories that have led me to love our coast.

Fast forward to the present, I have been very fortunate to see and fish some incredible places in this world. Every time I fish a new place I always think to myself how beautiful the area is and how incredible the fishing can be. I sometimes daydream about how I could retire there one day. After mentioning to my guide or whomever about the kind of fishing that I am blessed to experience back home, they often ask why in the world am I there.

Of course we both know that answer but on a serious note, why would you ever want to fish somewhere else? On the upper coast we can fly fish for redfish while the middle coast and lower coast provides arguably the best big trout fishing in the world. On top of that, there are endless flats from one end to the other and this is without mentioning the offshore opportunities. We truly have it all!

I have been on a flight arriving to Houston from a fishing trip and the captain comes over the PA system and says it’s a bluebird day with winds 0-5 mph out of the north. Arriving at the gate and retrieving my bags, I’ve headed straight home, hooked onto my boat and headed out to go fishing – never even stepped inside my house. Thats how much I love our Texas coastal resources. When it comes down to it, Texas has given every angler and resident of her coast more than we could ever ask for. That is why I believe it is high time we give back to her when we can.

A few years back I was listening to the CCA Coastal Advocacy podcast and one of their guests was Captain Billy Sandifer. He told a story of a couple from out of state he took on a beach fishing charter. One of their primary reasons for being down there was to find an area to buy a beach home they could enjoy during retirement. He asked them if they liked what they saw and their reply left him baffled.

They said they would not be coming back because the beach was horribly littered with trash. He then realized what sad shape the place was in and how it had been overlooked for so many years as trash washed ashore and collected on the beaches. Right then and there Billy decided to take it upon himself to do something about it. He organized a small group of volunteers to clean a couple miles they call the Big Shell Beach that year.

From that fledgling effort the Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Cleanup has continued to grow and has actually outlived Billy. Held annually in late February, it now attracts as many 1500 volunteers at each event. The typical haul of trash removed from 20 to 25 miles of beach can sometimes weigh upwards of 40 tons.

That incredible story has stuck with me and serves as a reminder that we have to take care of what is ours. A few years back I was driving down our local beach and realized that it was filthy. Seeing the need to do something about it, I brought the idea up to our local CCA chapter. We organized, picked a date, and decided to do our own cleanup on McFaddin Beach. Initially, I thought if we could get 20 volunteers I would consider it a major victory. To my surprise, we had around 70 people show up the first year and over 100 last year. On top of that, the normal beachgoers that didn’t know we were doing a cleanup stopped by, grabbed a bag, and cleaned up their area where they had parked. It was almost contagious!

That said, I would like to invite everyone down to McFaddin Beach on September 21, 2024. We will be set up at the entrance to the public beach and the work hours will be from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m.. Our goal is to clean a mile of beach and we have hit the target both years with hopes to do it again.

Thanks to industrial leaders of our area, we will provide trash bags, gloves, trash grabbers, water, food and everything you will need for the morning. Once the hard work is done, we eat and begin to have some fun and enjoy our newly cleaned beach. We urge everyone to bring a rod and reel as we will spend the rest of the day fishing. Bring the whole family and let your kids develop a love for our coast.

As I mentioned earlier, Texas has given us more opportunities than any of us could ever dream of or ask for. I think it is time that we all start giving back and getting involved a little more to show pride in what we have been given. As a Texan, I know we all have a lot of state pride and now is a great time to show it.