Mansfield Channel to Be Dredged

Sharkathon this Weekend

Tyler's Article in Saltwater Angler

9/29 - Good fishing was reported over the weekend with lots of keeper Reds, Trout, Spanish Mackerel, Large Pompano, Jacks and Ladyfish. Driving is horrible in the High Banks. Charlie Golla said he had to use 4 Low a lot of the time. Lots of debris especially south. Billy Sandifer said reporting on 9/27: "Lost 2 tires South of the 44 yesterday. Swells got bigger South and there was lots of ground up vegetation in water. Debris extended to the water's edge. Pretty North with no debris in water, more driving room and smaller swells. Recommend staying on North end. And if you think this is a smoke screen go on down there and you can buy you $260. worth of new tires tomorrow at Discount like me. Little bait. Saw scattered Jacks and some Ladyfish were caught. Capt. Billy"

In regards to Debris Removal. PINS Public Affairs Specialist Dimitra Guerrero says "The Superintendent spoke with the Chief Ranger and she indicated that no one has received a citation for removing debris from the beach.

Items that appear to be lost property of value, such as (but not limited
to) kayaks, boats, and/or camping equipment must be turned in to Lost and Found in the Malaquite Visitor Center.

Items such as plastic chairs and tables, buckets, bins, etc. may be removed (In addition to items that are obviously trash).

I would encourage your readers to avoid picking up containers that may or may have contained hazardous or an unknown substances. If hazardous materials are found, visitors should not touch or handle the material and notify a ranger at the Visitor Center, 361-949-8068."

Just north of the Sticks, Team Buddhahead filed this report

ot the family down to the beach and met up with some friends...
Water was great as was the driving...Thanks Bob for cooking and Gator for catching the bait...I'll never live that one down..All fish were caught in the first gut with finger mullet..

Marissa with a 24"+ trout


Nathan with one of his Smacks


Melia with her little red..


Family Photo


The Friends

9/26 Coastal Flood Warnings Over - No reports since last weekend. Some Jacks, ladyfish and Reds reported prior to the high water. Lots of Finger Mullet around and dusky anchovies in some areas. We understand that a lot more debris and trash has been washing up on PINS with the NE winds. If you happen to go down there please take all you can off. Some of that stuff is valuable and if you can use the wood have at it. Be careful for nails and make sure the kids are wearing shoes.

9/18 Flat as a pancake Tiburon's reported courtesy of an accord with Extremecoast.com - Did BEACH RECON myself today...

Driving is great. Could probably make it to Mansfield in an hour and a half or so (depending on your style of driving). You can clearly see how high the storm surge went and flatten the beach as it receeded. It carved into the dunes and now it looks like one long cliff (ranging from 4' to 10' tall) all the way down the beach. There was no more "large" debris than normal... a few steel mooring buoys and 1 weather buoy. Mainly alot and alot of small debris (bottles, styrofoam, etc). Water conditions were pretty nasty. Brown water and large patches of seaweed made up the first few guts.

9/17 - Here is the latest from Dimitra Gurrero, Public Affairs Specialist who says

Tyler,

The South beach access road is open, as of this morning. There is debris, but from what I understand, much of it has been cleared away from walkways, ramps/boardwalks, and beach access roads. There is dune damage. I have seen some pictures of the beach from the 40 mile area and there is debris scattered on the beach. I heard that driving is pretty good in most places, but as of yesterday (9/16), it sounds like the Big Shell area might be rough. The road to Yarborough Pass is not passable. We did have a HAZMAT crew go down island yesterday to recover material that may pose a risk to the public. I would definitely tell your readers to be prepared for wood with nails.

By the way, the turtle cabin, usually 10-15 ft above the sand, is now
nearly flushed with the ground.

If I find out more, I will get back to you.

Thanks for your help getting the word out.

Dimitra B. Guerrero
Public Affairs Specialist
361-949-8173 ext. 229
Padre Island National Seashore
P.O. Box 181300
Corpus Christi, TX 78480-1300

9/09 Park closing today at 5pm - (Corpus Christi, TX)-Superintendent Joe Escoto announced that Padre Island National Seashore is in the process of evacuating Gulf beaches and closing beach access roads in preparation for Hurricane Ike. The entire park, including the Malaquite Visitor Center and Campground, Bird Island Basin, and the Headquarters Building will be closed, effective today, at 5:00 p.m. Park Rangers will re-open park facilities and Gulf beach access after the storm passes and beach conditions are determined to be safe for staff and visitors. Visitors are encouraged to call the Malaquite Visitor Center at 361-949-8068 for more information on beach conditions prior to traveling to the National Seashore.

9/8 Lots of Reports and waiting on Ike: - Ike could postpone Sharkathon this weekend so visit www.sharkathon.com for details. In the meantime driving has been good and fishing better this past weekend.

Troy filed this report from 9/5 "Driving was awesome all the way down, water sandy but "clear", popped a few reds, skattered finger mullet from the 32 to the 40, trout in and amongst the skipjacks....BTW the skippies were absolutely bonkers and huge from 4 pm on - but only south of the 30. Lots of bait offshore. Typical early September...she's trying, she's trying.......to overcome the summer doldrums. Expect a full blown but short mullet run after IVAN. Threw some skipjacks over the bar for a couple hours. I think the crabs like skipjacks.....no sharks

If you guys who are just dying to go down want a little adventure, call Captain Billy and plan to go nearshore / offshore with him. The offshore bait will be consistent through mid-October. He is flexible, so the added bonus, if you book him and the beach is hot, go there...if not, go PANGA!"

Another report from Skipper from Friday - "Well, Karen and I decided to head south this morning. Water was clear to about the 30's, driving was an A+ all the way to the Turtle shack. We caught BIG whiting and HUGE skipjacks all the way down.

There is lots of bait in the water, finger mullet almost on the sand. Surprised there were no Reds or Trout ( I threw a lot of different colors at them).

