# Texas State Water Artificial Reefs



## hilton (Jan 28, 2008)

Howdy,
I have FINALLY gotten some time to focus on getting the reef sites updated - go to: http://atlantismarinehabitats.com/reef_maps.php

You can click on the yellow stars (at the above address) to hyperlink to the reef site (I am still working on Galveston and the RGV Reef in Port Isabel) but the Vancouver, Matagorda, and Port OConnor sites are fully populated.

We are also working on the waypoint download function - you will have the ability to download the waypoints in whatever format your chartplotter needs (soon). For now, you can place your curson on each icon and it will give you the exact location - you just need to pick off a few to get you on hundreds.

We will have deployed almost 4,000 pyramids and low relief reefs by the end of May 2018.

Best,
Tom Hilton
http://www.AtlantisMarineHabitats.com
http://www.HiltonsOffshore.com
http://www.Freedom2Fish.org


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## fishinguy (Aug 5, 2004)

Great work, this new habitat will be a great part in building our stocks for the future.


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## Snookered (Jun 16, 2009)

Gary just got a load of concrete railroad ties to put down in the RGV, and we approved the $$ in committee to splash it all down...

Tom, are you working with the Lil Mo folks?
snookered


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## hilton (Jan 28, 2008)

Yessir.

There are several train loads of those hopefully slated to go into the Galveston reef as well.


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## Momma's Worry (Aug 3, 2009)

*M.A.R...Matty Arty Reef*

can't wait to get my newly re-ferbed Grady on that arty reef with Lowrance Total Scan 3D and 4 Cannon Down-riggers towing spoons and bucktails.......looking at early May wind / wave / weather permitting of coarse.....LOL


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## hilton (Jan 28, 2008)

Texas Parks and Wildlife, CCA, The Building Conservation Trust have made this possible - here is a shot of the Matagorda site with 1,605 pyramids inside a 140 acre area - unprecedented in the Gulf or anywhere else for that matter. Should be a very interesting drift this summer across that reef - I hope to see lots of cobia, kingfish, snapper and maybe a sailfish or 2.

The 2nd image is the Port OConnor reefing site - this has a slightly different approach by grouping various numbers of reefs in 9 different areas inside its 381 acres. It's located in prime tarpon territory and I anticipate some great fishing here this summer and beyond. By the way, Shell Oil contributed $$ for 200 of the 700 reefs here.

Best,
Tom Hilton


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## hog (May 17, 2006)

Tom, as always

*THANK YOU* AND YOUR CREW AND PARTNERS FOR ALLLLLLL YOU DO TO HELP WITH FISHING FOR RECREATIONAL FOLKS AND WEEKEND WARRIORS LIKE MYSELF AND FOR PROVIDING HABITAT FOR OUR RECREATIONAL FISH TO FLOURISH


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## Sharpest (Mar 31, 2014)

Very cool! When are you coming to Port A?? :bounce:


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## stammster - temporary (Jul 20, 2009)

Iâ€™ve never caught a fish on the Vancouver wreck or reef, and it wasnâ€™t for lack of trying. I hope the other sites are more successful at attracting and holding fish.


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## bluewaterauburn (May 23, 2010)

i located a bunch of pyrimids a few weeks ago at the Vancouver site. No fish yet but have my fingers crossed they they will mature significantly over the next year.


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## ding-a-ling (Jul 29, 2005)

Thanks for the update and all your work on this Tom.


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## keywest244 (May 18, 2017)

This is some awesome work y'all are doing for the REC fishermen! Hopefully we can give you a good update on the POC reefs soon!


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## BrownieNPadre (Feb 23, 2013)

Hey Tom anything planned for Corpus area?


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## hilton (Jan 28, 2008)

stammster said:


> Iâ€™ve never caught a fish on the Vancouver wreck or reef, and it wasnâ€™t for lack of trying. I hope the other sites are more successful at attracting and holding fish.


We have received conflicting reports on the fishing on the Vancouver reefs - some report great fishing for redfish, red snapper, kingfish, etc. and others report difficulties catching anything.

