August 11, 2016
A 11
Island Moon
Backwater Adventures close Riggs the other day; that was a surprise! When you book a trip in late summer it’s always a chance that we will be able to run offshore. For the average spot fisherman caution should be taken at all times. Anything over two feet don’t go unless you have a 26-foot plus boat suited for heavy chop and experienced This bug trout was crew. The winds pulled out of a housing and conflicting development on the currents and a short distance Island. Live piggy perch between swells in the middle of the day is much different when trout receded to than open ocean deep water. swells. The new structure and sunken boats between North Padre and Port A are hot with Kings right now. Trolling ribbon fish with green blue and white teasers above the baited leaders is a sure way to get hooked up. Also find some good trolling lures and some shade in those calm days and troll and listen to music. The sound of screaming drag will make everyone on the boat jump!
By Joey Farah Farah’s Fishing Adventures In the past few weeks fishing in the Upper Lagoon has been unbelievable, so long trips to Baffin haven’t been what we are doing. I changed it up today and took a long drive to the Land Cut and checked out everything in between. The water is great all the way through, especially the mouth of Baffin and the south shoreline. The rocks at Peniscal were clearly visible and flocks of Pelicans were diving by the hundreds. I pulled up and caught a trout the first cast, then we missed five in a row, BASS MASTER HOOKSETS! We went on down to the Cut and found beautiful conditions along the channel. Our first stop on the east side was all we needed as we had a trout attack every cast. This big trout We moved to a side was pulled out of channel leading into the Land Cut this Nine Mile Hole and with week. With water a fast moving current temperatures so we put some bigger high many big trout in the box. The fish trout released die here in the cut were full later as they are of shrimp still but the sides of the ditch were stressed. teaming with minnows and mullet. I know that some of my friends have had some amazing days there lately on flounder on a dropping tide. Redfish are thick in the shallows for anyone looking to sight cast. All the grass lines and spoil islands on the way back were glowing. A stop anywhere along the Yarborough drop off would start a trout bite.
Bull Reds The big herds of bull redfish will flood our area the last week of this month all the way to the end of October, if you want to get in on some real 30’40” redfish let’s find you a place on the calendar! Fishing is at its best right now and the crowds are thinned out. This is the time to GET WET!
A lasting memory We watched as a river of bait passed by the boat as we sat in mirrored waters. Looking into the water as if we were in an aquarium. The thin layer between the two worlds was gone and we could see everything. Our rods had been rolled over time and time again with thick keeper trout one after another. The light current was just enough to float our baits down the edge of the grass and just as they disappeared below where we could see them THUMP! the trout were grabbing them. The purple and blue flashed as the drag sang out with each struggling turn. I looked down current and saw this long body moving down the edge. I immediately called out BIG TROUT but it seemed too easy and I dismissed it as a mullet. Instinct had taken over at once and the cast was already shot out and lay past the cruising fish. The sun shined soon her back and the large spots popped out at me like alarm lights. The DOA SHRIMP pulled up right beside her and she bolted over and I hailed the bait. She dove over the edge and streaked into the channel. I turned the fish back towards the beach and she came charging at the boat. She jumped up on the shallow edge making a burping wake and scattered mullet and baitfish like an explosion. She finally came to hand
Nearshore Gulf fishing good The Gulf is about to lay flat and the best of nearshore offshore fishing is about to bust open. The king fishing is crazy as well as the state water snapper. Amberjack season opened up
Short trips close in the Laguna Madre have been dominated bye lots of action on good keepers and some good trout mixed in along with reds. We caught this trout along the Flour Bluff shoreline. and if you think you are tough enough for one of these guys, you better pull your shorts up and get ready. We saw a boat hook up on a sail fish at the
Fishing memories last forever. along the boat and we all jumped and high fived. When you sight cast a big trout it stays with you for a long time, maybe forever. This is the time for magic things to happen, every day. Come find your adventure. Joey Farah 361-442-8145.
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On the Rocks By Jay Gardner Wow, I can’t believe how time flies. This is the 300th article I’ve written for the Island Moon. When Moon Mike asked me to write “just one little article” about the Island, I had no idea that 7 years later I would still be “subjecting innocent readers to the meanderings and musings of an amateur writer.” This makes get a little misty thinking about Two Seas, Irma and Moe, and of course Moon Mike. Wish he was still around to see what all is going on with the Island these days. He’d be right in the thick of things. So I’ve received several emails regarding my recent article about the history of the JFK Causeway and the Island. Fellow Moon writers have also put out some great articles lately due to the revived interest in the South Loop. I’ll divulge you loyal readers again this week with some tidbits and pieces of Island history, taken from a set of newspaper articles that I was bequeathed by John Elliff, deceased former Nueces County Parks Director. The Island was a very different place back in the 1950’s as evidenced by scrolling back the time function on Google Earth. It shows the area being largely devoid of vegetation with many low, shifting sand dunes. This was due to cattle grazing, and the un-named storm of 1933 that swept the Island (and also destroyed the Don Patricio causeway). In addition, the Navy used the Island as a bombing range during World War II, and they “might” have started a few grass fires. Ha! But, the shifting sands were so much of concern to the Commissioners Court and Parks Board that in March of 1949 (in advance of the construction of the current causeway) they constructed 27,600 feet of sand fencing (at the cost of $7,000) to build the Island up to over 2.5 feet. In addition, they also planted 21,600 salt cedars on the Island at the causeway approaches and 3,255 trees in the beach park (Padre Balli) to help with stabilization. Evidently the sand fencing worked, as we now have a 20 foot tall dune ridge all along the Island (stopping driving in the dunes also went a long way in helping the Island stabilize; something that has started to occur again recently and it needs to be nipped
in the bud by law enforcement). However, the trees evidently didn’t work too well, as there are almost none of them remaining today. However, you can see a couple of the trees DID make it, as there is still a “grove” of salt cedars (Australian pines) right at the intersection of Aquarius where the new light is going in. Now you know how tall a 67 year old Australian pine tree is. Originally there were supposed to be three County parks out on the Island. Padre Balli, which was the top priority, was completed by the early 1950’s. Packery Channel Park was the second priority as a park, however, there weren’t plans for concessionaires, bathhouses, etc. like were planned for Padre Balli. Nueces County, however, 65 years later, used a CIAP grant to make a great boardwalk and birding habitat centerpiece at Packery Channel. The third park, however, wasn’t mentioned much, but is on the early maps. It was supposed to be a park on the bay side where it was planned to have motorboat rentals and “fishing opportunities.” The rendering shows boat slips, a boat launch, and some artificial spoil islands that were marked “Inland water sports”, presumably for water skiing. The smaller bay-side park was part of the original deal with the Jones family and Nueces County, however it obviously never came to fruition. Or did it? Evidently Nueces County sold the park land at some point in time to the Padre Island Investment Corp, who then dredged canals sometime between 1979 and 1985, but never bulkheaded or finished them. The park was to be located at the general location of Cape Summer, which all you locals know as the Ski Canals. So maybe the County didn’t develop it as a park, and then it hasn’t developed to be more homes, but the original purpose of the County Park maintains itself today as a place where people can go water skiing. Fate, sometimes, cannot be avoided, despite what we might think otherwise. Well, it’s been a long fun ride so far folks, thanks for tuning in again this week. Drop me a line at tarponchaser@mail.com and I’ll see you On the Rocks.