Coastal Advocacy Adventures Podcast

David Aparicio is a 3rd generation commercial fishermen and 1st generation oyster farmer, and Mario Marquez is an oyster aquaculture specialist working for Sea Grant. Both men know their way around an oyster. Tune in to learn about oyster farm life, what is required to get an oyster mariculture permit in Texas, farming obstacles and opportunities. Be sure to check out David's company DJ's Oyster Co @djsoysterco on Instagram.

Hannah Kaplan - owner and operator of Barrier Beauties - discusses her oyster farm near Bolivar, the ins and outs of the permitting process, and future possibilities for her operations. Hannah and her team have braved new waters and have found a way to provide a sustainable product to a desperate market. We owe them and all the Texas oyster farming pioneers a big thank you for their entrepreneurial spirit.

Dr. Mike Wetz joins Shane and John to highlight a new initiative called Bringing Baffin Back. Bringing Baffin Back (BBB) is a sustained commitment to dramatically improve the health of Baffin Bay and the surrounding economy through partnerships between scientists and stakeholders who want the bay to thrive. Texan By Nature recently selected BBB as one of four projects that will receive up to 18 months of tailored support through its Conservation Wrangler project in 2022. Led by Dr. Michael Wetz, Chair for Coastal Ecosystem Processes at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and Dr. Kiersten Stanzel, Director of Partnerships for the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, BBB consists of a stakeholder group of at least 131 members that seek to address the key issues in the decline of Baffin Bay watershed. Learn more by listening to this episode and watching this video - https://youtu.be/ZPP0V1EnyT4

We all want more oysters, and in the process of considering management options for the fishery, we need to prioritize the value of oyster IN the water. Comment today - https://tpwd.texas.gov/business/feedback/public_comment/proposals/202203_oyster.phtml

Scott McLeod and Mike Weiss are retired TPWD game wardens and residents in Rockport Texas. Listen in as they visit with John Blaha and Shane Bonnot, sharing their perspective on the status of the oyster fishery in Texas.

Casey Shedd of AFTCO (American Fishing Tackle Company)sits down with Pat Murray and Shane Bonnot to discuss the AFTCO brand, the Shedd family conservation legacy, and why fishing matters. Unparalleled quality, performance and reliability - this not only applies to AFTCO products but also the Shedd family. Check out this episode, and then do yourself a favor. Head over to www.aftco.com to support a company that supports conservation and fishing resources.

Shane and Pat discuss the recreational angler's response to the emergency rule to help speckled trout stocks rebound after the devastating February 2021 freeze.

Pat and Shane discuss the impacts of the February 14-19, 2021 freeze event on Texas coastal fisheries, conservation ethics and the responsibility we have as individuals to participate in the recovery of spotted seatrout populations. Pat also provides some historical perspective from his experiences working as a fishing as a guide through freeze events in the 1980's. Tune in to the very end to hear the latest news from Texas Parks and Wildlife regarding emergency rule changes. photo credit: John Blaha

Troy recently took a trip to Mexico to retrieve a sail boat that he purchased to begin his life long dream of sailing. He went from sailing calm, beautiful seas to being in a fight for survival against an angry sea as a result from a strong front. He battled massive waves for eight hours, tied himself down to the wheel and did everything in his power to stay alive during the worst 8 hours of his life. Tune into this episode to learn more about his ordeal and how you can help Troy to get his boat off the Padre Island National Seashore. To help Troy, please consider going to his GoFundMe page and donating a few bucks - https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-troy-sink-the-boat-and-stay-out-of-jail?qid=895172be3a57b024a049c7137499223a

Brian Little - owner/operator of Sabine Skiffs discusses conservation, fishing, philosophy of life and designing/building some of the hottest poling skiffs on the market today. It was a pleasure to spend time with a kindred spirit and record this episode. Thank you Brian Little!

