Friends of Padre

Via FOP President - Captain Billy L. Sandifer While the water along the entire beachfront is clear much of it appears brown and black due to dead sargassum laying on the bottom. You really had to pick your place to be able to fish. Blacktipped, Spinner and Bull shark were being caught as well as were ladyfish, redfish and hardheads. The beach is packed hard but there is constant dead sargassum and debris the width of the beach and the driver sure has to watch where he’s going. A few jack Crevalle were seen. Bird Count - 453 Red Knots, 14 Curlew, 2 Peregrine falcon, 1 Merlin, 8 American Avocets and 2 Reddish Egrets.

  Air Temp: 84 Water Temp: Warm Wind: 15 NE Waves: 3-4 ft Water Clarity: North end is clear, green in the high banks. Weed: Dead weed covers the beach with new coming in. Driving: Very bumpy!!!!! Jeff Wolda and Billy Sandifer hit the beach this morning for a pre sharkathon beach report.  Made it to the 25 and Billy said, “the only reason I’m going to make it off this beach today is because I forgot my cyanide pills.”  We turned around and headed off. The beach is covered in dead seaweed.  There is one road and it is very bumpy.  Sharkathon already has its first victim.  There is a truck stuck with a broken rear axle that was pulling a pop up camper at the 19 right in the middle of the beach.   For what it’s worth, taking a camper past the 17 right now is NOT a good idea.  Also found a very large gill net just washed in at the 21. The good news, dusky anchovies are thick north of the 8.  Lots of large jacks were observed running the 2^nd bar from the 20-25.  One shark was seen in the first gut at the 21.    

Billy Sandifer and Jeff Wolda made another scouting trip due to the upcoming holiday weekend. A couple of warnings. For those of you who do not watch weather reports there is a low pressure in the Gulf offshore of us and there is a chance of rain through early Saturday. We are going to have varying winds and that is bound to bring in more grass and there is the possibility of higher than normal tides due to that low pressure. Yesterday the water was beautiful from one end of the beach to the other. The water temperature was 82 degrees at the end of the pavement and remained warm the length of the beach. There was lots of bait from Big Shell south but it was dead on the north end. No offshore action was observed. Driving is good on low tide with medium rough going on high tide. There is scattered dead grass in the water along the majority of the surf and small pieces of fresh grass are spotty. FOR THOSE PLANNING ON CAMPING AT THE JETTIES YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH ON DEAD LOW TIDE OR DRIVE IN THE WATER in a couple of spots north of the jetty. Birds included several thousand Black Terns, 19 Long-billed Curlews, 20 American Avocets, 100 White Egrets (sp), 5 Yellow-crowned Night Herons, 4 Marbled Godwits, 1 Green Heron, 2 Tri-colored Heron, 12 Great Egrets and 4 Little Blue Heron . Peep and Wilson’s Plover are in good numbers. Fishing was poor with trout and reds present but not active. Have a Happy Holiday! Billy Sandifer

Water is green on the north end and murky south of the 20. Water temp. is warmer on the north end and in the 70s south. Fresh mats of sargassum were coming in from the 40 north. Bait was seen on the north end but was absent on the southern end. They appear to be moving/taking down the rig at the 5 mile. An 8 point whitetail buck was found dead at the 44 mile. No signs of injury. Birds are spotty and the migration is just starting.29 Long-billed Curlew, 6 Yellow –crowned Night Heron, one Tri-colored Her, 40 white egrets (sp) and 6 Little Blue Herons were observed as were good numbers of various plover and Western Sandpipers. Ladyfish a Gafftop Sail Catfish were being caught as well as a few Blacktipped sharks. Driving has improved but there are still plenty of soft and rough spots.

Via Captain Billy Sandifer Water is green the length of PINS and water temperatures stable from 81.1 to 84.9. There was tons of bait but game fish remained elusive with only a few ladyfish being encountered. Driving is slow, bumpy and soft. One bad spot around the 21 mile beach. The beach is eroded away at the 59 so we did not travel to the jetty. Fresh sargassum in varying amounts is coming in south of the 30 mile and there is no fresh grass north of the 30. Eroded Beach at the 59 below

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.

Via the Padre Island National Seashore Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery Our second Kemp’s ridley sea turtle hatching release for 2014 is scheduled for 6:45 am on Tuesday July 1 at Padre Island National Seashore, on North Padre Island. No fee is charged to watch our public hatchling releases. However, sometimes hatching speeds up or slows down so before you come out to the release MAKE SURE to check this Facebook page or call the Hatchling Hotline at 361-949-7163 to check if the turtles are ready for release on schedule. If the release must be cancelled we will post a cancellation message on this Facebook page and on our Hatchling Hotline. If these cancellation messages have not been done by 2:00 am on Tuesday July 1, then the release will be held as scheduled. RELEASE DIRECTIONS: The release will be held in front of the Malaquite Beach Visitor Center at Padre Island National Seashore. To attend, follow park road 22 out to Padre Island National Seashore. It will take 20-30 minutes to drive from the hotels and residential areas on North Padre Island to the release site. If the National Seashore Entrance Station is open, identify that you are attending the release, and you will not be charged park entrance fees. About two miles after the National Seashore Entrance Station, you will see a hatchling 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 meet on the deck of the Visitor Center. A park ranger will meet you there to deliver a program about the turtles (starting at about 6:20 am) and lead you to the release site (at 6:45 am). For those arriving early, please note that the hatchling release sign will not be present until about 6:15 am. At the release, you should not bring or eat food since it will attract gulls, and you should not wear white colored clothing or white colored footwear or take photos using a flash, since all of these will disorient the hatchlings. OTHER RELEASES LIKELY THIS WEEK: Several clutches of eggs are hatching and we will likely hold more public hatchling releases starting at 6:45 am on some other days this week. Check back to this Facebook page or our Hatchling Hotline by about mid-day tomorrow for the latest information on the next upcoming release. We look forward to seeing you at a release this year!