The Vancouver site was selected simply because that's where the Vancouver sank during a storm - being offshore of the Brazos and San Bernard rivers and the resulting effluent washing over the reef site is less than ideal, but we are doing the best we can with what we have to work with. There is a murk layer that extends well above the reefs at the Vancouver which may have an effect. That being said, the area just offshore of the reef site (East Bank) is a very productive area and it is my hope that the Vancouver reefs will in time become even more productive than that.


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## J_Philla (Oct 22, 2009)

hilton said:


> We have received conflicting reports on the fishing on the Vancouver reefs - some report great fishing for redfish, red snapper, kingfish, etc. and others report difficulties catching anything.
> 
> The Vancouver site was selected simply because that's where the Vancouver sank during a storm - being offshore of the Brazos and San Bernard rivers and the resulting effluent washing over the reef site is less than ideal, but we are doing the best we can with what we have to work with. There is a murk layer that extends well above the reefs at the Vancouver which may have an effect. That being said, the area just offshore of the reef site (East Bank) is a very productive area and it is my hope that the Vancouver reefs will in time become even more productive than that.


how many years do you think it'll take for the sediment washed out from those two rivers, to sink the reefs under all the river sediment? Not trying to be a ***, just curious.


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## michaelbaranowski (May 24, 2004)

Weather is looking good for Wednesday so we are going to run out the Matagorda Reef and wet a hook. Need to try to the new boat so figured we would wet a hook.



hilton said:


> Texas Parks and Wildlife, CCA, The Building Conservation Trust have made this possible - here is a shot of the Matagorda site with 1,605 pyramids inside a 140 acre area - unprecedented in the Gulf or anywhere else for that matter. Should be a very interesting drift this summer across that reef - I hope to see lots of cobia, kingfish, snapper and maybe a sailfish or 2.
> 
> The 2nd image is the Port OConnor reefing site - this has a slightly different approach by grouping various numbers of reefs in 9 different areas inside its 381 acres. It's located in prime tarpon territory and I anticipate some great fishing here this summer and beyond. By the way, Shell Oil contributed $$ for 200 of the 700 reefs here.
> 
> ...


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## michaelbaranowski (May 24, 2004)

The new boats needs run and the seas are looking good so we figured we would wet a hook and try to get a few Snapper on the matagorda reef.



hilton said:


> Texas Parks and Wildlife, CCA, The Building Conservation Trust have made this possible - here is a shot of the Matagorda site with 1,605 pyramids inside a 140 acre area - unprecedented in the Gulf or anywhere else for that matter. Should be a very interesting drift this summer across that reef - I hope to see lots of cobia, kingfish, snapper and maybe a sailfish or 2.
> 
> The 2nd image is the Port OConnor reefing site - this has a slightly different approach by grouping various numbers of reefs in 9 different areas inside its 381 acres. It's located in prime tarpon territory and I anticipate some great fishing here this summer and beyond. By the way, Shell Oil contributed $$ for 200 of the 700 reefs here.
> 
> ...


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## jmcCoastal (Jul 22, 2014)

Is there any place to check in on for timeline news or developments on these projects? I can always check here but it seems new threads always get started and old ones die.

I'm particularly looking for info on the Big Man's deploy dates.

Thanks.


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## RobATX (Apr 5, 2011)

BrownieNPadre said:


> Hey Tom anything planned for Corpus area?


Or Port A?

Thank you for all that you do Tom!


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## Totally Tuna (Apr 13, 2006)

It would be awesome to split the difference between the upper coast reefs. Adding reefs between Matagorda and Port O, Vancouver and Matagorda, and one straight out of SLP.


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## hog (May 17, 2006)

Tom,
for some reason, It wont let me export the Matagorda numbers. 
simply nothing happens when "export" is clicked on that page. Any suggestions? The three others work fine.. 
Matagorda Reef


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## jmcCoastal (Jul 22, 2014)

hog said:


> Tom,
> for some reason, It wont let me export the Matagorda numbers.
> simply nothing happens when "export" is clicked on that page. Any suggestions? The three others work fine..
> Matagorda Reef


I was able to pull these numbers digging around the website. Yes, appears the export is broken. I notice its an Aggie button, so I can think of a few jokes as to why it doesn't work...

