Brian's Reel Deal

Brian loved being near or on the water. What better place to remember him on what would've been his 61st birthday. RIP, Brian....you are remembered.

not forgotten Captain Brian.......

Calm Skies Over Three Oceans

"May the seas calm and the sea gulls soar in honor of Brian's time on God's green earth". ~ Trish McCormick

Calm Skies Over Three Oceans

We live on a dynamic, restless planet. On any given day, there is usually a cyclone, tropical depression, or extra-tropical storm brewing somewhere on the Earth. But for a brief moment this week, the skies over all of the oceans were relatively calm.

The image above is a composite of fourteen polar satellite passes, or swaths, stitched together from September 8, 2013. The natural-color images were acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite.

nasa.gov We live on a dynamic, restless planet. On any given day, there is usually a cyclone, tropical depression, or extra-tropical storm brewing somewhere on the Earth. But for a brief moment this week, the skies over all of the oceans were relatively calm.

William Brian Stephens
“Captain Brian”
December 21, 1955 – September 8, 2013

On behalf of me Brian’s family and me, I want to thank you for being here this evening to celebrate Brian’s life with us.
There are many of you here tonight who I do not know and yet, if I were a betting woman, I’d feel confident in betting that I’ve probably heard at least one story about each of you in this room. I’ve heard them because not only did Brian love to tell, and perhaps re-tell, stories, but because he loved and respected you. It was obvious in the stories that he did share with me.
I’ve known Brian for almost 11 years, and lived with him for many of those years. Ours was a relationship that was not always peaceful ~ but then, whose is? Ultimately, we did love, care for, and respect, one another. Even in our separation, we remained connected to one another. I continued to love, care for, and worry about, him and I will always love his heart for he was, above all else, a kind and gentle person who really did a lot for me and for so many others.

Some of us are Friends of Brian’s heart and some of us are Friends of Brian’s road. Neither is more important than the other, for we learn much from – and teach much to – both groups of friends. What I mean by that is this:

A friend of the heart is one who “strikes” you. You connect on a level that has depth. It is the equivalent to “love at first sight” but for friends. Even if your journeys take a different path, you are still connected. The friends of the heart live in your heart. They have touched your life in such a way that you will be different having known them. These friends are rare beautiful gems.

Friends of the road are people who come into our lives for brief periods of time. You may spend a lot of time with them, share great memories, and genuinely enjoy your journey with them. But if and when these friends take a different “road”, your journey together will end. You lose touch. Your motivation and effort to do what it takes to maintain the relationship drifts off.

Brian was neither a saint, nor was he his addiction. He was a man with an incredibly big and sensitive heart. And while his addiction could be so very exhausting for those around him, I can only imagine how exhausting it was for him. My heart is lighter knowing and believing that he has found peace.

Brian was a very giving man. I remember vividly when at least one colleague had a devastating family crisis, and in spite of warnings from others about his decision, Brian went above and beyond in order to do the right thing. I remember another time when a long-time friend of Brian’s was badly hurt. He and his good friend created and helped fund an account to help this person out of a jam. He made calls and encouraged others to give as well because it was the right thing to do.

I remember, and am grateful for Brian taking up for me, because he loved me and it was the right thing to do in his book.

In talking to some friends of Brian’s this week, it was an honor to hear them speak of him in glowing terms ~ looking past the problems and instead remembering the person, the soul, of Brian. Two stories, in particular, overlap. There was a period of time when Brian carpooled to work with these two individuals ~ a good friend and my nephew, Matthew. Each of them, in different conversations, relayed how Brian could sometimes be overly chatty and maybe even at times a pain, but in those daily trips together, they learned things from Brian that they might never have, if not for that time spent traveling to and from work. It might have been about a hole-in-the-wall burger joint, or construction related or any number of other tidbits of goodness. It was so very wonderful, in those two conversations to realize that their perspective on the situation then has now shifted. They both, as did I, realized the gift that had been given: The very simple gift of being with Brian and learning from him.

