They plan on filling it in.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6739893.html

TRIP REPORT

OK, we headed south Friday morning. Stopped by Buckey's on 35 and 36 and got a breakfast taco. Next stop was the bridge on the south side of 35 where there is a lighted pier at Port Lavaca. I wasn't too impressed with the pier, plus I want to fish the actual Gulf, not a bay, so we moved on. The next stop was the Copano Bay bridge fishing area on the old 35 road. When I was a kid I used to fish there, and it looked like nothing had really changed. Like the Port Lavaca bridge, this was not on the Gulf, but on a bay.

The next stop was Hiram Caldwell pier in Port Aransas. Now this is what I am talking about! A well lighted pier actually on the Gulf. We would return later that night.

Driving down Mustang Island, we move over into South Padre and find the Bob Hall pier. Like Caldwell, this is exactly what we are looking for.

It has been many years since I have been to Corpus, and I had never been to Port Aransas. This being the story, we decided to stay at a La Quinta on S. Padre Island highway in Corpus near Staples mall. La Quinta, thinking nice, however after staying there think over priced Motel 6. Being a happily married man, I avoided the couple of obvious hookers that were working out of the hotel.

Since we had seen the lay of the land, we decided to eat first at Outback, then get on our fishing duds, then get some bait on the way to Bob Hall.

Bob Hall vs. Hiram Caldwell

To start, we didn't catch a fish at either place, so my view points aren't prejudged by our catch or lack of catch.

From the Houston area HC is about 30 or so miles closer, and there are plenty of nice motels in Port Aransas. So the drive (from the Houston area)goes to HC.

From a cleanliness viewpoint HC blows away BH. The mens resttoom doors were open and the toilet had overflowed at BH. Also even though I am not sure of which pier is older, BH looks twice as worn as HC. Even on a Friday afternoon at around 3pm, nobody was manning the store at BH, where the store, bait sales, food and drinks at HC were open. The restroom facilites at HC were OK.

The lights seem a bit better at HC.

In every manner but one, the HC pier is better than BH. The but one can make a big difference. At the 'T' of HC, on the left hand side facing the Gulf, some of the wooden areas are real loose and could break under the right conditions. I told my wife that this was a lawsuit awaiting to happen.

Final thoughts

I won't travel the extra miles (I guess 50 to and from) to fish Bob Hall. There are plenty of nice motels on Port Aransas and the pier was much nicer. Actually we had the complete pier to ourselves and could fish anywhere we wanted to.

Even if the drive and cost of driving and motel wasn't a factor, I would take Seawolf in a heartbeat, however Seawolf on Sunday through Thursday, not counting the weekend. The lights are better at Seawolf the both HC and BH, but Seawolf still isn't a complete facility as is HC or BH.

I don't want anybody to think I am too critical of either BH or HC. When things are as they are in the greater Houston area, anything is better than nothing, in the context of night fishing during winter hours, which is what we have. Nothing. 18th Street doesn't factor in until they get their act together and get the lights fixed. Last Thursday we drove by and only 2 lights on the whole pier were on.

There is a better than good chance we will revisit HC pier, maybe after the first of the year.

You do know that Seawolf closes at 5:30 now and there will be no lights on since it's day only fishing?

Yes, I have known this about 3 weeks or so. This is the exact reason I was looking for a Gulf coast pier with lights.

as far as corpus fishing at bob hall i would take it over galveston any dya. the water there is blue green and clear every time we have gone which is at least once a week or more depending on weather. i have caught more fish at bob hall. 2 weeks ago we came home with 20 pompano and 4 black drum. the pomps have been running non stop as well as flounder and trout. bull reds and keeper reds as well as tarpon and black tip shark have been taken there while we have been there. now fishing in port aransas corpus area is much different that galveston. more day time than night time. if you talk to the locals they say the caldwell pier is nice but there are more fish at bob hall. it is only 13 miles from port aransas to padre island.
hotels are alright in corpus we have always stayed at the fairmont by the mall with no trouble at all. there are nice hotels on padre too.
next yr they are hoping to have the 61st pier on seawall open again. the big one may not reopen cause jimmy needs investors.
the county of neuces takes care of the facilities at both bob hall and caldwell. as these are county run like seawolf but cost less to get on them and you dont pay parkin and you can use a cast net on both of them. right now they are taking bids so tehy can have the restaurant open at both piers. if you ask the locals at any pier they will be happy to tell you all about their area and what to expect. sometimes it pays to talk to them

i forgot to mention. i have been checking the fishing site that the locals in corpus use and someone asked them if the founder fishing in january was good as they were coming down then. someone wrote in and said that the flounder fishing in january is at its worse so. i do not know what they catch there but as soon as the weather clears we will be going and i will let you know. we only fish piers in the gulf as my husband has this idea that the water is less polluted than the bays, which is kinda dumb when you realize that fish migrate. lol but it makes him happy so whom am i to burst his bubble