Friends of Padre

Friends of Padre PINS Report 12-14-16 by Jen Merchant

Air Temp: 64°

Water Temp: Water was in the 63-65° temp the further south you go.  At the 5 mile marker the surface temperature reading was 52°.  Not sure if that means there is a cold water upwelling or not, as the water didn't have the rust color to it when there is one.  

Wind: 10-15mph North winds

Weed: None

Water: 2-3 ft. waves with low water clarity.  High tides still coming close to the dunes.

Driving:  Two wheel drive all the way to the 60 mile marker at low tide.  Some areas needed four wheel drive at high tide.

There was an abundance in wildlife seen today as we drove to the 60 mile marker.  Not many people where on the beach.  It was cold and foggy most of the day with an overcast.  The water temperatures where in the 60's and where warmer the further south you go.  I took a surface temperature reading at the 5 mile marker and it was in the 50's.  I did this reading several times to make sure it was correct.  Not sure if that means there is a cold water upwelling, as the water didn't show the coloring of such.  Hopefully just a malfunction.  The water was muddy so we didn't fish as much.  Low tide was easy driving but after tides started coming up we had to put it in four wheel drive in some spots.  We noticed more birds diving the further south we went.  There was even a new buoy washed in.  And a new park ranger named Jones.  If you see him stop, say hi and give a friendly welcome.  This is a great time for all the beach combers.  We were finding lots of treasure the length of the beach.

Birds seen:

Wimbrel, White-tailed Hawks, Horned Larks, Red Knots, Reddish Egret, Black Tern, Sanderling, Sandwhich Tern, Cormorant, Piping Plover, Wilson's Plover, Caspian Tern, Royal Tern, Brown Pelicans, Caracara, Rudy Turnstone, Blue Heron, Curlew, Willets, Laughing Gull, Herring Gull

via Jeff Wolda

Air Temp: 58

Water Temp: 65

Waves: 1-2 ft

Water: Dirty the length of the beach

Weed: None

Driving: Excellent

Finally had a break in the weather so I headed south.  Beach is hard packed and driving doesn’t get any better.  Water is very dirty to the 3^rd bar but was trying to clear in a few spots at low tide.  It looks like winter is arriving tomorrow night so there’s one more day to get out there and enjoy it. 

Beach combing is still excellent as the high water has all the debris pushed up to the vegetation line.  Fishing is still decent.  Saw several bull reds being caught on bait.  I stopped in one spot and threw a silver spoon and caught a red.

Birds: (very few on the beach today)

 Royal Tern

Caspian Tern

Caracara

Double Crested Cormorant

Brown Pelican

White Tailed Hawk

Blue Heron

Curlew

Little Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture

Great White Heron

Via Cody Moravits

Air Temp:        mid 60s in the morning warming up to about 80 degrees F

Water Temp:   73 degrees

Wind:              wind picked up early in the morning despite the dead calm conditions before sunrise, 10-15mph SE winds in the morning increasing to 15-20mph in the afternoon

Weed:              no sargassum washing up however there is scattered dead seaweed in various places in the guts the length of the beach.

Water:             sandy green with better looking water south of the 30mm

Driving:           driving at high tide is not advised but 8/10 excellent at low tide, multiple places where 4x4 is needed going around debris, mainly south of the 40mm.

Fishermen reported catches of redfish, spanish mackerel, whiting, stingrays, bluefish, and the occasional pompano. Finger mullet were abundant in the surf south of the 10mm. 

Birds Seen:     

            Merlin

            Peregrine Falcon

            Sanderling

            Caracara

            Double Crested Cormorant

            Brown Pelican

            Great Blue Heron

            Herring Gull

            Ring-Billed Gull

            Laughing Gull

            Reddish Egret

            White Morph Reddish Egret

            Curlew

            Black Bellied Plover

            Ruddy Turnstone

            Royal Tern

            Forster's Tern

            Sandwich Tern

            Caspian Tern

            Snowy Egret

            Turkey Vulture

Jennifer Merchant captured this photo of a juvenile masked booby in September.

Via Jeff Wolda

No beach on PINS with photo below taken at 2 hours before high tide this morning. Winds NE to 25, 7 foot seas, and water temperature 75.

Via Jeff Wolda

No beach on PINS with photo below taken at 2 hours before high tide this morning. Winds NE to 25, 7 foot seas, and water temperature 75.

Via Jeff Wolda

Air Temp: 81

Water Temp: 79

Wind: 5-15 NE

Waves: 3ft

Water:  Dirty on the north end clearing south of the 8.

Weed:  Small clumps of sargassum especially south.  Nothing to worry about

Driving:  Excellent at low tide.  No beach at high tide in places

Quick trip now that the water has dropped out a bit.  With low tide in the middle of the day I wanted to check things out.  Beach conditions are about as good as they get except for high tide.  The beach is a highway and hard packed after the high water event over the last week.  There are several places now along PINS that are not passable at even a normal high tide, at least for now.  One is at the 6, there are two separate places in the 30’s and one in the upper 50’s.  Plan your day according to the tide chart if you are headed south as there will be no road or beach in these spots to drive. 

If you’re into beach combing, now is the time to go!  The high water has pushed everything up to the edge of the vegetation and piled it up nice and neat for you.  I spoke with several groups today that were just beach combing and they had quite the haul. 

As far as the fishing goes, the north end was getting worked over pretty good by birds this morning. Bait was present the length of the beach with the north end having the most.   I stopped once and caught 2 reds and some skippies. 

Please remember to slow down when passing other camps on the beach!  With the driving this good there will be those that want to go 80 mph.  Have a ball, just don’t do it while driving by a camp.  Kids are brain dead on the beach (and some adults) and they should be, they’re kids.  It only takes a split second for one to step out from behind a truck.  

Birds seen:

Royal Tern

Least Tern

Caspian Tern

Caracara

Double Crested Cormorant

Brown Pelican

White Tailed Hawk

Blue Heron

Curlew

Black Bellied Plover

Ruddy Turnstone

Cattle Egret

Snowy Egret

Little Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture

Great White Heron

Air Temp: 81

Water Temp: 0-79  20-79  40-78  60-78

Wind: 5-15 SE

Water: Trout green length of beach

Waves: 3-4 ft

Weed:  None

Driving:  Excellent

     Made a quick trip today to the jetties.  Only stopped once to fish and caught a nice Spanish Mackerel. 

Bait the length of the beach but not as thick as it has been the last couple of weeks.  The recent high tides have packed the beach but, there are a few washouts to look out for when driving.  Some of them are bad news if you’re going too fast.   Lots of debris has washed up on the beach, especially on the south end.  Need another cold front to kick things back off for the fall fishing! 

Birds seen,

Peregrine Falcon

Caracara

Royal Tern

Caspian Tern

White Tailed Hawk

Blue Heron

Brown Pelican

Willet

Curlew

Double Crested Cormorants

Snowy Plover

Wilson’s Plover

Ruddy Turnstone

Turkey Vulture

Sandwich Tern

Herring Gull

Snowy Egret

Reddish Egret

Sanderling

Cattle Egret

Blue Heron

Semipalmated Plover

Marbled Godwit