# Cedar Bayou



## saltwaterjunky (Aug 17, 2012)

Anybody got any updates on it haven`t seen anything in awhile .Used to be a big thing when I lived on goose island specially when Seagun was a big thing....thx ps Might be lookn for a guide to go there rather rather than by myself ain`t no spring cikn....


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## RyanW (Jul 17, 2017)

Itâ€™s silted in. Hurricane did a number on it and Vinsons.


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## TxAirhedz (Jul 23, 2017)

Thatâ€™s a bad deal. 
Didnâ€™t they recently open it back up?
I was thinking it would really help the fishing in the local bays. 
Actually, it was one of the first things I thought about when Harvey made landfall. Aside from the impact on the people.


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Last I heard it was flowing. Where did you hear it silted in?


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## Copano/Aransas (Dec 18, 2011)

bigfishtx said:


> Last I heard it was flowing. Where did you hear it silted in?


I saw this post on FB back in early July, but havenâ€™t seen any updates since.

https://www.facebook.com/1508269729442320/posts/2054505161485438/

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## SSST (Jun 9, 2011)

My son and his buddies fished it last weekend, said it was still flowing, but not very deep. Probably just depends on the tide. They caught some nice trout in the surf there.


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## Gumby (Aug 11, 2005)

Pictures taken from 4,500â€™ on July 20th At 6:45 pm.


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## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

Gumby said:


> Pictures taken from 4,500â€™ on July 20th At 6:45 pm.


That's pretty much silted in all right. The overall water level in the bay is up quite a lot from just a week or so ago, so there might be a some water getting through now, where it wouldn't have been on July 20. But those pics are sure disheartening.


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## saltwaterjunky (Aug 17, 2012)

*pics*

Well dam maybe I don`t want to go.......................


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## blackjack runner (Feb 24, 2015)

We fished the area late July. Water got real skinny little less than a mile from the old no boats sign. It was a weekday, so no boat traffic and no cell phone reception didnt want to chance getting stuck. 

Was told by airboater that there is water flowing, but not much.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

Sure isn't any water flowing in those pictures. 


TH


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Nope. It is going to need to be dredged again.


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## Gumby (Aug 11, 2005)

New pictures from yesterday 10 August at 1:30 pm.


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## TexasWineGuy (Jun 19, 2017)

Gumby said:


> New pictures from yesterday 10 August at 1:30 pm.


Where was the tide when these pics ere taken?

TWG


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## specktout (Aug 21, 2006)

I fish in that area once a week or more, it's silted in. Very little to no water movement through the pass. Might get some water with a bull tide, but it probably won't keep it open.


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## TexasWineGuy (Jun 19, 2017)

specktout said:


> I fish in that area once a week or more, it's silted in. Very little to no water movement through the pass. Might get some water with a bull tide, but it probably won't keep it open.


Do you fish the surf or IN Cedar lake?

TWG


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## TrueblueTexican (Aug 29, 2005)

*Lot of wasted money*

Dr Watson told them it wouldn't stay open without a jetty - and even then would need maintenance dredging - he pointed out the fact that the ICW and Aransas ship channel, Matagorda ship channel spelled doom a long time ago for any natural passes to remain open simply because of the enormous volumes of water exchanged here. I hate to see it sanded in again, caught four personal best tide runners when it was open 22 years ago --

Cavallo is next and eventually Sunday beach pass again -- meanwhile Matagorda ship channel is scoured out 99' deep (gonna hold red snapper inshore if it keeps up) - I am surprised that the Matagorda south jetty hasn't collapsed YET --

https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/ne...icle_12623ef4-92ae-11e8-a3de-8bb83e9ba7e1.htm


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## Txredfish (Oct 27, 2010)

How close can one get with boat before having to beach it and walk to surf. I have not been there in quite a while. Last time it was a couple of years ago. If approaching by boat, would I still still have to go by the left side in order to walk to surf? Or how do I get in?


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## specktout (Aug 21, 2006)

Txredfish said:


> How close can one get with boat before having to beach it and walk to surf. I have not been there in quite a while. Last time it was a couple of years ago. If approaching by boat, would I still still have to go by the left side in order to walk to surf? Or how do I get in?


It's about a .5 mile hike to the surf, I've seen a few shallow draft boats get closer, but it's pretty skinny back there.
If you want to fish the surf your better off just driving down the beach.


