Tropical Storm Bill – Matagorda

Current conditions … winds are maybe 30 mph, sometimes gusts to 40. Rains are light. “I bet we haven’t had a quarter inch of rain total,” said Capt. Tommy Countz. “We could still get some; there is a lot in the Gulf. The so-called eye – you can see circulation today – is supposed to go between us and Port OConnor. If everything goes as predicted we should have the worst of it by 5:00 p.m. this evening.

“The tides are up, but I would say they are only about three feet over normal tides. On the docks in the harbor (Matagorda), it’s about eight inches from being on the walkway. It may make it and it may not, but all the boats are in good shape; everything on land is in good shape

“We have a bait camp on the river that is built right on the ground in a low area that has water in the bait camp. Hwy 60 coming into Matagorda has no water on it.”

According to Countz a lot of the weather from the TS Bill is east of Matagorda, the really heavy rains.

Water shape … the winds have the bays muddy, but the grass areas along the shorelines of West Bay will settle out as soon as the wind lets up. “We are used to the win being out of east or southeast. What we are getting right now, 15, 20-25 mph winds.

“This weather episode is not going to put the same amount of water in the Colorado River as the earlier rains at the end of May. We may get a little rise, but it all depends on how much we get around Wharton and above.”

Countz says getting some fresh water in East Bay in the middle of the summer is not a bad thing. “The bays can get to high in salinity, and that really hurts the trout fishing. Our trout fishing has been really good so far. We are catching a lot of good trout in West Bay while wade fishing. In East Bay we are getting some fish drifting. I haven’t been able to get after the triple tail because of the winds and storms.”