We had our annual family surf fishing trip to Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) over the weekend- aka The Clampetts go to the Beach.
The trip was supposed to be Thursday to Sunday, but on a whim my wife and I decided to go down Wednesday night and check out the new improvements to the Texas State Aquarium. We got in after dark Wednesday and took the girls on a stroll along the beach down near the Lexington. I couldn't help but sing a few bars of Corpus Christi Bay as we stretched our legs.
The Blue Ghost is still a sight to behold 75 years after wreaking havoc on the Japanese. When the kids are a little bigger, we will take the tour.
Thursday morning, we headed over to the Texas State Aquarium; it has definitely changed since the last time I was there as a kid in the '90s. My two girls (ER is 7 and AR is 4) did a great job trying to pet all the different sea creatures. I have to admit that it has been ingrained in me for so long to avoid stingrays that it was difficult for me to touch them. Not out of fear, more like I was breaking a fundamental rule. I had to remind the girls that if we caught one over the weekend they were NOT allowed to touch the stingrays.
The new exhibits were cool. The Caribbean Sea exhibit had an awesome aquarium that you could walk through. And they have a gallery of shark photos by Brian Skerry.
But the big hit of the day was the old fashioned dolphin show (where we got drenched) and getting to look into the dolphin tank. Here is ER enjoying the view.
I enjoyed the boardwalk where we could get a good look at the bay and another shot of the USS Lexington.
After the aquarium we headed over to Padre Island to settle into the condo where the whole family was meeting and let the girls swim in the pool. I went to the Packery Channel Jetties for a couple of hours but had no luck just fishing dead shrimp. I saw one guy bring in a Spanish Mackeral at least 24" long. Someone was playing Turnpike Troubadors on their radio. I didn't mind.
Friday morning we picked up some live shrimp, live croaker, and a few pounds of fresh dead to get ready for the trek down the beach. There were 15 people in our crew- 8 adults and 7 kids, which equates to 3 generations heading down PINS.
We stopped first at a spot about 14 miles down the beach. That's not as far as we usually go, but honestly I couldn't help but get out and fish for a little bit. I've been going down that beach every year since I was in diapers and I have never seen the water as nice as it was on Friday.
Typically, the current in the surf moves the bait around, which I think is a good thing. We typically have to add weight to the point where it moves around some but doesn't move too fast (usually right to left). On Friday, there was basically zero current. I was using a steel leader with two drops- croaker on top and live shrimp on bottom, but with just one ounce weight it absolutely would not move. After I few minutes I reeled it in, unhooked the weight and cast back out figuring the croaker would swim a little. It didn't take long and I got a good hit. At first I hoped it was a red or a drum, but figured it was a shark. It went on one small run, then I was able to walk it and fight it in, working around my mama who was fishing nearest to me. (Aside: she'll outfish most of us on this board).
When I landed it, several of the younger kids ran right up to see what it was. In my hollering to tell them not to touch it and keeping pressure on the fish I managed to break my dang rod. It was one of my older Lightning Rods, so maybe it was due for replacement.
It ended up being a good size bonnet head shark. I didn't actually measure it, but it was about 36".
I did let the kids get a close look and touch it while I had it secured. After snapping a couple of photos we set it loose to fight another day. The one time I kept one, it stunk like ammonia and I coudn't even cook it. There are so many other tasty fish out there that now I just enjoy the fight and let them go.
We didn't catch much else there, so we loaded up and kept moving down the beach. Driving conditions were fantastic. I had the only 2WD truck of the bunch and I was never remotely worried. We ended up just past the 20 mile marker and set up shop for the day. We had aerator issues, so all the shrimp and croaker died pretty quickly. Some idiot responsible for that item (read: me), forgot to clean out the filter on the aerator and didn't have a long enough breather tube. So, we had extra fresh dead shrimp and some fresh dead dollar bills- I mean croaker- to boot.
Everyone has their own definition or way of naming certain parts of PINS (Little Shell, Big Shell, etc.). We were in the portion I'd call Little Shell. Well beyond the 4x4 sign where there are plenty of small shells, but not in the soft sand where the dunes seem to be higher and the shells seem to get bigger (Big Shell). The water was so clear that you could actually see the sandbars instead of just gauging the breakers. The blue water came all the way to shore, except where you could see the sand at the bars. The first gut was maybe 3'+ deep, with a wide first sandbar. The second gut was too deep for me to cross. I'm about 6'2" and I got chin deep with 20-30 yards to go before reaching the next sand bar. Too far to do one or two tip-toe hops until I could stand again. I was cussing myself for not yet buying a kayak.
