For “Travel Tuesday, let’s visit Port Aransas:
“Port Aransas is a city in Nueces County, Texas. The population was 3,480 at the 2010 census. Port Aransas is the only established town on Mustang Island. It is located north of Padre Island and is one of the longest barrier islands along the Texas coast. Corpus Christi Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, the Lydia Ann Ship Channel and the Corpus Christi Ship Channel make up the surrounding waters.”
Port Aransas during World War II
“During World War II, an artillery gun turret was erected by the United States Army and maintained throughout the war, on a high dune just off Cotter St. across from the UT campus, and is now part of the UT properties. It was placed to protect the pass from sightings of German U-boats. Blackouts were called on all the island during nighttime hours, no fires on the beach or car lights, and house windows could not show light and had to be covered with heavy curtains, blankets or wood.”
The Farley Boat and Port Aransas
“In the early 20th century, tarpon fishing began to attract anglers and tourists from across America to Port Aransas. However, because of the choppy waters around Port Aransas, access to the Gulf Coast was restricted. The boats of the day were not designed to handle the rough Gulf Coast waters and storms in the early 20th century wiped out the existing charter fleet.
To meet the needs of anglers coming from across the country to fish for tarpon, the Farley Family began building the Farley boat. In 1915, Charles Frederick ("Fred") Farley and his son established Farley and Son, Boat Builders in Port Aransas.
The Farley boats were designed to meet the needs of anglers and fishing guides. They were designed with low-sides and a high bow to fight the choppy waves. The Farley Boats were also designed with low cabins that allowed fishing in every direction.
In 1937 President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Port Aransas and while Congress was debating his Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937, he fished for tarpon. He hired Barney Farley, the famous fishing guide and brother of Fred Farley.
President Roosevelt catching a tarpon on a Farley boat off the coast of Port Aransas in 1937.
The president brought his own 35-foot (11 m) fishing boat and Barney Farley agreed to take the president out on the boat. After an unsuccessful outing, Barney Farley convinced the president to fish from a Farley Boat, but his nephew, Don Roy Farley, would take him. Even though he had a successful outing Don Roy said "I can't believe he caught so many because of the secret service running around on boats in the water" The president caught so many tarpon that he returned to Port Aransas later that year to again fish with Barney Farley on a Farley Boat.” More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Aransas,_Texas
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History
“Experts believe the islands along the Texas coast began life as a submerged sand bars about 4,500 years ago.
The island was first called Wild Horse Island, then Mustang because of the wild horses called "Mestenos", brought to the island by the Spaniards in the 1800's.
The first known human occupants of the island were the Karankawas Indians. Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca was probably the first European to meet the Karankawas in 1528.
Jean La Fitte and his band of buccaneers spent a lot of time on neighboring islands as well as Mustang Island in the 1820's. Legend has it that somewhere on the island is a Spanish dagger with a silver spike driven through the hilt marking the spot where La Fitte buried a chest of gold and jewels.
As the still natural pass attracted more and more commerce and updated charts were needed, there appeared an 1833 map which noted the location of what would become Port Aransas, but was then called Sand Point. The pass was given the name Aranzazu, which later became Aransas.
During the 1846-48 Mexican War, a small fort was built on Mustang Island to guard the entrance to Aransas Bay. It was used until after the Civil War. In the 1850's regular steamship service ran between Mustang Island and New Orleans. The first deep draught steamship went through the Pass in 1859. Mercer Docks was destroyed during the 1875 Storm, thus ending the service.
The town of Mustang Island was called Ropesville by the early 1890's but changed its name to Tarpon by 1899 because of the large numbers of the fish being caught in its waters. The population at that time was about 250. Citizens began calling their town Port Aransas about 1910. The storm of 1919 virtually wiped out the town except for a few structures.
It is estimated that some 600+ species of saltwater fish inhabit the waters off the islands.”
More about the History of Port Aransas at: http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/port/4.html
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Modern-day Port Aransas
“Port Aransas has now become a fishing, beach, and resort village, with summer populations sometimes swelling to 60,000 or more, as well as a college spring-break destination.”
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All in a Day's Catch. . .
“Trolling off shore near oil rigs and underwater structures is the best way to catch these gamefish.
Spanish mackerel, kingfish, tuna & mahi mahi.
“A good day's catch off shore. You might have to try several different trolling lures before you find the one that has "the magic" that day.”
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Redneck Riviera - Port Aransas, Texas
“You only THOUGHT the Redneck Riviera was in Florida. It is actually in Texas, around Mustang Island just outside Port Aransas and Corpus.”
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Port Aransas, TX. Kayak, Surf, Wade Fishing, Birding, Sky Diving
Kayak fishing, fishing, bird watching, wade fishing, surf fishing, jetty pier fishing, sky diving, they have it all at Port Aransas.
