I was wondering about the semi-new pier that was roughly 2 miles west of 61st on the seawall. Galveston Fishing Pier. A real nice fishing pier. I bet it did not make it.

Also for us party boat fisherman, anyone hear how Pier 19 did?
You have Captain John's crew of boats as well as Galveston Party Boats with the Buccaneer and another boat.

Appreciate any updates.

God Bless all those recovering from IKE

They have said all the piers are gone... what a bummer...

Thanks for your inquiry. The Galveston Fishing Pier was heavily damaged. I have not seen it myself yet but have been watching the news and have seen it several times. Eighty to ninety percent of the pier is gone. We will not likely be able to build it back.

Sad to see the pics from galveston and especially bolivar

About 40 ft of the Galveston Fishing pier is left and It is damamge. 61st pier is GONE Flagship Pier is Gone .

aghhhh!!!

Very sad to hear about the piers being gone. Used to make trips there just to fish the pay piers. Try to stay 24 hours. Sleep right in my beach chair to save my place. Hope they get rebuilt. Seemed like a valuable tourist attraction. Ought to be some government money available to rebuild businesses destroyed by the hurricane.

Sad...

The government is fresh out of money. There is none left after bailing ou the banks and insurance companies.

You R probably right!

We can stop sending aid to nations that hate us and use that $$$ to build bigger and better piers, but that gets on a whole other topic.

I was able to screen capture this satelite photo (from the Sept. 14) of the San Louis pass fishing pier.

What are some of the cross street for the other fishing piers in Galveston?

Sorry.. seems like a stupid question, but it looks like 61st street is the same as State Spur 342 and Butter rowe street.



and Before the storm

We lost one of our best piers in Miami in Andrew and it hasn't been rebuilt and won't be. Take care and good luck guys!

Update:

I finally saw some photo of the Galveston Pier and there was not much left of it. I doubt anyone will be able to build a pier of any kind on the seawall except for fixing the Flagship Hotel pier.

I received an email from the Galveston Party Boat guys that dock their two party boats at Pier 19. Below is their email in regards to their operation. I have not heard from Captain John and his team.

Hello

The boats made it fine as we moved them out of town, but the office, docks and ice machines took a big hit.
Thanks

Ed

Why would the federal government rebuild a privately owned fishing pier? I want it to stop spending my money.

I agree Completely, I guess I meant TX City Dike since most piers are privately owned.
Thanks for the correction (I was lookin like the other side for a little!)
I have also heard that a lot of insurance claims may be denied. That is always sad.

Yeah it's your tax$ alright, and (PART) of mine too...
But Oh, you probally never have fish in Galveston???..
So why whould you care...

Yep.. the piers may be privately owned but there should be a grant or assistance of some kind available and rightfully so, they do bring money from tourism which will suffer greatly now, think before you speak, we need those piers.Having come from Florida, I have seen several piers and jettys go due to Hurricanes, in most cases they get bought and rebuilt to some extent. It took several years to reopen Anglins and Juno piers in Ft. Lauderdale but they did eventually ope through private and YES, federal and state funding.

Hello everybody,
Well I fished 61st all my life and I know the owner of 61st,
and the word is he is going to rebuild the pier, didn't say when
he is getting started but it's on the way.

COOL, and good for him...I have a lot of good memories on that pier also...Caught my PB 26" Trout there...

I live in Austin area now...But I'll throw in $10 for the cause...If he ever wants to setup some kind of FUND to help rebuild...And if it will help 1 family to fish more safely than on the rock jetty itself...It would be worth it to me...
Even if, I never even fish there again...
9999 more people do the same...That would be $100,000 to get started...

Wrong. I graduated from LaMarque High School in 1971. And I have fished the entire Texas gulf all my life.

This is what really gets me, When the government collects all this food, clothing, and money and other things from US(meaning the people)and sends it too other Countries and give it away,WHEN WE NEED IT RIGHT HERE IN THE UNITED STATES, and he's worried about a few bills to help pay to rebuild some fishing piers for our future children. I'm for it ley the Government
help pay on it, I rather have my taxes spent here than somewhere
else.

tarpon daddy most recently your money hasnt been sent to other countrys,

look how much was spent to bail out AIG it dwarfs everything else recently

I have been down in galvseton working, I work for the phone company (at&t) that place is crazy i don't see how anyone stayed all the piers are gone i don't see how they are gonna let people back on the island by wed.

They will rebuild it, and we all know it. There will be new building codes that have to be enforced (several of those structures are still standing) and they will be required to use Hurrican clips and other items. It will probably be too costly for many, but it will probably look nice.

Florida gets hit 2, 3, 4, times a year. Not always this bad, but often times worse and they rebuild.