We fished nearly all day, cooking hot dogs and sausages for lunch. The younger kids were more concerned with playing in the sand and water, but I did the get girls to fish a little.
Here is AR with her HEB spinning reel. She's a porcelain doll, so Momma worked hard to keep her covered up but staying stylish.
ER couldn't let little sister have all the fun, so she tried for a few minutes, too. Luckily, she tans unlike her sister but we're still careful.
It seemed like a moderately paced fishing day, but the whiting were plenty and the hardheads were few, with a few skipjack mixed in between. In the end, we cleaned 46 whiting- most between 12"-16" long. One of the kids did sneak a couple of smaller ones in that we did not realize. Had we all lined up to target the whiting we probably could have upped that keeper count to 60 or so. We also ran out of dead shrimp and were using cut skipjack.
Here's our box-o-fish. This is the equivalent of the deer on the tailgate shot.
We didn't leave the beach until about 5:30. By the time we got back to civilation we just drove straight to Whataburger for some sustinence. That was the best #2 with cheese and a Dr. Pepper that I've ever had.
Saturday, we fixed the aerator issues, but couldn't find live shrimp. We picked up some croaker and 6 pounds of dead shrimp so that we wouldn't run out. We drove straight down to a point about 22 miles or so down the beach. There were a lot of vehicles on the beach- never more than maybe 1/2 a mile between vehicles even down that far.
The surf picked up a hair. Some minor breakers at the sandbar and a slight current, but it was still beautiful and calm.
The fishing was much slower that day, but we still had great time. ER caught a skipjack on a lightweight Zebco. AR caught her first fish with Momma helping, and it was a keeper whiting. Per Momma's wishes I won't post that pic. But I must say she's never looked better than helping our 4-year old bring in a fish in the surf.
We only had 10 or 12 keeper whiting Saturday. My brother hooked one stingray, but it planted itself on the bottom so he just broke the line. Once again the hardheads were few and far between, which always makes for a good day.
We had a good supper in Port Aransas, despite some redneck Olympics in the overfilled parking lot. (We may or may not have had to pull out a shovel and make a sand ramp to get back up onto the parking lot- at the risk of our undercarriages and our marriages).
All in all, it was a great trip. The whole family was together, we caught and cleaned a bunch of fish, my girls had a blast, and we're ready for the fish fry. PINS might be my favorite place in the world, and I love sharing it with my kids.
The trip was supposed to be Thursday to Sunday, but on a whim my wife and I decided to go down Wednesday night and check out the new improvements to the Texas State Aquarium. We got in after dark Wednesday and took the girls on a stroll along the beach down near the Lexington. I couldn't help but sing a few bars of Corpus Christi Bay as we stretched our legs.
The Blue Ghost is still a sight to behold 75 years after wreaking havoc on the Japanese. When the kids are a little bigger, we will take the tour.
Thursday morning, we headed over to the Texas State Aquarium; it has definitely changed since the last time I was there as a kid in the '90s. My two girls (ER is 7 and AR is 4) did a great job trying to pet all the different sea creatures. I have to admit that it has been ingrained in me for so long to avoid stingrays that it was difficult for me to touch them. Not out of fear, more like I was breaking a fundamental rule. I had to remind the girls that if we caught one over the weekend they were NOT allowed to touch the stingrays.
The new exhibits were cool. The Caribbean Sea exhibit had an awesome aquarium that you could walk through. And they have a gallery of shark photos by Brian Skerry.
But the big hit of the day was the old fashioned dolphin show (where we got drenched) and getting to look into the dolphin tank. Here is ER enjoying the view.
I enjoyed the boardwalk where we could get a good look at the bay and another shot of the USS Lexington.
After the aquarium we headed over to Padre Island to settle into the condo where the whole family was meeting and let the girls swim in the pool. I went to the Packery Channel Jetties for a couple of hours but had no luck just fishing dead shrimp. I saw one guy bring in a Spanish Mackeral at least 24" long. Someone was playing Turnpike Troubadors on their radio. I didn't mind.
