the Skiff House: Our Fly Fishing Lodge on Aransas Bay

Some places deserve more than a renovation...

They deserve to be remembered.

Long before it became Reel 'em Inn, this little stretch of Aransas Bay was home to Balboa Court, a waterfront motel that welcomed generations of travelers to the Texas Coast. We've loved hesring stories from fishermen leaving before sunrise with their parents. Countless stories of families spending vacations at the original motel with evenings ended on the pier.

The motel wasn't fancy and it didn't need to be.

Balboa Court

Like so many places along the Texas Coast, Balboa Court was built around what mattered most: the water, the people, and the simple joy of spending a few days outside.

Over time, the property changed. Buildings were sold, pieces disappeared, and the original motel slowly became something different. The front office, the building that welcomed every guest through its doors, was separated from the rest of the property and spent decades on its own as a single family home.

When we purchased the motel, we knew we weren't just restoring nine guest rooms. We were beginning the work of bringing a small piece of Rockport's history back together. The first chapter was restoring the motel itself while preserving the character that made it special. The next chapter was one we'd hoped for from the very beginning.

Today, That Building Lives On as The Skiff House

What was once the place where guests checked in has become a three-bedroom waterfront home where families gather, fishing buddies plan the next morning's trip, and kids fall asleep after spending all day on the pier. It feels fitting that the building still welcomes people—just in a different way than it did in 1952.

For us, adding The Skiff House was never about adding another place to stay. It was about making the original motel closer to being whole again.

There's still work to do, and that's part of the fun. Restoring places like this isn't something you finish overnight. We continue to uncover stories, preserve what we can, and thoughtfully improve the property while respecting what came before us.

Every improvement is made with the same goal: to honor the history of this place while ensuring it can be enjoyed for generations to come.

When you walk the property today, you're walking through more than a renovated motel. You're experiencing a piece of the Texas Coast that has welcomed fishermen, families, and travelers for more than seventy years.

Some guests come for the fishing.

Some come for the quiet mornings on Aransas Bay.

Some return because they stayed here as children and wanted to see it again.

Whatever brings you back to Rockport, we hope you leave feeling like you've become part of the story.

Because that's what places like this have always been about.

But where the next chapter begins. place has a story. The Skiff House just happens to have one of ours.

When it opened in 1952, this little building was the front office of a motel called Balboa Court. It's where guests checked in. Where the day started. The heart of the whole property. Somewhere along the way, it was sold off on its own and spent years apart from the motel it was born with.

We were lucky enough to bring it back. To pull the original property together again, and reunite it for the first time in generations.

The Skiff House

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