Galveston Island One Year After Hurricane Ike

On September 13th, 2008 Hurricane Ike made landfall directly over Galveston Island in Texas. Hurricane Ike was a category 2 storm, but as we all found out it caused massive damage and destruction equivalent to a category 4 storm. Hurricane Ike stretched over 500 miles, had howling winds up to 110 mph and a storm surge of 13-20 feet. Hurricane Ike was the third most destructive hurricane to ever make landfall in the United States and it was blamed for up to 200 deaths nation wide. Residents up and down the Texas gulf coast to the Louisiana coast were greatly effected by this storm, but Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula were the hardest areas hit. The storm surge of up to 20 feet and flooding were the main culprits of most of the coastal damage. Unfortunately homes, businesses, landmarks, and even lives were lost due to Hurricane Ike. It had been 23 years since Galveston Island had experienced a storm of this magnitude, hopefully it will be over another 23 years until they experience another one.

It has been just over a year since Hurricane Ike ravaged the gulf coast and changed so many peoples lives. The land clean up and rebuilding is still underway on Galveston Island and in near by communities. The good news is that businesses are opening, houses are being rebuilt and visitors are returning to Galveston Island. Galveston Island is looking better and better every day. I participated in the water clean up of the entire Galveston Bay Complex from March 2009 through July 2009. I spent most of those days on the water watching trees, cars, boats, parts of houses, refrigerators, telephone poles among many other things being pulled out from the bay system. The land clean up and rebuilding will probably continue for a few more years, but the bay and beach clean up is finally complete. East bay, West bay, Trinity bay and the surrounding waters are actually cleaner now than they were before Hurricane Ike.

Fishing in Galveston was not negatively effected by Hurricane Ike. In fact the fishing on Galveston bays have been really good to excellent since Ike and I see it only getting better. I have been fishing the Galveston bays all my life and Ike did not change fishing at all. I have been catching quality fish at the same spots that I have always caught them at. The mid bay reefs and the shorelines are all in excellent shape. The fish are very healthy and the numbers are still there. For someone that has enjoyed countless memorable days fishing on the waters surrounding Galveston Island, that is wonderful news. Many people may still think that fishing the Galveston Bay Complex is not up to past standards or that the bays are still filled with debris, but that could not be farther from the truth. All the bays are really clean and the fish are ready to be caught. Galveston Bay is one of the best fisheries on the Texas gulf coast, so don't hesitate to visit Galveston Island and spend a quality day on the water fishing.

Capt. Alan Pereyra