On a different note I saw KCON, I hadn't seen him in a while and he was having the same luck. Looks good for the weekend if you like Whiting,,LOL...Adios "

Skipper

JayandCoyote had this Sunday report 9/07 - Fished past the 15MM for a little bit and caught whiting early. Cut up a whiting and tossed it out and the skipjack were all over it. Caught several skips that were personal records
This storm was coming our way at about noon so went further south.

Got on the south side of the storm right at the 20MM.

The water looked good from the dunes.

But this was in the wade gut.


There was plenty more weed coming in and I saw a few big mats floating around. Caught a few more skipjacks and a few whiting worth keeping and called it a day.
Saw this guy on the way out.

I don't think the weed will be good for Sharkathon but it looks like Ike is about to change things in the next few days anyway.

8/29 - Rabbit filed this report from Thursay. It looks like the water was improving though now it is back offcolor but at least the fishing reports are getting better. A few trout have been landed too! Here is Rabbit's account

Got and email from CC Bobber wednesday asking me if I wanted to join him and a couple others on a trip down the pins. Now that has got to be the dumbest question I have ever heard of. I jumped on that with both feet. Met up with bobber and CH and Jean - funmeter at billings. Put my stuff in CH's truck and we took off. Beautiful morning, light winds and surf but the water was dirty. We drove down to the eighteen mm and started fishing. I caught a couple large whiting and CH pulled in a Huge stingray. We moved back north hoping we could find some clear water but no luck. We stopped several times and fish anyway. Bobber did manage to catch 2 pomps that were to small so he sent them back to grow up. After all was said and done we went back too Billings and used their cleaning table to clean our whiting. We had probably 30 whiting for the day. Turns out our pomp excursion was really a whiting excursion we just were not told about the change ahead of time. :lol: CH getting set up

Bobber and funmeter getting their stuff together

I dont know if bobber found what he was looking for or not

Seeing as how I was the camera man you wont have to worry about letting your wives see these pictures my great physic is not in any of them. The fight is on CH has a big something on.

OMG thats disappointing a big ray.

Funmeter says he cant catch anything so he was going swimming.

Forgot to take pics of our highly mechanized fish cleaning operation. CCBobber anytime you guys need some to go with you let me know. Now I have to go and fry up some whiting for supper.

 

 

8/26 - After over 5 weeks of lousy conditions, things are looking better. As of Monday the green water was in most areas. Fishing is said to be improving. Here is a weekend report from Troy who says "Conditions appear to be improving along the seashore. What with all the poor reports I "think" things look better. They did from Friday to Saturday this week.
Friday around 4 pm parked about two miles down to let the boys out after the long journey down. They immediately banged a couple large whiting which were dropped just beyond the color change in the second gut. The water remains "cool" at 83. The boys had fun, the sharks did not show.
Saturday morning ran down to the 20 looking for a closer color change, which presented itself right on top of the second bar. The boys were dying what with all "the boring driving we have to do". So, the 19 became our home. 11:30 one bait in the back of the first, to keep them honest, one just past the color change. The boys had a grand time catching whiting, hardheads, a pomp and redfish, riding boogie boards, and running around. The shark rigs just sat there slightly bent appearing apprehensive. 2:30, super fresh whiting changeout, eat a sandwich, fix multiple tangles, cokes, lunch, 5:30 start the barbecue pit and change baits again. Fishing rods look really apprehensive as the water greens up to the beach with the incoming tide. The sharks did not show.
I have to say, things started looking better, only time will tell. We typically get our first cold front by Sept 15.....so grease your gear and sharpen your hooks NOW while its boring, the best time of the year is nary a score of days away"

8/07 - Dirty water associated with that coldwater upwelling continues to plague large portions of PINS and on north to Bob Hall and Mustang Island thought it appears to be clearer on the north end on Mustang and further south on PINS. Most catching was slow this past weekend with a few trout in the clearer water nearer the Mansfield Channel. Whiting, and plenty of Hardheads were present however there were a few Blacktip Sharks caught to 5' long. Conditions appear to be improving.

7/30 - Tunakilla posted this fine report There is nothing quite like thinking, a few months in advance, about how nice it would be to have a couple days off in the middle of the week. So you schedule two days off and then forget about them until your boss reminds you the night before those two magical days. What to do? Relatively light winds and seas equates to good conditions on the beach so off we went.
I called up Alex and he also had the day off so he was down for anything. We hit the sand and ran into huge amounts of weed and debris on the beach, but not much in the water. The farther south we traveled, the lighter the weed appeared until, just like that, it disappeared. The water was sort of a murky green, but we started nailing large whiting so the decision was made to run some lines and see what happens.
First line out, didn't take long and that sweet song breaks the silence. In short order, I brought in a hefty 5'6" blacktip

By tunakilla

Another large whiting gets sent back out, and gets hammered again. This time it is another blacktip, but this one shows us a crazy aerial show before she spit the hook in the wade gut as Alex was leadering her to shore.

About that time, Alex's super six gets annihilated. He runs over to it but the fish is gone. So out it goes again, this time with a grander ladyfish as bait. Once again, about 30 minutes later, it gets a screaming run. One of the fastest runs I've ever heard. Alex sets the hook, gets saddled up, and the battle begins!

By tunakilla

After about a twenty minute battle, we see a good sized shadow outside the first bar, and then the tail came out of the water. It was definitely was no blacktip or bull. We thought lemon at first because of the color, then part of her nose came out of the water! HAMMER!!

By tunakilla

Not a monster by any means, but one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever laid eyes upon. This was Alex's first hammer and his largest shark to date.

By tunakilla

She taped out right at 7 feet long. It looked like she had some mating marks on her side.

By tunakilla

Alex drags her back out for the release

By tunakilla

We had to walk her around for about 10 minutes, but she recovered and made it over the first bar and back out to sea. After that, it was nap time so I dragged the kayak into the shade and quickly fell asleep. I was soon awakened by that glorious screaming alarm clock, but it was dropped. Then the same rod went slack about ten minutes later and I reeled it in to find a big slimy gafftop on the hook. I can't remember ever catching a gafftop this large on the beach, so to honor the catfish family, she was quickly released, sans head and tail of course.

