Friends of Padre

The Friends of Padre water fountain is now in operation at the parking lot in front of Mike Ellis Beach just south of Packery Channel. Friends of Padre thanks you for your support and generation donations that allowed this project to happen.

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.

Driving is fine on low tide but there are some really soft areas (esp. Big Shell) on high tides. Water color varies from beautiful to murky in various locations for the entire beach front. No new sargassum was seen altho old weed is present high up on the tide line. The beach is eroded significantly at the 52 and 58 mile and care must be taken when traveling in these areas. Some birds were seen working but no fish other than a few small hardhead catfish were observed. North end is crowded with campers; few visitors in Big Shell or south of Big Shell. Bird numbers is increasing. 193 Great Blue Herons were observed including individual groups of 43, 19, 37, 24, 36 and 23. This is quite unusual. Other bird species include 3 Golden Plover, 3 White-tailed hawks, 1 Peregrine, 1 Merlin, 1 Yellow Crowned Night Heron, 500 White Egrets sp., 8 Curlew, 3 White tailed hawks and 2 Caracara. Willets are staging in large flocks. A beach cleanup is being held out of Port Mansfield on Sat. 15 March and everyone is invited to participate. A group will be leaving ranger headquarters at 6:45 a. m. for those with 4 wheel drive vehicles.

FoP Trip 3-7-14 Air Temp: 61 degrees Water Temp: 57 degrees Wave height: 2 feet No new weed, some dead weed in the guts on the bottom. Water dirty to the second sandbar, only went to the 52mm because the driving got way too skinny. Best looking section of the beach was between the blacktop and 7mm Not a huge plethora of species of birds, most just the usual. Did see a few Caracaras, one Night Heron, two American Avocets, one cattle egret, many Curlews/Royal Terns, Forster’s Terns.

Sharkathon 2013 presented The Friends of Padre a check for $6000 dollars to be used to put on the annual Billy Sandifer Big Shell Cleanup. Their donation makes it possible for us to furnish the t-shirts, gift bags and to pay other cleanup related expenses. Friends of Padre Board Members, David Mckee, Jeff Wolda, and Clay Wernli were presented with this check after the cleanup Saturday February 22, 2014.

FOP REPORT 021614 by board member Jeff Wolda Air Temp: 65 Water Temp: 55 Wind: 5-15 SE Waves: 2-3 Water Clarity: Clear length of beach Weed: None Driving: Excellent Hit the beach again today with fellow board member Tyler Thorsen. We had great conditions with the exception of, still no bait in the water. Gulls are still feeding on small hard heads the length of the beach. We threw lures again today looking for trout with no luck. Until the bait moves back in and the water warms up a tad fishing with lures will be tough. As we hit the beach this morning we did see a rare sight, approximately 20 white pelicans were in the surf in the 2nd gut at the 1mm. After hitting the jetties and heading back north, we stopped and fished a hole at the 48. Getting back into the truck I realized we had a leak in the left front tire. I want to thank Kevin and friends from Hondo and Doug from San Antonio in the yellow jeep who was our wing man as we left the beach. Thanks also to ranger Van Aaltz who let us air up our ailing tire at the ranger center. Good folks that will be paid back forward!

Via the NPS Come watch release of about 100 cold stunned green sea turtles tomorrow! Temperatures have warmed over the last few days and cold stunned turtles are ready for release. Although most of the turtles were found in the Upper Laguna Madre, bay water temperatures are still low, so we will be release the turtles into the Gulf of Mexico surf where they can disperse to warmer offshore waters. Release information follows: Where: Padre Island National Seashore (North Padre Island), in front of Malaquite Beach Flux Pavilion When: Sunday, February 16 at 11:00 am The event is open to anyone that would like to attend. No fee is charged to attend the release. Admittance to Padre Island National Seashore and other National Park Service units is free this weekend in honor of President’s Day. To attend, follow Park Road 22 to Padre Island National Seashore. About two miles after the National Seashore Entrance Station, you will see a bright yellow Turtle Release sign on the right and the large Malaquite Beach Visitor Center parking lot on the left. You should turn left there, park your vehicle in the large lot, and walk onto the beach in front of the Visitor Center. See you there!

Jeff Wolda filed this report: Air Temp: 59 Water Temp: 51 Wind: 5-10 NE Waves: 2-3 ft Water Clarity: Clear the length of the beach Weed: None Driving: Excellent at low tide, some 4x4 at high tide Went to the jetties and back with fellow board member Tyler Thorsen. Best water I’ve seen all winter as far as clarity. Threw lures all day looking for trout without a bump. We did see one camp in Big Shell with a black drum on the beach. Only fish we saw all day. Zero bait in the water. 13 Curlew, 1 White Tailed Hawk, 1 Caracara and 5 white tailed deer. A dead dolphin at the 17.5 mile mark and a look at Big Shell as the tide came in.