Hard-to-get permits for two GLO fishing cabins go to top bidders June 17

“Serious fishermen know this is an opportunity they don’t want to pass up,” Patterson said. “A little piece of paradise like this doesn’t become available every day.”

One permit site is on the upper Texas coast is on Moody’s Island — just between Christmas Bay and West Bay. This permit site, located just west of San Luis Pass, is only accessible by boat via Titlum Tatlum Bayou. The winning bidder must bid at least $5,000, must tear down and haul off a derelict structure on the site and even then won’t own the cabin he or she will have to build.

The other permit site, located in Kenedy County, is in the Land Cut area of the Laguna Madre on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway and is also — blissfully — only accessible by boat. Bidding for this site starts at $10,000 for the right to obtain a permit for the location and to build a cabin up to 1,000 square feet in area in accordance with the terms outlined in a five-year lease agreement. The permit site is located on uplands originally created by the dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway. The area is still an active dredge disposal site if needed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Bids for the site are due by 5 p.m. Friday, June 14. All requests for bid packages must be received no later than May 31.

This is only the fourth time the General Land Office has offered cabin permits on a sealed bid basis. The permits, hugely popular with coastal fishermen, were initially awarded to those occupying the cabins in 1973 when the School Land Board and General Land Office were granted regulatory authority over the structures on state lands.

Since then, the permits have either expired, relocated, or have been transferred to other interested parties with School Land Board approval.

The permits will be issued for five years, and can be renewed in five-year increments if all conditions of the contract have been observed. Anything built on the sites will belong to the state of Texas and the cabins can only be used for recreational purposes — no commercial activity is allowed.

Bid packets and a fact sheet are available at www.glo.texas.gov under the "What's New" section, or here: http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/state-lands/_documents/leasing_easements/coastal/cabin_program/2013-cabin-permit-bid-packet.pdf.

Each bid form must be enclosed in a sealed envelope addressed to the Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, Stephen F. Austin Building, P.O. Box 12873, Austin, Texas 78711-2873, Attention: Ned Polk. Please clearly mark “RE: Cabin Bid” on the front of the envelope.

For additional information, please send an e-mail to cabins@glo.state.tx.us, visit the GLO Web site at www.glo.state.tx.us, or call Amy Nunez at 361-825-3038. Detailed maps are available in the bid packet.