Not ten minutes later the gafftop gets rocked and I was hooked up to a stubborn fish on my little saltist. But this fish was no match and species number three was on the sand for closer examination.

By tunakilla

She taped out at 6' and had a nasty attitude. She swam away just fine after finding a deep spot on the almost dry first bar.

By tunakilla

I decided to try one more cast with the bait rod, and sure enough, another gafftop. I wonder what we did with it? Hmmmm...

It turned into another shark.....

By tunakilla

Ahh, getting paid to fish is a great thing. Thanks for joining me, Alex. We will do it again soon.

By tunakilla
_________________
Sam

7/29 - The park reopened Friday at noon after the visit from Dolly. The effects were lots of beach erosion in the last ten miles or so near Mansfield Jetty. On the north end of PINS lots of sargassum and small debris was noticeable. The water remains offcolor. The weed diminished south of the 20. The high surge flatteded out most of the beach including those horrendous soft spots in the Big Shell area. Some of the old washovers from Hurricane Bret got replenished. See Oz's report here

7/21 - After a beautiful weekend we now get work fromt the National Seashore that the park will be closing today at 4:30p

Superintendent Joe Escoto announced that Padre Island National Seashore is in the process of evacuating the southern Gulf beach areas and closing beach access roads due to adverse tidal conditions caused by Tropical Storm Dolly. The Malaquite Beach Campground, Visitor Center, and Bird Island Basin will also be closed, effective today, at 4:30 p.m. Park Rangers anticipate re-opening park facilities and Gulf beach access on Friday, July 25, 2008; however, if poor beach conditions persist and are determined to be unsafe for staff and visitors, the closure may extend through the weekend. Visitors are encouraged to call the Malaquite Visitor Center at 361-949-8068 for more information on beach conditions prior to traveling to the National Seashore.

Maybe higher tides will improve the horrendous driving conditions and soft sand south of the 18 mile area. Fishing was a little slower on the backside of the full moon but the water was gorgeous. Trout, skipjacks, spanish mackerel, and redfish were caught along with many hard biting large whiting. The whiting were hitting lures, soft plastics, AND mirrolures.

7/18 - Fishing was pretty slow last week and weekend with the exception of one Epic tale from who else? - Oz! Coldwater dead and fresh sargassum impacted many areas of the beach including even way down south on South Padre where we saw lots of dead weed, no bait and only a few hardheads and whiting. That was also the story for many portions of PINS though a few reports of Boone and Crockett sized whiting did appear. Oz caught and released a 10"6 Tiger - his first. Story Here

This week the water conditions became better and less fresh sargassum washed in. Driving is bad on high tide. Trout were reported on Topwaters early and late in the evening when the tide dropped. Weekend prospects are good!

7/11 - Sargassum, stormy weather and a pesky cold water upwelling all but shut off PINS for the past week or longer. Odd northeast winds could bring in more Sargassum. Billy Sandifer summed it up as of July 2nd

"The weed owned the great majority of the PINS beach including a new heavy impact of fresh weed in that last few miles before the jetty. The cold water impact continues to the South but also seems to be spreading farther North than I have ever seen it before and the entire nearshore surf was murky other than very near the jetty where the new weed makes it almost unfishable other than with lures. There continues to be no skipjacks nor nearshore activity of any type visable although occasional medium sized and finger mullet are seen Lots of whiting and some reds and a few small trout are about it other than stingrays and hardheads. The trout will hit shrimp better than lures. There is a nasty chop from offshore storms and high tide in the morning makes for a challenging drive on the morning trip in. Big Shell is really tough driving as the tide is washing the track out. You web masters feel free to post this as a service to your viewers who are considering where to fish this holiday. In 4 long days of shark fishing 36 mile South we have had two runs and landed one 4' 8" Blacktipped shark. Weed has made shark fishing North of the 30 impossible."

7/4 Weekend - Not much fishing but Larry Meinert posted these wonderful pictures of PINS. Still pretty in spite of the poor fishing conditions.

6/24 - It was a great start to the summer season. Two sharks over 8 feet including a 9'6" lemon shark! see report on Extremecoast.com Other species caught this weekend included Trout, a Tarpon, Spanish Mackerel, Whiting and Pomps with one coming on a topwater no less and lots of Blacktip and Bonnetnosed Sharks. Here is the Hammerhead report via Fsaenz218 Arrived on the beach on Friday, (my birthday) at about 6:00 pm... around the 20mm Bubba and I started catching skip jack while the birds were working hard in the wade and first gut.. After catching several big skip jack we drove down to the 32mm and set up camp.





When Rudy Lopez arrived, we enjoyed what was left of my birthday with some cupcakes that my girl bought for me. Rudy, Bubba, and I woke up early and started running out baits. It was about noon when I caught the first shark of the day, a small black tip pup. When I was ready to release it, my 12/0 starts screaming. After a 30 minute fight we were able to see the shark in the first gut.




8 foot hammer, my first hammer at that......


5'10" black tip


5'02 black tip


once the sun was about the set, both Rudy and I hook up,



5' foot black tip


Rudy's 4' foot black tip


one more shark caught on Sunday.

ALL SHARKS WERE RELEASED!!!!

Had a blast with family and friends.... that's whats its all about... my girl caught some of the big bull whiting that we used for bait... cant wait to get back on the beach and do it again...

Felix

Red filed ths report from 6/19 - 6/21 -My dad, brother, and I managed to make it down the coast Thurs morning after too much time away. Conditions were great - not too much weed, full moon, and nice water. We headed south Thursday morning and found a spot near the Mansfield jetties. We managed a couple trout on topwater and had some good ones get away. I saw my dad tangle with a few only to lose them near shore. Around six or so as the tide was going out, the 6/0 started singing and after a 30 min battle we managed to CPR this nice shark. (I think it is a Sandbar, but I'm not certain.) The shark was caught with cut mullet tossed just before the 2nd bar.