From me: There are lots of videos about the fishing there, but in this one they released them and didn’t gaff the fish with nasty hooks.
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Quick copter ride in Port Aransas, Texas
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Then let’s visit Port Aransas neighbor:
Aransas Pass:
“Aransas Pass, across Redfish Bay from Port Aransas in Aransas, San Patricio, and Nueces counties, is named for the pass between Mustang and St. Joseph's islands.
The city is on the mainland of Texas and is connected to Mustang Island (which contains the city of Port Aransas) via a 6-mile (9.7 km)-long causeway, and a free ferry that carries vehicles to the island.”
The first people to discover Aransas Pass were the Karankawa Indians. They used dugout canoes and fished with bows and arrows, but by 1830 there were very few Karankawas left. Around 1850, the white settlers started moving in and Aransas Pass became a sleepy little town. Even in later years it was still a laid back city.”
“The town's early developers wanted to found a great deepwater port city on the Gulf of Mexico. The first attempts to develop the area were made by Pryor Lea, who founded the Aransas Road Company to link the coast with San Antonio by means of both a railroad and a turnpike. The enterprise, however, was a failure. Lea succeeded in building only a short distance of road, and the railroad never advanced beyond the planning stage. In the late 1850s the Central Transit Company, backed by English investors, sought to turn Lea's dream into reality by financing construction of a harbor and the railroad. But with the outbreak of the Civil War the work was interrupted and funding dried up.
History
Aransas Pass, Saltwater Heaven, got its start in 1909 with the last known lottery held in the United States.
Bay-View Hotel at Aransas Pass, TX
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(postcard, circa 1893-1924)
“Wheeler, who had remained faithfully committed to Aransas Pass, now interested real estate developers in the site. The developers negotiated a deal with Mary McCampbell for 12,000 acres of land, and the stage was set for one of the biggest land sales ever held in South Texas. Six thousand land-lottery tickets were sold for $100 each to people in the Midwest. Each ticket guaranteed the holder one city lot and a chance at three giant prizes. The sale was a huge success, despite the fact that postal inspectors stepped in and forced competitive bidding rather than the agreed-on price of $100.
Events such as the Shrimporee, a three-day event, held in June, the Maybe Hot Maybe Not bike ride in November, and the Holiday Craft Show in December as well as the best bay fishing on the Gulf Coast keep visitors coming back to Aransas Pass-back to Saltwater Heaven.
Although development of Aransas Pass has been primarily centered around the harbor, the town grew on all fronts. The school system originated in 1892 when local Methodists erected a combination church and school building. In 1911 a two-story brick building was constructed, and in 1988 it was still used as the central office for the school district. The first post office was opened in 1892 with Charles T. Black as the postmaster.
After the hurricane of 1919 a seawall was built, and steady growth of the shrimping and fishing fleet brought business into Aransas Pass. Shrimp canneries opened, and later, when quick freezing techniques were developed, packing plants were built on the harbor. With the improvements to Conn Brown Harbor after World War II, the shrimping fleet grew to be the largest on the Gulf coast. Allied industries have grown up on the port and in the city. In the 1980s Aransas Pass had an estimated population of over 7,000. In 1990 the population was 7,180. By 2000 the population grew to 8,138.” More at: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hfa06
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On This Day:
Chevrolet introduces the El Camino, Oct 16, 1958:
“On October 16, 1958, Chevrolet begins to sell a car-truck hybrid that it calls the El Camino. Inspired by the Ford Ranchero, which had already been on the market for two years, the El Camino was a combination sedan-pickup truck built on the Impala body, with the same "cat's eye" taillights and dramatic rear fins. It was, ads trilled, "the most beautiful thing that ever shouldered a load!" "It rides and handles like a convertible," Chevy said, "yet hauls and hustles like the workingest thing on wheels."”
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IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon is killed in crash, Oct 16, 2011:
“On this day in 2011, 33-year-old Dan Wheldon, a popular, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, dies following a fiery, 15-car crash during the IndyCar World Championship at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada. Wheldon’s death marked the first on-track IndyCar fatality since 2006, when 30-year-old driver Paul Dana perished in a crash during a practice session at Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway. Wheldon went on to victory in that day’s race.
The remainder of the race, the final one of the season, was cancelled. Afterward, in a tribute to Wheldon, who racked up 16 victories over the course of his IndyCar career, drivers circled the Las Vegas track for five laps while fans looked on from the stands. It was later reported that prior the race, Wheldon had inked a multi-year deal with Andretti Autosport to replace Danica Patrick (the first-ever female to win an IndyCar race), who planned to leave IndyCar for NASCAR.”
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Yesterday:
Misty and I went to get Jay. When we got here, he did a bit to the under-cabinet lights that he had forgotten to do when he installed them.
Then we were looking for something in the workshop, but one thing lead to another and we cleaned out two big areas. Time got away from us, and we had to leave the rest for another day.
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