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## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

TrueblueTexican said:


> D*r Watson told them it wouldn't stay open without a jetty* - and even then would need maintenance dredging - he pointed out the fact that the ICW and Aransas ship channel, Matagorda ship channel spelled doom a long time ago for any natural passes to remain open simply because of the enormous volumes of water exchanged here. I hate to see it sanded in again, caught four personal best tide runners when it was open 22 years ago --
> 
> Cavallo is next and eventually Sunday beach pass again -- meanwhile Matagorda ship channel is scoured out 99' deep (gonna hold red snapper inshore if it keeps up) - I am surprised that the Matagorda south jetty hasn't collapsed YET --
> http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/new...icle_12623ef4-92ae-11e8-a3de-8bb83e9ba7e1.htm


Yeah, but what does he know? I mean, if he were some kind of expert, they would have listened to his advice... right? :headknock

They're blaming the silt-in on Harvey, but it was on a fast track to close up long before the hurricane. I heard and read excuse after excuse about how it "wasn't that bad", or "this is how it was supposed to be". But the pictures all said that it was silting in at a pretty rapid clip. There are quite a few people who should probably be making their apologies for things they said to the people who claimed that it wouldn't stay open - but Harvey gave them cover.

Maintenance dredging isn't the same thing as re-dredging a cut. This time last year, just before the storm, it would have been difficult to call what CB needed "maintenance dredging". Remember - "That's okay... as long as there is enough water to allow fry to migrate, it's exactly what we intended."? I don't know anyone who pictured an ankle-deep flow that "allowed fry to migrate" being the intended state for CB. Nobody involved with the project could admit that they had been wrong, and we sat and watched as it closed up. People who pointed out the truth got called haters.

8-14-2017. Before the hurricane:



pate said:


> I was there on Saturday and water coming in from the gulf was about an inch deep. No current at all. Two weeks ago it was about the same.


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

POC, you and I have been around long enough that this project was pretty much a groundhog day event. I watched it close up in the late 70's early 80's and then again the first time it was reopened. Even with a jetty, it will need annual dredging to stay open, and the money just isn't there.It will completely close up by winter time.


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## TrueblueTexican (Aug 29, 2005)

*Yep we sure were not heard*



pocjetty said:


> Yeah, but what does he know? I mean, if he were some kind of expert, they would have listened to his advice... right? :headknock
> 
> They're blaming the silt-in on Harvey, but it was on a fast track to close up long before the hurricane. I heard and read excuse after excuse about how it "wasn't that bad", or "this is how it was supposed to be". But the pictures all said that it was silting in at a pretty rapid clip. There are quite a few people who should probably be making their apologies for things they said to the people who claimed that it wouldn't stay open - but Harvey gave them cover.
> 
> ...


I was fairly active in the Science and experts when this was going on, (I know Dr Watson) and supportive of the Basses/Richardsons, I was called everything but a white man, I got to fish it as a kid when it was a major pass and before dredging the ship channels spelled its doom, My uncle lived in POC in support of airfield on Matagorda, lived thru Carla and moved to Ingleside. I caught a TON of big specks when it was opened a couple of times, closest I ever came to drowning was in a rip in front of the Pass - I was all for opening it once again, even got to hit it a couple of times then --but it was already sanding in fast before Harvey - the TPWD dredge lasted longer than this one -they just don't take into account that the nearshore rip runs toward Pass Cavallo all summer, prevailing wind is SSE, and the angle of the bayou doesn't work for this - it they would try one more time and angle the mouth south instead of north, anchors some breakwater jacks on south side it would stay open longer - but otherwise it will take yearly dredging -


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## Csafisher (Nov 16, 2010)

pocjetty said:


> Yeah, but what does he know? I mean, if he were some kind of expert, they would have listened to his advice... right? :headknock
> 
> They're blaming the silt-in on Harvey, but it was on a fast track to close up long before the hurricane. I heard and read excuse after excuse about how it "wasn't that bad", or "this is how it was supposed to be". But the pictures all said that it was silting in at a pretty rapid clip. There are quite a few people who should probably be making their apologies for things they said to the people who claimed that it wouldn't stay open - but Harvey gave them cover.
> 
> ...


Did a project last year on the Florida gulf coast. Kinda the same deal over there, was a natural pass but after the ICW was dredged and another pass to the north, the tidal flow dropped off and it slowly closes up. We dredged the original pass and put a jetty/groin on one side of the new cut. However, the project was done knowing it will need maintenance dredging every 6-8yrs. Spent the extra money on the jetty to lengthen the time between maintenance dredging


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## Gumby (Aug 11, 2005)

Taken today, 20 August at 0930.


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## Gumby (Aug 11, 2005)

Second attempt


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## Bocephus (May 30, 2008)

Well, I guess there won't be anymore worries about guys driving their boats past that sign....