Shark with Rene and Richard Roussett

Later that evening, my brother managed a pomp on topwater. That was a surprise.

Topwater with pomp

Friday morning was slow so we headed north with a couple trout and pomp in the box. We found another nice area with structure which as it turned out held some bait. The trout were here and coopertated nicely taking our offerings of plastic worms. We tried topwater, but worms was the way to go. My brother did manage to catch a few macs. Below is the biggest mac of the trip.

Nice mac also liked the plastic worm

Friday evening as the tide was going out the area came alive as bait moved from the shallows into deeper water. With all the bait around the fish were not interested in artifical, and I only manged a couple blow-ups on a topwater. With night approaching we resigned to get some sleep with plans for some trout action in the morning. As anticipated Sat morning gave us a few more trout, but the bite was short and early with smaller trout. We decided to make our way south. On the way in we stopped at a couple places but found no takers. The water was great with little wind, but there seemed to be less birds, bait, and activity as before. We did see a fellow catching a trout and a couple taking a pic of a shark which was just landed. All in all a very nice time on the beach. Back in SA we hit a little rain and took some pics of the fish in the box.

Left to right, Rene, Clarance, Richard, and Jaden with pomp and Trout below

 

6/15 - Winds have finally become reasonable. At last report there have been good catches of trout mainly south of the 30 on soft plastics. They still seem to be a bit shy for topwaters though some were caught on top. Bait was scarce further south and there is an abundance of baby Blue crabs on the beach so recheck your rigs often if using bait on long rods. Driving is bad on high tide and not bad at low tide. Weed is spotty.

6/5 - Water reported to the dunes today as the ESE winds continued at more than 30 MPH. Weekend prospects somewhat better. Prior to the recent gales there were a few trout caught one Thursday evening(When the Spurs lost) and this past Sunday 6/1 When conditions have allowed there have been Whiting, a few slot reds, and quite a few nice Blacktips caught when shark rigs were kept clear by hand. Here's a great Fish/Fishbite Story from North Padre south of Bob Hall Pier via Jay and Coyote: Finally had a chance to make it to the beach and do a little fishing. It has been a long 8 weeks or so since I last hit the beach. Not enuff time lately with a 6 month old and being busy at work. I managed to get the family out the door by 8am. That is a minor miracle in itself since my wife and Mom packed so much stuff for the baby we could have camped out for a week. I guess it was when I put the rods on the front of my truck that I remembered that the last time I went fishing I had a huge bird nest on my surf reel and I was supposed to put new line on it. Too late to worry about it now so out the door I went. I did not want to go too far so I turned and hit the beach just south of Bob Hall. I went a little ways south and found a spot to stop. I was thowing out shrimp/fishbites trying to get a whiting to use for cut bait. I was slamming the hardheads for a little while. Well I finally caught a whiting and threw out my 10' surf rod. It was at this point that I looked down at the reel and saw a piece of line sticking out. It had a clean cut on it from the last time I cut out the before mentioned bird nest. Oh, crap I thought. So I start letting line out to see where the line is cut. It was at this point that I knew I would have a big run on the line and would lose whatever was on the other end. Well. I finnally found the spot where the line separated and I wrapped the end with the bait around my hand a few times. At this point I felt a good tug from something. I start yelling at wife to get something for me to wrap the line on and the only thing she could find was my sandal. Now the line is digging into my hand so I know I have to try and get this thing in. I was thinking big drum because the fish never really tried a big run but I could feel he was big. After what seemed like a looong time I see my leader coming in and then I saw a big swirl. It turned out to be my personal best spec! It was over 6lbs and a tad over 25 inches. This will definitely be one of my best fishing tales to share with my son when he is a little older.

 

5/20 - Reports from the weekend showed lots of sargassum but clearing water and some interesting catches. Lots of 5ft Blacktips were caught and a few monsters got away on large baits. Shark fishermen had to spend a lot of time clearning their lines. Nickaway at Breakawayusa.com had a couple of Jacks and some Redfish. I also heard of a couple of topwater trout!

Rabbit fished up north south of Bob Hall and filed this report: Went to the beach south of BHP water was clear and a little rough not bad. There was sargassum in the surf but if you worked around it you could catch some fish.

Hard head for the Hardhead contest I make it out to be 15 5/8.




Supper tonight Pompano and Whiting.


_________________
Fishing and Kayaking its a rough life but somebody has to do it.

4/24 Sargassum, fronts, and dirty water - Still the same story. There will be theAdopt-A-Beach Cleanup Saturday April 26th on PINS

Padre Island National Seashore will host the Texas General Land Office Adopt-A-beach Clean-up on Saturday, April 26, 2008. Volunteers of all ages are invited to participate. Registration will occur at 8:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m. at the Malaquite Visitor Center and the beach clean-up will begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at approximately 12:00 noon. A hotdog lunch will be provided to participants following the clean-up.

The Texas Adopt-A-Beach Program is a volunteer effort engaging volunteers across the state of Texas who are committed to keeping Texas beaches clean by removing trash along beaches and coastal waters, and to increase public awareness about the problem of marine debris.

Volunteers should meet at the Padre Island National Seashore Malaquite Beach Visitor Center. Entrance fees for volunteers will be waived; however, participants are asked to stop at the entrance station before going to the event location and encouraged to bring sunscreen and a hat. Interested groups and individuals should call the Malaquite Visitor Center at 361-949-8068 for more information or visit the park website: www.nps.gov/pais

4/10 Weed owns the beach - Long rodding is next to impossible. Captain Billy Sandifer told me forget anything south of the 20. He said there is a tiny mile long area near the jetty that is fishable but the rest is awful. He made it home he says with about a cup of gas remaining in his suburban(it holds 40 gallons) Oz and Kip reported Jacks and Macks in Kayaks ( hey that's a small poem) but no sharks and long rods impossible. Both Oz and Kip ran out of gas before making it back to the Rockstar Mansion on the Island. The driving was so horrible it took five hours to get off from the jatty.

