by John Jefferson

The private recreational red snapper season in federal waters will open May 22, rather than the typical June 1opening. That now includes the Memorial Day holiday, according to Robin Riechers, TPWD Coastal Fisheries Director.

Red snapper fishing will remain open year-round in Texas State waters. The bag limits in all saltwater will remain as last seasons.

The federal charter for hire season will still open June 1.

But all waters – freshwater or salty –will be dangerously crowded with boats. Some of those boaters will celebrate the holiday with too much “firewater” — as the Native Americans called it. Boating while intoxicated is a crime in all federal and state waters. TPWD wardens enforce boating laws for the first nine miles from shore and enforcement beyond that is by the U.S. Coast Guard. Going to jail is a lonely way to spend the first weekend of summer.

Holiday boaters in freshwater and saltwater can expect law enforcement agencies to enforce all safety laws, including Boating While Intoxicated and other reckless behavior. And officers can do that on land, sea, or from the air, as illustrated here. Spending the holiday in jail sounds like a lonely way to spend a weekend while others are enjoying the Texas Outdoors. (Photo by John Jefferson)

Every law enforcement agency that has a boat will be on duty over the Memorial Day weekend to protect the public from dangers created by people piloting a motorboat or jet ski while incapacitated. It happens every holiday; arrest history verifies it.

But on the bright side — barring severe weather — this could be a great weekend for fishing. It will be one of the last weekends before hot weather sets in to spend the summer with us.

In fresh water, bass fishing will be best beginning just before daylight and continuing on until around 10 o’clock a.m. when pleasure boaters begin clogging the waters. Late afternoon is usually good, too, as is fishing after dark. Make sure all lights on your boat are operational and legal. Experienced bass anglers like to fish at night under a full moon. The next one in May, called the Blue Moon, will light the sky on May 31.

Nighttime accidents are common. Some are tragic. A few lead to criminal convictions. All are avoidable.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the nighttime, negligent, hit and run boating accident on Lake Buchanan that took the life of a fine young man shortly before his high school graduation. He was fishing with two friends who were both severely injured and barely survived.

The other boat operator knew what he had done. His motor was killed by the collision. He restarted his engine and left the three abandoned, adrift, and helpless in the dark on the huge lake. He took his boat out of the water, hurried home, buried it behind his house with the help of his dozer, and avoided arrest for eight years. He was finally identified, arrested, convicted … and served time.

Don’t let that be your story, too. If you drink and drive a boat or other watercraft or take drugs — medically prescribed or otherwise — it certainly could be yours.

And please remember what this weekend commemorates – trillions of service men and women who gave their lives so America can remain free!

Our family had several members that served. Yours probably did, too.

JJ