Friends of Padre Beach Report 11/24/2018

Jay Gardner filed this report

Driving on Friday Nov. 23^rd was brutal.  Tides to the dunes, and multiple vehicles had issues.  Driving on Sunday, Nov. 25^th was a 10.5 out of 10.  Pompano were caught the length of the beach, mostly on the south end.  Water cleared as the weekend progressed.  Hardheads still present in fair numbers while pompano fishing, occasional blacktips and bull whiting were mixed in.  structure in the 40’s and 50’s is amazing.  Weed present on the north end of the beach from the blacktop into the 30’s, and absent south.  Shelling excellent.  Debris moderate with occasional logs across the beach impeding traffic during high tides from the 40’s south.  Two narrow pinches, one in the lower 40’s and one in the upper 50’s.  best camping areas are the washovers in the mid 50’s.  firewood scare in many areas due to recent high tides.

Bird List

Grackles

Piping plover

Herring gull

Sanderling

Willet

Ruddy turnstone

Wilsons’ plover

Black bellied plover

Red knot

Great blue heron

Brown pelican

Db cormorant

Royal tern

Reddish egret (including a white phase)

Sandwich tern

Semipalmate plover

Caspian tern

Forsters tern

Laughing gull (none before the 17MM!  weird)

Franklins gull

Ring billed gull

Long billed curlew

Northern harrier

Black vulture

White egret

Snowy egret