Here is a link to his report

http://extremecoast.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11293

3/27 Wind has been relentless on the beach - Last Saturday 3/22 was decent for those who were able to go. Several large Jacks were reported. Kip fishing with Oz got spooled on a 50W Avet See Story.  Pompano, Redfish and Black Drum were also caught. The weed has been reported to be bad the entire length of the beach so longrodding may be tough this weekend. Duston Siler landed this nice Blacktip 3/22

 

3/12 - Big Shell Cleanup A Huge Success - First a quick fishing report. Pompano,Whiting , slot Reds and Drum were caught shallow over the weekend from the 4 wheel drive sign to south of Bob Hall Pier.

Harold Ray posted this wrap up

Billy Sandifer


Some of the gang!!






I'm here, but I'm jus' watchin'!


What can I say; its war surplus!


"I got a idea, let's attack Cuba!"


What 'er we waitin' for?


We're leavin'!


On the beach!!!!









The War Wagon





The totals:

Hi Billy

Here are the trash totals that your volunteer crew collected based on the
number of bags counted and then adjusted a bit based on the fact that we
usually miss a few bags. I also counted the left over bags to get an idea as well. Here's the break out:

We started with 3800 bags and about 400 were left over; 3177 bags were actually counted so that leaves about 200 bags unaccounted for.

If you compromise and split the difference that means approximately 3300
bags were picked up. (nearly 400 more than last year)

We typically figure 35 pounds per bag which equals 115,500 pounds of garbage. That's 57.75 tons of trash!

We can only guess at how many additional uncounted boards, barrels, buoys, etc were collected but it's safe to say they would have added several more tons to push the total into the 65 to 70 ton range. The
volunteers filled up three thirty cubic yard dumpsters and one forty cubic yarder. All were overloaded and overflowing. The dump truck was brought down and also used as a spare dumpster!

Bottom line - we cannot say enough to thank you and all of your volunteers!

Thanks again for a great job and if we get additional unaccounted for stats. I'll pass them along.

Later,

Buzz

Once again, the man with the plan who started The Big Shell Beach Clean-Up over a decade ago, and the man responsible for removing over 1,000,000 pounds of trash from the beachs of Padre Island National Seashore, Billy Sandifer!
Billy Sandifer

You can reach Billy for charters and any other information through his website at: http://www.billysandifer.com/
_________________
Ray

ook a little trip down the Island. Don’t think the wind ever got below 20. Driving was slow. No picture worthy fish. Just a few undersize reds and whiting.

2/21 - Rough and muddy this week - The fronts are barely giving us a break. Ground swell over the weekend was close to 7.5 feet as observed by yours truly on Sunday. There was plenty of sargassum washed up but no new obvious mats floating in.

2/1 - Same stuff more fronts - Nothing reported this week due to the windy and rough conditions once again. Capt. Billy Sandifer was out Sunday from end to end and said it was muddy the whole way with no bait.

1/24 Relentless Fronts Continue - Look for Pompano, keeper and Bull Black Drum and some Winter Trout if the water ever settles. Wave forecasts have been running 4-6 feet and greater for the past two weeks with no let ups in sight.

1/17 - Fronts have water murky - The strong north and northeast winds have blown out fishing prospects for this week. Dcalame filed this report from 1/13 - Saturday there was no wind to speak of. Caught this red on fresh dead shrimp. There was no bait fish. Also caught a blue fish and a pompano. Sunday there was no bite at all.

1/4 Mega Golla Family Holiday Report 12/26 - 12/31 - Six consecutive days of camping on the National Seashore “with the whole family” set a new duration record for the Golla family. Weather cooperated for most of the trip and made for some pleasant nights under the stars. Overall the fishing was great most of the trip. On the windier days we caught mostly redfish and black drum in the surf, on the calmer days it was mostly pompano and whiting. Numerous oversized redfish and black drum were caught and released from the surf each day. The largest redfish was 42’’ and the largest black drum was 39’’. No redfish or Drum was caught in the channel for some odd reason. The only thing we found in the channel was small stingrays and a few whiting. Only a few smaller flounder came by gig in the channel. The pompano and whiting bite really heated up on the last day of the trip “12/31” and made for and exciting ending.

Charlie

12/24 Christmas Eve Pomping with JayandCoyote who says - "I took my brother-in-law down to PINS this morning. We were around the 20 at 7:30. We hit pomps around 10:00 after moving a couple of times. We ended up with 5 in the two to three pounds range. We used shrimp and fishbites, shrimp were pink and orange. Driving was excellent at low tide going down. Very few people out. Water was mostly dirty and the waves were bigger than we wanted. Did manage to stay dry in the waders. My brother-in-law did not bring his waders from Houston so he toughed it out in blue jeans for 4 hours!!! Hard core!!"

I just added pics.
after sunrise

pomp

moonset
"

12/13 - More Pompano, slot and oversized Reds reported last weekend and earlier this week prior to the front. Lots of Blacktips and Bull Sharks reported too!.

 

Old Salt put this link up to Extremecoast and what a mega report it is. Yes it involves Oz once again!

http://www.extremecoast.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10681.

 

12/7 - Sorry not updating sooner! There has been great action for Pompano and Redfish this week. Green conditions mainly were south of the 30 after the strong front at the beginning of the week. Pompano to 5.5 pounds were reported. Black Drum and Slot Reds have been caught in addition to large or "Bullu" Whiting as my buddy Skipper calls them with most of the action coming on fresh dead shrimp and Fishbite Combos.