Attached is the XLS of the numbers.


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## hilton (Jan 28, 2008)

Jimmy
Iâ€™ll have my tech take a look.
Gig Em!
Tom


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## blue61 (May 9, 2016)

*Artificial Reef*

Do you know if the sites have been updated on the novionics website yet. I need to update before the Worrior Weekend, but would like to get the POC reef site . If not do you have a card compatable with a lowrance elite 7 chirp for sale? Thank you.


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## jmcCoastal (Jul 22, 2014)

That XLS file stinks for updating our fishing gear. And the site doesn't let you upload gpx or kml files.

So download these files to your PC. You will need to rename them to import them into your software. I used this site to convert data to these file types. http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/convert_input

matagordagpx.xls rename to matagorda.gpx (garmin)
matagordakml.xls rename to matagorda.kml (google earth)


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## O&G-HAND (Nov 27, 2017)

jmcCoastal said:


> That XLS file stinks for updating our fishing gear. And the site doesn't let you upload gpx or kml files.
> 
> So download these files to your PC. You will need to rename them to import them into your software. I used this site to convert data to these file types. http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/convert_input
> 
> ...


I got these ad converted them no problem but I can't seem to do the smae on the POC reef one.... Anyway you could post that xls sheet up here too?


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## jmcCoastal (Jul 22, 2014)

PoC downloaded/exported for me just fine.

Here they are.


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## jmcCoastal (Jul 22, 2014)

This may be older information for Big Man's but I just came across it and thought I would share. Hilton said he thought it would deploy in 2018, so I'm crossing my fingers HIlton has fresh information.

For those interested in the reef project, from tpwd site: https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/water/habitats/artificial_reef/news.phtml

"Cycle 22 - Construction and Enhancement of Artificial Reefs in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico
Big Man's Nearshore Reef Site mapIn September 2016, the Artificial Reef Program submitted a request for grant funding to the Texas General Land Office under the Coastal Management Program â€" Cycle 22. The proposal was to create low-relief and mid-relief patches of structures at the Big Manâ€™s Nearshore Reef Site. These structure patches would consist of pyramids and concrete blocks or rubble placed strategically within the deployment region. We received notification of the acceptance of the grant proposal in January 2017. Deployment is expected to begin in late 2019."


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## jewfish (Feb 16, 2005)

FYI I was at vancouver on Saturday and caught my kings there
Thanks Tom


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## mapdit_007 (Jun 1, 2012)

How far out is the Vancouver reel ?


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## mapdit_007 (Jun 1, 2012)

Ops. I meant how far is Vancouver from Bridge Bait whete we launch the boat. Thanks


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## TXFishin (Apr 26, 2010)

mapdit_007 said:


> Ops. I meant how far is Vancouver from Bridge Bait whete we launch the boat. Thanks


I'm seeing about 12 1/2 miles from BrigeBait


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## TXFishin (Apr 26, 2010)

I just bet, with the forecast I'm seeing for Monday - Tuesday, that somewhere in this general area, there has to be a fish out there just waiting to be caught :spineyes::biggrin:


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## mapdit_007 (Jun 1, 2012)

TXFishin said:


> I'm seeing about 12 1/2 miles from BrigeBait


Thanks Doug.


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## surfcowboy (Jun 29, 2005)

I got a question. Has anyone dove the matty reef since it's deployment?


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## stammster - temporary (Jul 20, 2009)

TXFishin said:


> I just bet, with the forecast I'm seeing for Monday - Tuesday, that somewhere in this general area, there has to be a fish out there just waiting to be caught :spineyes::biggrin:


I donâ€™t know where you got that map, but a good majority of those platforms are gone. It may have been accurate 3 years ago.


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## TXFishin (Apr 26, 2010)

stammster said:


> I donâ€™t know where you got that map, but a good majority of those platforms are gone. It may have been accurate 3 years ago.


Correct, unfortunately most are gone, haven't cleaned it up yet, but still check the areas out if I pass over one just to see if anything happens to have been left

Relentless


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