Corpusfishing.com

[HungerBuster]

Decided it had been too long since the last trip, so loaded up the kids and headed to the island. We got on the beach around 5:00 friday evening. Driving was great until about 19, then it turned SOFT, even in the ruts. Decided to just take it slow on the high road rather than get beat up going 15 mph down low and risking someone trailing off into the shell bank. Made it down to the high banks in about an hour and a half. Fished our rear ends off all day Saturday and along with 50+ hard heads (no joke) and a couple of Jacks, we boxed 14 whiting, a god sized pomp (!!!). The turtle patrol was out in full force and at one point we found ourselves joking about how many we were seeing. Seemed like such a waste of time and resources.

THEN we packed to head off the beach Got back to about 22 and there's a turtle patrol stopped in the surf. He's waving at me on the low road and I figure he wants me to cut over to the high road. So I do. Then he gets a little urgent with his flagging and I finally decide he wants me to stop. So I do. Then the kids start saying, "look at THAT HUGE turtle." Low and behold, a massive Ridley is literally coming up out of the surf. She must have been well over 24" in diameter. We watch her make her way through the low road and she cruises her way (at turtle speed).... into the first rut of the high road. She then proceeds to dig and lay her eggs...RIGHT in the high road rut, less than 2o yards from my truck. Now look, I've been an at times vocal critic of the turtle stuff on the beach...but that was down right cool. We watched her until she was done, and the turtle folks gathered her eggs, waived us around her back down to the low road, and we were back on our way.

A 20 minute delay, but well worth it. And the kids had a blast to boot. Plus I had a cigar while we waited, so it all ended up good.

Can't wait to make it down again. Anyway, water was relatively clear, weed was non-existant where we stopped (though bad to little shell, patchy-bad from little shell into the high banks), and the weather was absolutely perfect for the time of year. That said, when we went off the beach Sunday afternoon, I can safely say that in the 15+ years I've been going down island I have NEVER seen it as crowded from 15 to the pavement. Almost DOOR TO DOOR the whole way. In addition, the line outside of the PARK was WELL over a mile long. And the line from Whitecap stretched all the way to FREAKIN HEB in the bluff!!!

I said a prayer for all of those poor souls and had a scotch later in their honor.

Until next time...
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Fish ON!

[Tyler]

Great report, thanks!
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[troutless]

Cool about the turtle, that's a rare sighting and I know that the kids enjoyed it.

[HungerBuster]

I've certainly never seen a turtle birth before. But what really shocked me was that she really did dig her nest RIGHT in the rut. Maybe that speed limit makes sense. Maybe...
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Fish ON!