I hate seeing this money going to bail out AIG (How can we or Rush shape this so it can be blamed on Clinton or the dem...never mind, I have a radio). They talk about our investments, our 401K. What about the millions of dollars in bonuses and salaries that the executives of this and organizations like it are going to receive?? (I'm thinking ENRON(sp?)).

Think about Fanniemae. Didn't that get take something like 500 million?
It's not over yet. Wait til your credit card doesn't work, because the credit card companies can't get the short term 30 day loans to cover what you charged til the payment comes in. From what I heard last night on Charlie Jones it is the short term loans and credit cards that will be hit next. And the stupid congress wants to sit on their duffs and discuss it.

Amen to that!!! I work for one of the biggest banks in the world, BofA and thank Goodness we had the for sight to see what was coming and wait to buy up all these idiots (sub-prime lenders) that thought lending without income verification was a good idea..I get to worry about fishing and not if I have a job next week.

My girlfriend has worked for A.I.G for the last 23 years. She is very nervous about what is going to happen. She stands to loose a huge amount of $ in her retirement, benefits, and vacation, 4 weeks a year, if something happens. Alot of what is wrong right now with A.I.G. is that the branch that screwed up by getting into mortgages is the one in trouble, not the rest of A.I.G. branches. The government would not allow the parent company to use money from the other branches of the company to bail out the mortgage part of it, although the insurance side of A.I.G is very profitable.The goverment bent them over a barrel and forced them to the state they are in now. The government stands to much a huge profit off of thier "loan" and the employees are probably going to get screwed in the process. Her A.I.G. stock/retirement is almost worthless now!

Hey Bubba, Sorry to hear that man...A lot of people suffering now because of others dumb decisions. My hopes and prayers to your GF aand to you. Tough times ahead..hang in and pray and all will be Ok..

thanks another cast, everything is kind of up in air. we hope everything works out for the best. she thinks alot of her big bosses saw it coming, they were quiting like crazy for the last month or so. they obviously knew something was going to happen.

Yeah..Unfortunately they never share the info they just bail out. Good Luck to you and her, I hope she makes it through, if she doesn't though it was meant to be after 23 years she deserved better. Hang in!

I want my pier back

I need info on the Piers around Port Arthor and Sabine Lake PLEASE , was not impressed by the piers at Port O Conner or Lavaca or Palicous

Here's from the Capt John website; you can go to www.galveston.com/captjohn to see the photos.

**********************************************************
Friday, September 26, 2008

First – the good news! The Capt. John and Texsun II are undamaged from hurricane Ike. The office, however, didn’t fare so well, with the wave action blowing through the back wall and out the front door, taking virtually everything with it as it flowed through. Both the boats left Galveston the day before Ike made landfall. They were first taken to Port O’Connor with Capt. Johnny Williams at the wheel of the Capt. John, accompanied by Carl Broom. Jillian Williams, Capt. Johnny’s 18 year old daughter, took over the Captain’s chair of the Texsun II, with her friend Steve Patton as First Mate for the trip.

After that 12 hour short run and a rest, both boats continued on to Port Aransas. This time with Capt. Billy Wright at the wheel of the Texsun II. Later, both boats returned to Galveston’s Pier 19 where they are now docked. Attached are photos taken yesterday of the Pier 19 docks and the office. To those of you who have fished with us before, you will notice that the fish cleaning table is out of place. It was much farther out of place than that after Ike. It was brought back after being found between 20th and 21st and Market Street, sitting on the sidewalk. It was spotted by one of the sharp eyed fish cleaners! Even Ike couldn’t destroy Jerry McCullin’s fish cleaning table.

The bad news is that first thoughts of a quick recovery to somewhat normal operations may not be the case, as we are dependent upon the repairs necessary at Pier 19 to accommodate fishermen and their vehicles while they fish with us, a repair that is in the hands of the Port of Galveston. We also have to replace the bait freezer and storage facility. All of this, along with office repairs or replacement are works in progress.

The 36 hour trip scheduled for October 4-5 has been cancelled, and the 18-19 and 25-26 trips in doubt. We will post updates here as repairs are completed and we are able to begin 8 hour trips and 36 hour tuna safaris. However, the office is still taking reservations. Just call 409-762-8808 and talk with the office manager, Dorothy, to schedule future trips, including the tuna safaris planned for October 18-19 and 25-26, or others to be scheduled later.

Galveston has suffered a blow, but as it has in previous storms, the beautiful island will recover, it will just take time.

Saw a really stupid vidio on Channel 13 . 3 people spent the nihgt on Galveston fishing Pier on the night Ike hit . They were on the second floor which the Shultz used too live in. The first floor and deck were completely washed away . These 3 idiots were very very lucky. The pier looked like a twisted pile of steel gurters. I hope they rebuild .