Dagger Island is an island in Nueces County, Texas and part of Aransas Pass, Texas. At one point in time, Dagger Island was a nearly continuous, solid island separating Corpus Christi Bay and Redfish Bay. Erosion, primarily from increased ship traffic to the Port of Corpus Christi, has decreased the size of the island and broken it into a chain of smaller islands. This decline altered the function and values provided to the Redfish Bay system, including protection of large stands of seagrasses, which are important for water quality in the bay. Shane and John Blaha talk to Paul Silva of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the lead biologist for the Dagger Island and Ransom Island Restoration Project. For more information - go to https://ccatexas.org/cca-texas-supports-dagger-island-restoration-project-250000-gift-supports-ducks-unlimiteds-gulf-coast-initiative/

Shane, David Sikes, Dr. David McKee and Captain Chuck Naiser discuss Flatsworthy - Diverse Anglers, Mutual Respect. FlatsWorthy, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization, is a coalition of diverse anglers practicing mutual respect while sharing the same resource. They accomplish their mission through public awareness and education, participation in habitat restoration, and involvement with state and federal agencies in resource protection. Flatsworthy is a movement, a worthy cause and is leading change by example.

Patrick D. "Pat" Murray, President of Coastal Conservation Association, sits down with Shane to discuss conservation, angler science, and the "art of fishing". Pat has served in a variety of positions within the organization in his 20-year tenure, including leadership roles in state and national operations, state and federal advocacy, development fundraising and grassroots membership cultivation. Prior to joining CCA, he owned and operated a light-tackle fishing guide service along the upper Texas coast. Throughout his career, Pat has won numerous awards for his magazine writing and is the author of Texas Fish and Game Publishing’s best-selling book “Pat Murray’s No-Nonsense Guide to Coastal Fishing.” Check out his website www.patrickdmurray.net to see some remarkable photography, publications, and much much more free content.

Listen in to the 3rd annual flounder discussion with Kevin Burns and Wayne Pedigo. Shane and the guys talk about the continued decline of southern flounder stocks and some potential options to help recover the fishery to historical numbers. Disclaimer - at the time of recording this podcast none of the thoughts shared are official proposals for management changes.

Shane sits down with Gary Glick from Friends of RGV Reef. RGV reef is a 1650-acre artificial reef 12 miles from South Padre Island. Have a listen to this episode and then go on over to http://www.rgvreef.com/ and like their Facebook Page - Friends of RGV Reef.

Shane discusses Oyster Mariculture in Texas with Dr. Joe Fox and Brad Lomax. Dr. Fox is Chair for Marine Resource Development at Harte Research Institute and Brad is the president and founder of Water Street Restaurants. Both of these dudes are passionate about oysters and are working with numerous partners (including CCA) to bring a new industry to the Texas Coast. Have a listen to learn more.

Shane and John share an afternoon with James Fox and his wife, Laura, to discuss guiding on the mid-Texas coast. This legend and pony-tail rocking icon of the Texas Coast has plenty to share about the redfish wars, conservation issues, guide life, and surviving Vibrio.

Shane Bonnot and John Blaha talk with Chris Bush, the mastermind behind The Speckled Truth (http://www.thespeckledtruth.com/). The Speckled Truth is your one stop shop for tips, tactics, insights, and conservation-minded content for catching (and releasing) big trout. Subjects discussed: Trout conservation, collecting catch data on large trout, lunar phases, finding fishing spots, arty vs live bait mentality, and trout behavior.

Wayne Pedigo, Captain Mark, Captain Reagan, Kevin Burns and Shane share their thoughts on flounder stocks in Texas and ruminate on various other fishing related topics.

Dr. Todd Sink, Dr. Delbert Gatlin and Brian Ray discuss aquaculture research and its relevance to marine fisheries conservation. If you'd like to learn more about their work or stop by for a visit, check them out at https://wfsc.tamu.edu/facilities/aquacultural-research-and-teaching-facility/

Yeti's own Evan Russell discusses his role as fishing marketing manager for Yeti and shares his thoughts on various topics relevant to the fishing industry.

Jeff Angers, President of the Center for Sportfishing Policy, discusses the Modern Fish Act and its importance to federal fisheries management.