Nick Meyer reported Jack Crevalle in the 30's on 12/6. The weekend looks windy. Here is a keeper Pomp caught by my father, Ole on 12/1

11/15 - Prior to the front there were slot Redfish, Jack Crevalle, Spanish Mackerel and Skipjacks caught. Saturday and Sunday are looking better if the NE winds subside. Tides both days are below 0 mean during daylight hours. Slimfishin filed this report from 11/13

Got done with a test early and headed to the beach (from the 20's north). It was pretty windy and rough when i got there but it made it easy to spot some good places. There were a lot of mullet if you found them and thats what i got all the reds on. Went 3 for 3 on mullet right off the bat and spent the rest of the evenin releasing the rest. Fished from about 2 till 6pm. Also got some monster skips on light takle. Awesome day after a tough test!

11/08 - It is rough right now and prospects for the weekend show the surf big with strong southerly winds. Last weekend's fishing was good especially for Pompano, Redfish, Small Blacktips, and Ladyfish.

11/4 - I donated a trip down the beach fishing with David Sikes and I back at the CCA Banquet. To my pleasant surprise someone actually (Allen Samuels Chevrolet )bought it for 650 dollars ! Sunday was the day we went. David and I had a great time fishing with George and Kyle. The water was beautiful with just a few weeds mainly dead stuff from the 33 north. Bait was spotty and we tried a couple of spots tossing live mullet on short rods. David suggested we just toss some shrimp and fishbites to get rid of the skunk. Somewhere south of the Nic we tossed one rod over the bar and instantly got a fat whitiing. The next cast we got a nice pompano. We ended up with 9 pomps to 3 and a half pounds. We also caught a 27 inch blacktip on a shrimp and fishbite combo and lots of hardheads too. Nickaway and Surfgirl were down and had a few bluefish, reds and small sharks. On the way in we ran into some large Skipjacks and had four on at once. We tried a couple of more spots for reds on the way in but the weed made fishing pretty tough. All of the chewed up weed in the wade gut got caught in most of the rigs making it tough

D.Calame posted this report 11/3 "Parked the rv in the first mile and started fishing early Saturday morning. Lots of finger mullet in the water, and lots of bite going on too. We caught Smacks, Skipjacks, Blacktip shark and Reds. Both Saturday and Sunday. Sharks were around 30", some large Smacks and one big Red 38". What a great weekend. Specially Sunday morning, no wind at all while watchin the sun rise. "

 

10/31 - Northeast winds and a full moon made for tough fishing over the weekend. Bait was available but the current was ripping to the south. The tide came up high earlier this week nearly to the dunes. Slot Reds made up most of the catches with a few Spanish Mackerel and Skipjack. Very slow for the most part. Watch for conditions to improve once we get rid of the NE and E winds.

10/23 -Big Front - Look for big and better changes this week as the first front of the fall slows down. Prior to the front fishing was mainly slow with reports of Slot Reds and a few jacks. The finger mullet run slowed. Expect loads of them to come pouring down the beach as the northwest winds dump all of that water out of the bay that has been sitting in there for almost a month. Earlier this week Larry Meinert filed this report from the 40

 

My brother and I both had Friday off work, so we got an early start at the beach. Early Friday morning we got to just past the 40 to a spot where you can see the connecting lakes through the dunes. We got a great lightning show that night and at first light it rained for 5 minutes just long enough to wash the sand off everything. The surf was pounding and wind was getting’ it the whole weekend. In the afternoon of each day the water would try to clear up between the bars but most of the time it was brown way out. The mullet was scattered around and hard to catch. Friday was slow. Saturday morning the mullet came in but Sunday was the best day for fishing. We caught small reds, trout, and drum. The prizes were these nice reds and 3 nights with campfires and amazing star gazing full of shooting stars and 3 days of sun and surf, drinking and fishing, relaxing and enjoying the view.

10/3 - The Annual Surfcats tourney this weekend - Expect large crowds this weekend as the event begins Friday evening. Please observe all laws on parking and camping on the beach. Have fun but please leave no trash.

Reports have been spotty but Redfish and Skipjacks are biting. The finger Mullet are running as well and they have proved to be the best baits. Tides are highest at night so watch the driving as the water has been running close to the dunes with the astronomically high tides. Low pressure system #90 needs watching so keep a weather radio handy.

Sargassum has hampered long rod fishing south of the 25. Most folks have been catching the fish using fishfinder rigs and finger mullet. A few Trout, Bluefish, Spanish Mackererl and small Jack Crevalle have been biting as well. Tarpon have been seen offshore in the Dusky Anchovies but out of casting range.

9/25 Friday thru Tuesday report via Larry - Took a little trip down the Island. Sunday and Monday were the good fishing days. Just as the sun broke the horizon, I got back to back to back hook-ups with large jacks both days. A first for me was when one of these monsters got 3 or 4 foot of air. I was impressed. I couldn’t keep the skipjacks off. They would hit anything. Most of the time, they would just steal my mullet, jump up and spit them back at me. In the afternoon the smacks would come in. After the 2nd time I got cut off, I put on a 12” steel leader. Biting flies were out doing their thing. The only satisfaction you get is that they are slow and they will sit there and let you whack them. Went down Friday. Drove back Tuesday. Thoroughly enjoyed 4 nights sitting around the fire and drinking good Tequila and 3 days getting pounded by the surf catching fish drinking good Tequila in paradise.

9/21- Weed continues to hamper longrod fishing in most spots. Finger Mullet are present and there are Spanish Mackerel, Jacks and Redfish in addition to Skipjacks working them. Charlie Golla emailed this report to me: I was coming off the National Seashore yesterday evening (9/16/07) when we came up on a juvenile alligator (approx. 3 to 4 feet long) that was in the roadway near the surf. It was about 7:30 PM and already dark.



The Alligator was about 6 miles south of the blacktop. There was a camp just to the north of the sighting about 200 yards. The camp had a large brown dog and I stopped and advised them to be on the look out being they had a dog. If you send someone out this morning to try and locate the gator you may want to look for this camp and ask the people if the have seen it.



