Anglers blast plans for Rollover Pass
Galveston County votes to close popular spot for area sportsmen
GILCHRIST — Rick Waynick had three speckled trout on a stringer tied to a bulkhead at Rollover Pass on Wednesday as he cast into the calmer side of the water flowing between the Gulf of Mexico and East Bay.
Like others fishing at the pass, Waynick, who calls himself “Rollover Rick,” knows about the Galveston County Commissioners Court vote Tuesday to close the pass that’s been open to the public since the mid-1950s.
“It’s a crock,” he said, as his lure disappeared into the water. “This is the No. 1 fishing spot in Texas.”
The property on each side of the pass on the Bolivar Peninsula in Gilchrist — and under the water, for that matter — belongs to the Gulf Coast Rod, Reel and Gun Club.
After the pass and the Texas 87 crossing were pounded by Hurricane Ike in 2008, the Legislature empowered the Texas General Land Office to close the pass if it could be shown it contributes to significant erosion of an adjacent beach.
According to this week’s Court agenda, the General Land Office has determined the pass “causes or contributes to significant erosion of the shoreline of the adjacent beach.’’
And now the state is moving ahead. But the land office does not have the legal authority to sue in court to take the land and that’s where Galveston County’s role comes into the picture.
A county has the power
of “eminent domain,’’ which is a legal proceeding to force a landowner to sell the land if there is a compelling public reason to do so.
Galveston County Precinct 1 Commissioner Ryan Dennard, who voted with the 4-1 majority to close the pass, said an updated offer will be given this week to the Gulf Coast Rod, Reel and Gun Club, which owns the pass.
The club has 14 days to accept or reject the offer. If the offer is rejected, the case could go to court in February, Dennard said.
The Gilchrist Community Association maintains the fish pass, which was dredged about 60 years ago.
State’s offer to owner
Mark Crampton, who has a magnetic panel on his van that states “Rollover Pass Staff,” collects parking fees from people using the pass. That money helps provide portable toilets and helps maintain the compacted sand approach to the bulkheads where people can fish if they have licenses and a saltwater stamp.
Crampton, who attended Tuesday’s vote, said: “It was clear they had no intention of paying attention to the people. It’s a shame when any politician puts money ahead of people.”
He theorized that Galveston County stands to gain tax revenue from any improvements built at Rollover. The state has promised $6 million to help build a pier into the Gulf and into East Trinity Bay to replace the public fishing along the bulkheads of the pass.
Rollover gets its name, according to some stories, because storms and high tides followed a natural low-lying path from the Gulf to the bay. The fish pass was dug in the 1950s and every year it attracts thousands to try for specks, redfish, flounder and any other species making its way back and forth.
Charles Williams, who like Waynick, has visited Rollover for the past 30 or more years and seen people fishing with a makeshift rig of a can, some string and a hook. He’s seen people in wheelchairs roll up to the bulkhead, cast a line and pull out a fish.
“That’s something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives,” Waynick said.
Wayne Stupka, president of the Gulf Coast Rod, Reel and Gun Club, said no matter what offer the county makes for the property, nothing will replace it.
He said piers will change the nature of Rollover.
“It’d be a poor substitute,” he said. “East Bay will suffer from lack of freshwater.”
The Intracoastal Waterway is on the bay side of the peninsula and Stupka said cutting off the pass would deny East Bay the salinity it needs to nurture marine species in their formative stages. The Intracoastal also is receiving higher freshwater inflow from Jefferson County’s Needmore Diversion canal.
Evacuation concerns
In an email, the GLO cited its desire to save money on dredging and to return salinity to historic levels in East Bay, also known as Rollover Bay.
Also, the pass threatens Texas 87 if a future hurricane or tropical storm hits, which could imperil peninsula evacuation, the GLO said.
Crampton said he hasn’t seen any definitive plans for piers or a county park to replace the pass.
“East Bay will turn into a freshwater desert,” he said.
Williams called Rollover the best fishing spot in the state.
“You don’t have to have a boat,” he said. “I’ve caught fish from a boat, but I’d rather fish here.”