Friends of Padre: Reports

From Jeff Wolda and Captain Billy Sandifer Air Temp: 85 Water Temp: Warm (forgot the temp gauge) Wind: 10-15 SE Waves: 1-2ft Water Clarity: Gin clear to the 50 then dirty to the 1st bar Weed: None Driving: 4x4 from the 25 south at high tide, excellent at low tide Jeff Wolda and Billy Sandifer hit the beach today to get a beach report done and find some trout. We found them and ended up with 9. Could have been more if we had dug into the tackle bag for something other than top waters but we are stuck in our ways. Also caught 1 jack on top waters. It was nice to have some wind today to get the water moving again after 3 days of dead calm and no water movement. There is bait the length of the beach. Zero offshore action seen from the beach. I really don’t want to jinx it but, that cold water thing, it’s gone!

Air Temp: 82 Water Temp: 0mm-88.1, 5mm-80.6, 10mm-79.1, 15mm-79.1, 20mm-77.9, 25mm-75.5, 30mm-73.7, 35mm-72.8, 40mm-72.5, 45mm-75.5, 50mm-77.3, 55mm-73.4, 58.5mm-75.1 Wind: 5-10 SE Waves: 2-3ft Water Clarity: Sandy and clear to the 50. Green from 50 to the jetty. Photo taken at the 32. Driving: Some 4x4 at high tide south of the 20. Good late in the day at low tide at the water’s edge. There are still some good sink holes in the mid 20’s. At the 56mm the surf comes high on the beach. There is a road over the high ground to get around it at high tide. 4x4 only! At the 58.5mm the surf is up to the dune line and is not passable unless at low tide or, like some I’ve seen, you can drive through the water. It is a hard bottom. Not recommended!! The water temperature last week was between 82 and 88 the length of the beach. 9 charters in 10 days produced large numbers of reds and trout. Fished all the spots that were producing before the upwelling today and only had small whiting hitting plastics. I did catch 2 trout very early about 400 yards from the pavement on topwaters. Bait was thick north of the 5 and a rare sight south of the 15.

The water was off color but not completely brown. Driving was on the high road in two wheel drive until the seven mile area where conditions required four wheel drive. Jeff Wolda and I only made it down to the eight mile area as this was a late afternoon trip. One white tailed hawk was observed in addition to several groups of cattle egret and the usual laughing gulls, brown pelicans and shorebirds. Several juvenile green turtles and numerous stingrays were observed in the wade gut. Terns were observed feeding over scattered ladyfish. The tide is low in the evening but driving is not advised in the low road due to soft spots of rotten sargassum hidden below what looks to be "packed" sand.

Via Jeff Wolda Air Temp: 82 Water Temp: 73 Wind: 5NE-15SE Waves: 2-3ft Water Clarity: North of the 25 is clearing, south is chocolate milk to the 3rd bar. Driving: Still good to the 6mm. The farther south you go the worse it gets. No road south of the 40. DO NOT DRIVE THE LOW ROAD AT THE WATERS EDGE EVEN AT LOW TIDE!! SINK HOLES DUE TO THE ABUNDANCE OF WEED ON THE BEACH WILL SWALLOW YOUR TRUCK. It appears some people were not aware of this. Hit the beach this morning with the intention of spending a couple of days down range. After a 4 hour grind to get to the 43 I gave up. Driving is as bad as it’s going to get. The only road is the high road. Lots of dead weed in the water and new mats offshore from the 25 south. I did not make a single cast today, did some birding and beachcombing instead. (like I had a choice) Heart, hamburger and mary’s beans were in good supply. We really need a steady SE blow for a couple of weeks to clear things out. To solve the beach driving, I hate to say it but, looks like we need a tropical storm in the gulf to get the storm surge to push everything to the dunes.

Jeff Wolda Reports Air Temp: 78 Water Temp: 74 Wind: 5 SE Waves: 3-4 ft Water Clarity: Chocolate Milk Weed: Very little new weed. Lots of dead on the beach and in the 1st gut. Driving: Good until the 6mm. Soft and very bumpy past that. Hit the beach and was at the 15 at first light. Dirty water past the 3rd bar with lots of dead weed in the water. Decided it wasn't worth the gas and wear and tear on the truck to keep going. Off the beach by 8.

It took us over 3 ½ hrs. to travel to the 47 mile beach and we cut the trip off there due to the horrible driving conditions. Sargassum is stacked high and covers the entire beach and new weed is constantly coming in. Less on the North end where dead weed is thick in the guts. Quality fishing is impossible. Driving is tediously bumpy and slow due to the sargassum. Finger mullet were observed as were 3 large jack Crevalle and 5 sharks free swimming up to 5 feet long. Ladyfish and Spanish Mackerel were observed. Water is beautiful the entire length of the beach. 130 Red Knots (all in one bunch, 5 Curlew, 26 Yellowlegs (sp), 1 White-tailed hawk,, 2 Peregrines, 2 Golden Plover, 3 Spotted Sandpipers, 13 Blue Wing Teal and 342 Cattle egrets

Via Captain Billy Sandifer Water is murky green to the 30 mile beach and clear south of the 30 to the Port Mansfield jetties. There is no fresh sargassum north of the 45 and large amounts from the 45 to the jetty. Menhaden were seen feeding in the surf. One 5’ 8” Blacktipped shark was caught and we saw a larger shark. We observed a total of 4 large jack Crevalle. Driving is great on low tide and slow going in the Big Shell on high tide but it’s not terribly soft. Birds sighted included 1 sub adult Glaucous Gull, 1 Wimbrel, 3 Green Herons, 1 Long-billed Curlew, 1 White-tailed hawk, 1 Yellow Crowned Night Heron, 25 white Egrets (sp), 6 Golden Plover, 1 Water Thrush (sp) and 1 Savannah Sparrow.

Beach Report for Sat. 15 March, 2014 via Captain Billy Sandifer Shawn and Lydia Curless joined Jeff Wolda, Cody Moravits and myself lending a hand at the Port Mansfield Beach Cleanup. It was awesome with approximately 250 volunteers in attendance. This is twice the largest previous number. 6 miles of very trashy beach was cleaned. Water is crystal clear from one end of the beach to the other but no fish activity was observed. Driving was excellent on low tide but soft on the afternoon high tide. There are a few scattered dead hardhead catfish on the beach so keep an eye out to keep from puncturing a tire. We need the water temp. to increase and bait to become available in the surf to kick off our spring fishing. No fresh weed was observed. Only 4 Great Blue Herons were observed after seeing 192 on Tues. 2 Cattle Egrets,2 Little Blue Heron, 1 Yellow Crowned Night Herons, 2 Golden Plover, 6 Tri-colored Herons and 19 Long billed Curlews were observed. Beach is crowded on N end and empty south of the Big Shell.