Perhaps no one could chronicle the changes in sport and commercial fishing along the Central Texas Coast more ably and more passionately than Farley. When he came to Texas in 1910, he reported that he could get in a rowboat and using only a push pole, make his way "to the fishing grounds and catch a hundred pounds or more of trout and redfish" in a few hours. A couple of years later, the shrimp trawlers arrived. As they plied the Gulf in increasing numbers, they depleted the shrimp populations in the bays, and Farley watched the fish move farther and farther offshore, following their ever more elusive food source.
From his perspective in the mid-1960s, Farley was not satisfied simply to lament the disappearance of once-abundant species. He also strongly voiced his views on the need for conservation. Many of the problems he identified are still with us, and some of the solutions he prescribed have since been adopted.
This book is both an appealing reminiscence and a cautionary tale. Anyone who cares about fishing and the health of the Gulf's waters will find an authoritative and completely engaging voice in Barney Farley.