I am a long time beach go'er on the National seashore and this is the first live alligator I’ve seen on the seashore in over thirty years. I would suspect the little guy washed out from somewhere up north from all the heavy rains. Laguna Atascosa NWR has a small population of Alligators but I would find it hard to believe the little guy comes from there. I also know that there is limited fresh water in this area and if the alligator doesn’t find fresh water he will not survive. Please consider finding and relocating this alligator to one of the many fresh water lakes on the island.


Dr. Shaver said Friday that it was found

Yesterday the alligator was spotted at the edge of the surf at about the
6.5 mile maker. Resources Management Division staff moved it to one of the deeper ponds at the park. Whether it will stay there is yet to be seen, but for now it is in a much better habitat than on the beach. Thank you for your reports and help with this.

Thank you,
Donna

9/13 - Northeast winds have brought loads of Sargassum back to the beach. Most areas are fishable with short rods but long rodding can be difficult in areas. Dusky anchovies are present and that means the Ladyfish are everywhere. Watch for pods of Tarpon to show up as Dusky Anchovies mean they should be around.

9/11 - Sharkathon drew over 370 participants and the weekend weather was perfect but most of the fish were not as cooperative as one would like as evidenced by the lack of trout and sharks. Skipjacks ruled the day in most areas, Trout and Redfish were slow in spite of the large amount of bait around. There was a small percentage of folks who trashed the beach leaving behind their garbage including a couch and a few other large items. The organizers went back to get most of the trash and are committed to keep those slobs from entering next year. For more results visit sharkathon.com

Shawncy Perez won the big shark pot with a 6'11" Bull Shark!

Here is my friend Dennis George . His ife Carolyn pictured at right usually is the lucky one! Dennis caught winning Sharkathon redfish good for a kayak, a fat check and a new rod and reel.

 

9/6 - Sharkathon is going on this weekend so expect a huge crowd to be on hand with over 250 participants. Registration for those not signed up starts at Noon 9/7 one mile north of the north sticks boundary of the National Seashore for more info visit sharkathon.com Sargassum was bad south of the 30 over the Labor Day weekend but fishable with trout rods in most areas. Anglers dodging the thundershowers reported good action for both Ladyfish and small Jack Crevalle which you could not keep off a Silver Spoon the entire length of the beach. Redfish were hitting on Gold Tony Acetta Spoons and free-lined Finger Mullet. Spanish Mackerel were good on Finger Mullet, spoons, and topwaters. (Larry Meinert of Dallas with a large Spanish Mackerel 9/1)

Speckled Trout were fair on TopDogs and also Finger Mullet. Redfish were caught on Finger Mullet and Whiting, and Pompano were caught on shrimp and Fishbite combos in the clear water. The best action for Pompano was at long distance so the added Fishbite Fish'N Strip is a must if you want to keep fishing after the first bait stealers arrive.

8/30 Late reports have lots of weed down south but of course that varies depending upon the winds and currents. These odd N and Northeast winds put sargassum back on the beach. There were some good spots to fish though so the weekend shouldn't be a total loss, unless it rains the whole time LOL!

Here is a hot report from Robul from 8/28 - 8/29

Did an all nighter out at Padre Island National Seashore MM 25..

Caught some skipjack late on some plastics and setup the shark rigs.. Attached are pics.. Caught the first black fin on skipjack about 3 am.. Had no other bait to throw until about 5 am we found hundreds of skipjacks in surf.... We rounded up a few of those and set 2 out. One right after the 3rd bar and 1 right before the 3rd bar Later that morning we pulled in a bull shark..(right before the 3rd bar) It was caught on my baby rod which I use for trout / reds.. Its a abu garcia bait caster with a castaway 7" rod.. Rigged with 65# power pro.. That was a fun one no doubt.. The black fin was caught on a 13" with a penn 3/0








Here you see the little baby castaway/abu we used for this one

 

8/25 - The weed has come back as the NE winds from Dean brought the increase in swell and returned some fresh sargassum. Long rodding is difficult in some areas.

8/21- Acting Superintendent Darrell Echols announced that Padre Island National Seashore will evacuate gulf beaches and close beach access roads at 7:00 p.m. today, August 21, 2007 due to adverse tidal conditions caused by Hurricane Dean. The Malaquite Beach Campground, Visitor Center, and Bird Island Basin will remain open. Park Rangers anticipate re-opening gulf beach access on Thursday, August 23, 2007; however, if poor beach conditions persist and are determined to be unsafe for visitors, the closure may extend into Friday, August 24, 2007. Visitors are encouraged to call the Malaquite Visitor Center at 361-949-8068 for more information on beach conditions.

The past week we had to deal with the high surf from Tropical Storm Erin, Then there was the slow period of fishing following the disturbed water. Most of the reports over the weekend were horrible with 5 whiting reported in two days, hardheads etc. There was one report of a Tarpon hooked and lost around the 10mm but that angler also reported only two bites all day.

Prospects for this week look bad due to the waves caused by Dean coming into the Gulf. Expect slow conditions until the water settles which may be after this weekend.

8/13 - The weekend was beautiful. Yours truly enjoyed catching a few Pompano and Whiting down near the 30. Shark fishing for us was slow as we only got a bonnetnose and one small pup and a stingray.

Here is a weekend report from Dcalame who wrote "Did not have my 4x4, so we just went 4 miles down. Lots of bait Saturday morning, no weed, water was beautiul, hardly any waves at all. Lots of whiting, some smacks etc., lost one line, probably to a smack. About 2 pmk the tide starts out and my long rod bends hard. Sort hard fight and I haul in a mackerel 42" long! Big, bad boy! I don't know my fish, but it looked like a smack. This morning, however, I Google mackerel and see the record Florida Spanish Mack is 12 lbs., while the record King Mack is 90 lbs. My fiosh was close to 25 lbs, so I guess it's a King Mack? I will post pic manana. Sunday, was so beautiful and calm, but the bait was all but gone, so we yakked a few lines way out with whiting and caught some small shark (28"). Be back in 2 weeks with my 4x4 at the 25 mm.