I’ll consider myself a fortunate woman if I remember all of the things that I learned from Brian. We would take day- trips to watch for deer or see a construction site in progress and he took me hunting and fishing. On the first day possible after Hurricane Ike, we took the ferry across to Bolivar to see how his buildings had fared. They did pretty darn good. And that pleased him. Everything he built pleased him and made him proud. I am pretty happy that I can drive down various roads, in towns around here, and know that this or that building or job was estimated, bid and built by Brian and his team. Brian's buildings, in our minds, can be viewed as a legacy, memorials he left behind reminding us of his time, his presence here on earth.

Brian was an amazing combination of gentle and funny and oh-so-very-smart. He could talk politics, football, construction and he knew what he was talking about. My dad pointed out that the first things he really appreciated about Brian were his experience in so many areas and his knowledge and skill in talking about them as well.

Brian loved music almost as much as he loved anything. We saw ZZTop on more than one occasion and I will always think of him as a ‘Sharp Dressed Man” for he loved the look of his fresh starched shirts. He loved to go to T Bone Tom’s when Ezra Charles would play. I admit I had some doubts when he told me he knew Ezra Charles until he did, in fact, join us at the table one evening between sets.

So, maybe he loved fishing and his Aggies a bit more than music. When Brian no longer ran charters for people, he wanted a way to let people use his famous fishing ‘numbers’….the multitude of wondrous spots in the gulf where he knew to be perfect for catching this or that on this day or that day. And by all accounts, he was spot on. Finally, FaceBook became an option and “Brian’s Reel Deal” was born. From that, came his every other week talk show, “Going Deep” with Doug Pike. He thrilled at being able to talk about fishing – or football – or anything else that came up during the show. And, he could share his numbers. He could again give the gift of fishing that he so loved.

And above all, he loved his family. He loved calling Patty and Bill to talk about Aggie Football, before, during and after a game. He loved and respected his brother, Tracy, very much for the man that he became.

He loved his children beyond measure. Brooke, Heather, Megan and Keaton were, and are, his pride and joy and it took little in the way of encouragement to get him to tell a story about any of them.

Brian was an amazingly resilient man. He lived the highest of highs and he has experienced the lowest of lows in his relatively short life. And he had an amazing history of rebounding. Whether it be physical, emotional, professional or financial, he always bounced back. The last months were very hard on Brian. And believe it or not, he did not give up. He still held hope when we talked last week.

I think Brian was tired. I think his body was tired. I believe that Brian lived fully much of his life.

I’ll end this with a thought from my cousin, who actually only met Brian briefly: "May the seas calm and the sea gulls soar in honor of Brian's time on God's green earth".
With love ~ Delee

In lieu of flowers for Brian's service, the family requests that donations may be made in his honor to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 4900 Jackwood, Houston, TX 77096 ~ thank you, Delee

Current Services

Here is a link to Brian's obituary via Jeter Memorial Funeral Home.

jeterfuneralhome.com Current Services at Jeter Memorial Funeral Home. Funeral Home serving Houston and the surrounding areas.

A Memorial Service has been planned for Brian Stephens. It will be this Thursday, September 12, 2013 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 4900 Jackwood, Houston, TX 77096. A memorial service will begin at 6:00 pm with a reception immediately following.

At this time, we are determining options for donations in lieu of flowers. As soon as this is finalized, I will post more ~ Delee D'Arcy

Thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers.

Dear Friends,
Brian’s Reel Deal was born out of Brian’s love for the sea, for fishing and a strong passion and desire to share his experience and knowledge with you all.

It is with such a heavy heart that I tell you that Brian passed away earlier today.

In the coming days and weeks, I would love for any and all of you to share a memory of Brian – whether it be of fishing, hunting, football, A&M or any other story - on this page. We’d love to hear them all.

A memorial service is being planned for Thursday evening at Jeter Memorial Funeral Home in Friendswood. More specific details will be provided in the coming days.