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## fritz423b (Jun 17, 2016)

I remember reading about 115 pages of that thread and there were a lot of powerful opinions on why it was a good idea.


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## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

fritz423b said:


> I remember reading about 115 pages of that thread and there were a lot of powerful opinions on why it was a good idea.


It was a good idea, just not good execution. And I don't mind people having different opinions - it was all the mocking and browbeating of people who had a different opinion.

Personally, I always thought that the biggest flaw in the plan they used was that it depended on flow from Vinson's. The fan on the bay side had already silted in to the point that it couldn't provide the kind of flow their plan required. It seemed to me that they just went into denial over that part. I think the plan might have worked 20 years earlier. And by "worked" I mean that it might have stayed open longer, and only required maintenance dredging, as they hoped.


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## TrueblueTexican (Aug 29, 2005)

*Still*

Even closed that's still the best surf fishin for specs, from Cedar Bayou north back to the Darlington on the entire Texas coast - that 19 mile stretch of surf back to the wreck, used to be the best kept secret on the coast, biggest surf runners I have ever caught -- we would just head out Pass Cavallo run our 17 miles and start wadin South - bring back stringers of 25" specs to cleaning table and watch the crowd gather at Froggys -(now the croaker soakers have found it) sad_smiles --- where did you catch them? - Reply (at the mouth of Saluria) you could walk across the potlickers the next day --

Nothing good is ever easy --


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Interesting thread. Still looking for the "well I was wrong" and the "sorry I trashed you" comments on this thread. 

So many "experts" that are better at disappearing than understanding Nature. 


I loved fishing that cut back in the day when it was flowing so good you couldn't really wade across during good incoming tide. The specs there were awesome, just awesome.

But no amount of wishing for the good old days or ******* up a rope will change that.


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## Txredfish (Oct 27, 2010)

I remember when I first moved to the coast in 2005, that was the best fishing I have ever encountered for about 8 years. For a few years during that time, it was open to the surf. Most days you could not walk across the flow. I could catch limits of big reds and trout during those days. I would park the boat by a "no boat" sign. Catch trout right out of the back of boat. The last 2 times I have been there, a couple of reds and no trout. Not really worth the long run. Kind of disappointed compared to the days of 2005 to 2012.


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## SolarScreenGuy (Aug 15, 2005)

I really had some great fishing in the Cedar Bayou area. After the closing before last, ( it's hard to keep up with all of them) The decline of the fishery in the entire area was sharp and alarming. No wonder so many became emotional and alarmed! It appears obvious now that it would require a very major pass to stand a chance of a long term opening. Now, we are right back where we were and all the gains in the area fishery will gradually fade. There has to be a solution. Consider Packery Channel. Pretty close to Port A. Successful so far. Let's not give up on CB/VS. It's worth it.

Solar Screens, Ext. Roll Down Shades, Plantation Shutters
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Call Mike 713-446-3249


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## Blutarsky (Jul 12, 2016)

Jay Watkins has mentioned a couple of times in his blog that there is a renewed effort underway to re-open Cedar Bayou. Has anyone heard anything about this, and if so, what group is leading the charge?


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## blackjack runner (Feb 24, 2015)

I would truly love to see it dredged and reopened. 

It was enjoyable to fish it and the amount of baitfish and hatchlings that CB supported during the time it was opened was phenomenal.


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## Txredfish (Oct 27, 2010)

I thought there was some funds set aside to maintain the opening of CB.


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

I don't build passes but seeing how this place is forever silting in . Seems like a jetty or structure like rollover would be a big help.


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## bxb05o (Feb 22, 2017)

Word of warning to anyone going to run back there. You need to know what youâ€™re doing and where youâ€™re going. There is a channel that runs you back to writhing 500 yards of the surf with a hole deep enough for most shallow boats to get up if you have a good Hole shot. However that channel is at many points depending on wind and tide no deeper than 3-6 inches at its deepest so you better be running skinny. Also if you come down off plane good luck. Iâ€™ve seen many boats get stuck in the no mans land and have to push for hundreds of yards to find deep enough water. Also the tides are constantly shifting the sand so if you havenâ€™t been there in a while be weary of your trails. 


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## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

There are some people who were wrong. Not just wrong about Cedar Bayou, but wrong for the personal attacks and character attacks against people who, it turns out, were right all along. People who should be ashamed of themselves, but aren't.

And so we're likely to make a lot of the same mistakes the next time there's an opportunity. Because the one thing we really learn from history is that we don't learn from history.


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