Shane sits down with the CCA Texas STAR staff to discuss the 2018 State of Texas Anglers Rodeo. Bill and Dylan share some stories from previous years and explain the new guide's division for 2018. https://www.startournament.org/

Dean Thomas and Carrie Scruggs join us on this episode to talk about guiding on the flats of the Coastal Bend, Hurricane Harvey, dangers of kayak fishing and much more.

Mark Dumesnil, Dr. Jennifer Pollack, Bill Balboa, Dave Buzan and Captain Bink Grimes sit down to talk about Half Moon Reef, 54-acres of restored oyster habitat in Matagorda Bay. In 2013, the Nature Conservancy partnered with the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas General Land Office, Texas A&M University, and private foundations on a multi-year project to restore Half Moon Reef. Today, it stands as one of the largest oyster restoration projects in the country.

Coastal Conservation Association's National Habitat Program, Building Conservation Trust (BCT), was created to provide vital funding for grassroots driven habitat projects. BCT strives to be the largest marine habitat restoration, enhancement and creation entity in the United States. BCT and CCA Texas have a strong partnership that has resulted in several successful marine habitat project throughout the years. That relationship is now expanding through a partnership with Bay Flats Lodge (BFL). Together, these three groups strive to enhance marine life from Matagorda Bay to Rockport. We are excited to have both BCT and BFL on this episode to speak about their operations and announce this exciting cooperative with CCA Texas, BCT and BFL. Guest on this episode include Sean Stone - Executive Director of BCT, Chris Martin - Owner of BFL, TJ Christensen - BFL Operations Manager, Randy Brown - BFL Assistant Manager, Kevin Matula - BFL fishing guide and John Blaha - CCA Texas Habitat Director.

In this episode we sit down with Harold Dworaczyk, Jason Wagenfehr and Setven Boldt to talk about what it takes to be a guide at Bay Flats Lodge in Sea Drift Texas. These fishing dudes share a ton of great info and give us a glimpse of their life as coastal guide.

So much to discuss...so little time. We naively went into this episode thinking we could cover several items but quickly realized that we'd barely have time to scratch the surface on a single topic. Scott Alford and Bryan Treadway (a.k.a "fish control my brain")are two very knowledgeable recreational anglers and have a passion for conservation and research. It appears that podcasts with these guys is going to be it's own mini-series as we begin to talk about life history, fishing and fisheries science of the enigmatic silver king.

Dr. Mark Fisher gives us a brief overview of our coastal fisheries, Hurricane Harvey and the winter of 2018. Lots of excellent information is shared in this quick episode!

Cedar Bayou is a natural pass connecting Mesquite Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Throughout recorded history is has been opened and closed by both natural and man-made influences. It was last re-opened in 2014 and has been the topic of much discussion since. Aaron Horine, Quentin Hall, Captain Jay Watkins, John Blaha, and Shane sit down to talk about this historic and celebrated pass from an engineering, science, biology, and fishing contexts.

In this episode, Kacee Bones and her husband Stephen open up their home to discuss sheonthefly.com, Hurricane Harvey, sight cast fishing on the middle coast, destination fly fishing trips, and recent on-goings at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

Captain Steve Hillman joins the podcast to talk about fishing in Galveston Bay, habitat loss, effects of flooding and droughts, speckled trout management, and a variety of other topics. Trout juvenile recruitment numbers in the upper coast have been fairly consistent but what effects do historic natural events and increased fishing pressure have on the populations? Shane and Steve talk in depth about this subject.

Shane, Kevin, and Urs sit down to talk about recent drownings at San Luis Pass and actions Brazoria County may take in light of recent events. We also discuss Saltwater Recon, Sea Center Texas, Kevin's Cooking, and some oyster regulations.

In this episode we meet up with Matagorda Matt, Steve Brown, and Shawn Porche at K6 Island Sports in Jamaica Beach to talk about the art of making quality lures, the Brown Family tradition, fishing tournaments, and a variety of other topics. Enjoy!

Wonder what Texas is proposing to protect our public oyster reefs? Have a listen to this episode to find out! Shane is a guest on the Moore Outdoors Radio Show (KLVI AM 560) and talks with Chester about efforts to protect our public oyster reefs. Chester Moore hosts his radio show on Friday evenings at 6 p.m. so be sure to check him out on iheartradio.