Please keep Brian’s family in your good thoughts and prayers in the days and weeks to come. ~ Delee D’Arcy

not bad....

Anybody remember this?

Rattlesnake handlers available NOW....don't wait!!!!!

grocery store of filets

Brian's Reel Deal

have a seat.....

fact or fiction?

Good day. on Gulf in June...

Sarah Palin

We're in for a helluva' ride, America. Obama just named Susan Rice as his National Security Adviser and nominated Samantha Power to replace Rice as our U.N. ambassador. Samantha Power is married to Cass Sunstein, the very, very strange Obama pick for an early "czar" position who wowed us with his numerous bizarre claims including the wacko belief that animals should have the right to sue in court, that hunting should be banned as genocide, and that pet ownership is akin to “slavery.” But Mrs. Cass Sunstein’s character judgment in choosing her life partner is the least of America's worries. Information about Obama's new picks will be revealed in coming days. Pay attention to who they are; what they stand for; and what their records, associations, and statements reveal about them and their intentions. Especially consider Obama's chosen ones as evidence of his skewed thinking as he "fundamentally transforms" our great nation.

Here's just a taste, as summarized by The Daily Caller:

"In 2002, President Barack Obama’s new nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, proposed imposing a peace deal on Israelis and Palestinians militarily, even if such a policy alienated wealthy pro-Israel American Jews. 'I actually think in the Palestine-Israeli situation there is an abundance of information, and what we don’t need is some kind of early warning mechanism there,' Power said in an interview. 'What we need is a willingness to actually put something on the line in sort of helping the situation. And putting something on the line might mean alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import,' she added laughing, clearly referring to American Jews and suggesting they were a great obstacle to moving toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

"Isn't that lovely. Not only is she condescending toward American Jews, but her analysis also happens to be utterly wrong. The failure to achieve peace in the Middle East is not because wealthy American Jews have somehow manipulated America's leaders into thwarting peace, but rather because Palestinian leaders have consistently rejected generous Israeli peace offers for a state of their own. In fact, the wealthy American Jews that Power haughtily dismisses in the interview as obstacles to peace are very often staunch advocates of a two state solution. On another note, Power also once compared actions abroad to those of N**i Germany. As the Washington Examiner's Philip Klein wryly noted on Twitter, 'Samantha Power is the UN Ambassador, who is supposed to represent US interests at the UN?'"

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/06/thedc-morning-samantha-power-is-unsuited-for-the-job/

And these articles by TheBlaze, Breitbart.com, and Townhall should help wake up Obama supporters who naively and blindly (despite failure after failure and scandal after scandal) continue to give him the benefit of the doubt:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/05/who-exactly-is-samantha-power-obamas-new-u-n-ambassador-pick-everything-you-need-to-know/

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/06/05/Samantha-Power-Pushed-For-Apology-Tour

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/06/05/a-look-at-obamas-new-un-ambassador-radical-samantha-power-n1613587

Nah, America... I shouldn't have prefaced this post with a warning to hang on because "we're in for a helluva' ride." Sorry. That was crass and inaccurate. I should have just said about Obama's judgment and unchecked power, "America, we are so screwed."

- Sarah Palin

Why is this the wrong way to hold a fish in a picture?

There are a lot of them around these parts...

That helmet probably won't provide much protection...
http://www.sports790.com/main.html

Enjoy Doug Pike and myself tomorrow at 7:30 am on Houston Sports 790 AM... First day of Snapper Season...Got a big boat?

Sushi soon..

Name this Pacific fish?

Kayak Fishing or In Water Fishing ...still a hot topic...media calls it Roe versus Wade...

have you got one , yet?.....look for rips, weedlines, and your ex's...

nice pair..........

have a seat.....

have a seat.....

Alot of people combine hunting and fishing...

Never understood why Fly Fisherman have trouble finding fish...

Love Lobster.......

WAHOO...............wild ...

承認ありがとうございます(^_^)よろしくお願いします

>-:))))))))):>---

Great Remora....