 

7/25 - A little slow again over the weekend with lots of sargassum showing on the north end of the beach and up towards Packery. Jumbo Whiting, Hardheads, Spanish Mackerel and small Blacktips reported. Trout fishing was fair. Current reports show Trout hitting topwaters and weed diminished but watch out for rain.

I will be on vacation for a couple of weeks so the reports may get a bit stale. Look for other's reports on the messageboard.

Here's one you don't see everyday in fact I have never caught one - A Sand Drum caught by Nick Meyer of Breakaway Tackle and check his latest report 7/24

 

 

7/19 - Some good catches of Blacktip Sharks down south this past weekend prior to the rains. Good trout catches too on live bait and on topwaters. Weekend prospects are excellent provided the rain is minimal.

Here's a good weekend report my friend Kyle aka KCON posted on extremecoast.com

Further down south on the island at the other side of Mansfield I filed this report from last weekend:

Kelle and I headed south to South Padre Island to meet up with Rob and Kym Sadler at the SPI Rockstar Mansion. The accommodations and company were excellent as we looked forward to the next day's adventure after watching the fireworks display up the bay at Louis' Backyard.
Dawn broke early but fortunately we had to wait for 7am to buy some aging rockstar engery drinks and Laredo taco company breakfast tacos.
We set up in the muddy water some 22 miles up the beach where Rob had some luck earlier in the week. I understood why he was saying we didn't really need to bring the trout rods as the water was muddy.
We got our two rods setup with live large pony mullet on 250lb cable and light weights of 6 to 8 ounces. The current was ripping but the baits held until we got one screaming run which got off. Shortly thereafter Kelle got a run on the long rod.


A quick measure of 5' 3"s and she was released to fight another day



Next up it was my turn on my sexy Shimano Trevala 5'6" Jigging rod. Not exactly what you'd call a sharking rod but this thing kicks butt! I had this smaller blacktip on the beach in ten minutes or less.




Next up was Rob's 14 yr old stepdaughter, Taylor McKenna.


Nice shark Taylor!



Next up it was Kym's turn. She lost one earlier on the Shimano after my owner hook straightened out.



After a little dental check we decided to keep this one.



Finally after tossing out baits for everyone, Rob gets to reel one in (mainly because everyone else besides me was worn out)





We ended up with ten or 11 runs fishing two rods and 5 blacktips with all but one released. It was a great day considering the ripping current and brown water.
Thanks to Rob and Kym for the hospitality!

 

David Sikes article on Sargassum(seaweed)

The Caller Times published an article on 7/8/01 with the headline Kenedy Foundation comes out against Bombing Range - read the story here

On 7/4/01 the Caller Times published an article saying that without the support of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, the bombing range proposal including the use of amphibious training on the National Seashore, is all but dead. Hutchinson said all along that if the locals didn't support it, she wouldn't support it. She received a five page letter from the Kenedy County Commissioners outlining their opposition to the plan.

Read the article

Below, you will find a list of names and addresses of politicians and civic leaders should you want to contact them concerning your opinions on the Navy Proposal.

Click here to read the first story that broke Bombing Range Story

Click here to read the second story which detailed the use of PINS to include aphibious training with three proposed cuts in the Seashore beginning at the 15 mile mark

Here is some great contact info for you to use should you want to comment on the Navy Range Issue or any other matter concerning our fishing resources.

Governor Perry
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428
Web: http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact information/email/email_the_governor.htm

Carole Keeton Rylander
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Post Office Box 13528, Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711-3528
(512) 463-4444
carol.lauder@cpa.state.tx.us

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison [Republican]
284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)
915-676-2839 (tel)
512-916-5834 (tel)
214-361-3500 (tel)
210-340-2885 (tel)
713-653-3456 (tel)

Email: senator@hutchison.senate.gov
Web: http://www.senate.gov/~hutchison

Senator Phil Gramm
370 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4302
Email: Phil_Gramm@gramm.senate.gov
Web: http://www.senate.gov/~gramm

Senator James Inhofe
453 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3603
Web: http://www.senate.gov/~inhofe/webform.html

Texas State Senator Sen. Carlos Truan
The Honorable Carlos F. Truan
Suite 1E.14
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711 4531 Ayers, Suite 402
Corpus Christi, Texas 78415
(361) 853-2693

Representative Solomon Ortiz
2304 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-7742 3649
(361) 883-5868 3505
(956) 541-1242

Richard K. Armey [Republican]
Washington DC 20515202-225-7772 (tel)
District Office9901 East Valley Ranch Parkway
Suite 3050
972-556-2500 (tel)
Web: http://armey.house.gov301

Henry Bonilla [Republican]
1427 Longworth HOB
Washington DC 20515

202-225-4511 (tel)
202-225-2237 (fax)
210-697-9055 (tel)
210-697-9185 (fax)
210-726-4682 (tel)
210-726-4684 (fax)
210-774-6547 (tel)
210-774-5693 (fax)
915-686-8833 (tel)
915-686-8819 (fax)

Email: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Web: http://www.house.gov/bonilla

Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff
Capitol Station
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711
512 463-0001

Other:
http://www.berkshire.net/~ifas/activist/tx/index2.html
Texas State House of Represenatives: http://www.house.state.tx.us/house/member.htm

PINS Resource Management Division at (361) 949-8173 extension 227 (Ken McMullen).

PINS Superintendent
PO Box 181300
Corpus Christi, TX 78480-1300

Ron Kitchens, President/CEO
Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation
361-882-7448

Gary Bushell, Consultant to Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce
Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce
1201 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Corpus Christi, Texas USA 78401
(361) - 881-1800
Fax (361) 888-5627
361-814-2008

Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce
Melissa Longoria
Director of Public Affairs
mlongoria@theccchamber.org

Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce
Tom Niskala
CEO
tniskala@theccchamber.org

Thanks for all of the reports guys and send pictures and I will post them!

Tyler