Paul Thorburn and Andrew Bruhl of Gulf Coast Outdoors sit down with Shane at Kitty's Purple Cow in Surfside Beach to discuss Gulf Coast Outdoors, surf fishing, the power of social media, the topwater bite, school interfering with fishing, kayaking and the Gulf Coast fishing culture. Ms. Kitty even joins in the fun to tell us about her awesome establishment.

Joe Moughon, creator and mastermind behind chickenboylures, takes a break from the Houston Fishing Show to talk with us about the art of catching flounder, what makes his lures so special, his inspiration for naming lures, and as he states on his website (chickenboylures.com, to share some of his "pearls of fishing wisdom."

Listen and learn as Dr. Greg Stunz and Shane talk about fishing and fisheries research at the Center for Sportsfish Science and Conservation. Topics include catch and release survival of speckled trout and red snapper, red drum migration, Cedar Bayou, predator research and shark tagging, nearshore reefing projects and the isnapper app for your smart phone.

Dr. Lee Fuiman and Jeff Kaiser discuss fisheries and aquaculture research projects at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas. Topics include snook, state record flounder, pigfish as a bait, spawning fish, "Pepper" the spotted redfish, nutrition of fish broodstock and applying fisheries science to human health.

Captain Billy Sandifer and Dr. David McKee reminisce days gone by, growing up in the 1950-1960's, fishing adventures and conservation efforts. Billy shares with us the origins of the Big Shell Cleanup, ongoing efforts and the Friends of Padre group.

Shane Bonnot, Charriss and Derek York, Ron and Spence McNamara, and David Dellapenna talk about the Sea Star Base Galveston and the Coastal Brigade Program. What is Coastal Brigade? Tune in to this podcast to learn all about this summer program located at an awesome facility located on the banks of Offatts Bayou.

Dr. Robert Vega, David Abrego, and Paul Cason work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Coastal Fisheries Stock Enhancement Program. They take a little time out of their busy schedules to tell us a little about the hatchery program, the importance of sound research and the benefits of stocking fish into our coastal waterways.

In this episode we sit down with Captains Jerry West (http://www.slipawayonthebay.com/) and Matagordamatt David (http://www.captmatagordamatt.com/) to talk about fishing in East Matagorda Bay, 5-fish bag limits on speckled trout, what it takes to become a fishing guide, competition in the guide business, boater etiquette, serve outdoors (http://www.serveoutdoorsmbc.org/) and much more.

Kevin and Shane talk about life as a Texas Game Warden, law enforcement, the game warden academy, water safety, spotlighting, office decorations, barb-wire fence crossings, and shooting wascally wabbits.

Shane Bonnot and Orange County CCA President, Scott Bandy, sit down with Texas Parks and Wildlife's Kirk Blood and Carey Gelpi. Kirk and Carey are two members of the Coastal Fisheries team affectionately known of as "The Lakers." The Lakers are responsible for collecting fisheries data, conducting research, and interacting with the public in and around the Sabine Lake Ecosystem. In this episode, we get to talk life in the fisheries field, flounder, crabs, oysters, and fishing in Sabine Lake.

Shane and Chester discuss Chester's career, flounder fishing, Texas Fish and Game, Kingdom Zoo, God's Outdoor TV, the fishing industry, and life in the upper Texas Coast.

Shane and John Blaha sit down with mid-coast fishing guide Jay Watkins to discuss the guide business, fishing friendships, regulations and to share some personal stories. Part 2 of 2.

Shane and John Blaha sit down with mid-coast fishing guide Jay Watkins to discuss the guide business, fishing friendships, regulations and to share some personal stories. Part 1 of 2.

Wayne Pedigo and Kevin Burns take a break from fishing to talk with us about all things southern flounder. Tactics, regulations, flounder biology, and the origin of nicknames are a some of the topics discussed. https://youtu.be/myGIbQm5z9w

Shane sits down with Scott Jones of the Galveston Bay Foundation to discuss the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund Site.