Hello Arroyo Partners:
The Rio Grande Valley is settling into a spring weather pattern after 2 late cold fronts dropped temperatures below the freezing mark. Farmers and citrus growers were extremely concerned about losing their crops and citrus to these late cold fronts. So far, it looks like most crops and citrus made it through ok. Today, we are expecting highs in the 80's with stiff south-southeastern breeze.
The ACWP hosted it's O&E Work Group meeting on February 8th and Habitat Work Group meeting and Steering Committee on February 10th. All of the meetings were very productive and I will be posting the meeting summaries on the website very soon.
One of the topics in our Habitat Work Group meeting was the IBWC's plan to remove all mature trees and vegetation within the limits of the Arroyo Colorado Floodplain between Expressway 83 and FM 509. The proposed works by the IBWC is in response to the flooding that the Rio Grande Valley experienced last year. The IBWC estimated that the floodwaters in the above mentioned limits of the Arroyo Colorado flowed 4' above design and 1' from flooding low lying areas of Harlingen. The IBWC contends that these works must be done before flood season begins. Our plan is to work with the IBWC to minimize the amount of trees and vegetation lost during this project. If you have any thoughts or comments on this issue, please send them to me.
Please mark your calendars for the upcoming events:
Well I finally made it out to the water to wet a line a couple of weeks ago. I went out with Capt. Richard Lopez and one of our fishing buddies to do a little scouting for an upcoming trip. We headed out from Port Mansfield to do a little wading. It was extremely cold with a water temperature of 51 degrees when we left the dock. We waded and waded at several different spots and had no luck. It was now about four o'clock with not even a nibble. On the way to our next spot, as I pondered why I was out here and why I could not feel my toes, Richard spotted some bait fish jumping and stopped the boat. He jumped in the water and a hooked a nice red on his first cast. I followed him into the water and also hooked a red on my first cast. The water was thick with red and black drum and you could see them tailing and crashing bait fish right in front of us. We were catching fish virtually on every cast. This continued until the sun started to set. We caught and released over 20-25 reds in about 45 minutes. We also brought home 3 limits of reds, 1 black drum and 1 flounder. What an awesome day!
Looking ahead, Jaime J Flores