Friday morning we picked up some live shrimp, live croaker, and a few pounds of fresh dead to get ready for the trek down the beach. There were 15 people in our crew- 8 adults and 7 kids, which equates to 3 generations heading down PINS.
We stopped first at a spot about 14 miles down the beach. That's not as far as we usually go, but honestly I couldn't help but get out and fish for a little bit. I've been going down that beach every year since I was in diapers and I have never seen the water as nice as it was on Friday.
Typically, the current in the surf moves the bait around, which I think is a good thing. We typically have to add weight to the point where it moves around some but doesn't move too fast (usually right to left). On Friday, there was basically zero current. I was using a steel leader with two drops- croaker on top and live shrimp on bottom, but with just one ounce weight it absolutely would not move. After I few minutes I reeled it in, unhooked the weight and cast back out figuring the croaker would swim a little. It didn't take long and I got a good hit. At first I hoped it was a red or a drum, but figured it was a shark. It went on one small run, then I was able to walk it and fight it in, working around my mama who was fishing nearest to me. (Aside: she'll outfish most of us on this board).
When I landed it, several of the younger kids ran right up to see what it was. In my hollering to tell them not to touch it and keeping pressure on the fish I managed to break my dang rod. It was one of my older Lightning Rods, so maybe it was due for replacement.
It ended up being a good size bonnet head shark. I didn't actually measure it, but it was about 36".
I did let the kids get a close look and touch it while I had it secured. After snapping a couple of photos we set it loose to fight another day. The one time I kept one, it stunk like ammonia and I coudn't even cook it. There are so many other tasty fish out there that now I just enjoy the fight and let them go.
We didn't catch much else there, so we loaded up and kept moving down the beach. Driving conditions were fantastic. I had the only 2WD truck of the bunch and I was never remotely worried. We ended up just past the 20 mile marker and set up shop for the day. We had aerator issues, so all the shrimp and croaker died pretty quickly. Some idiot responsible for that item (read: me), forgot to clean out the filter on the aerator and didn't have a long enough breather tube. So, we had extra fresh dead shrimp and some fresh dead dollar bills- I mean croaker- to boot.
Everyone has their own definition or way of naming certain parts of PINS (Little Shell, Big Shell, etc.). We were in the portion I'd call Little Shell. Well beyond the 4x4 sign where there are plenty of small shells, but not in the soft sand where the dunes seem to be higher and the shells seem to get bigger (Big Shell). The water was so clear that you could actually see the sandbars instead of just gauging the breakers. The blue water came all the way to shore, except where you could see the sand at the bars. The first gut was maybe 3'+ deep, with a wide first sandbar. The second gut was too deep for me to cross. I'm about 6'2" and I got chin deep with 20-30 yards to go before reaching the next sand bar. Too far to do one or two tip-toe hops until I could stand again. I was cussing myself for not yet buying a kayak.
We fished nearly all day, cooking hot dogs and sausages for lunch. The younger kids were more concerned with playing in the sand and water, but I did the get girls to fish a little.
Here is AR with her HEB spinning reel. She's a porcelain doll, so Momma worked hard to keep her covered up but staying stylish.
ER couldn't let little sister have all the fun, so she tried for a few minutes, too. Luckily, she tans unlike her sister but we're still careful.
It seemed like a moderately paced fishing day, but the whiting were plenty and the hardheads were few, with a few skipjack mixed in between. In the end, we cleaned 46 whiting- most between 12"-16" long. One of the kids did sneak a couple of smaller ones in that we did not realize. Had we all lined up to target the whiting we probably could have upped that keeper count to 60 or so. We also ran out of dead shrimp and were using cut skipjack.
Here's our box-o-fish. This is the equivalent of the deer on the tailgate shot.
We didn't leave the beach until about 5:30. By the time we got back to civilation we just drove straight to Whataburger for some sustinence. That was the best #2 with cheese and a Dr. Pepper that I've ever had.
Saturday, we fixed the aerator issues, but couldn't find live shrimp. We picked up some croaker and 6 pounds of dead shrimp so that we wouldn't run out. We drove straight down to a point about 22 miles or so down the beach. There were a lot of vehicles on the beach- never more than maybe 1/2 a mile between vehicles even down that far.
The surf picked up a hair. Some minor breakers at the sandbar and a slight current, but it was still beautiful and calm.
The fishing was much slower that day, but we still had great time. ER caught a skipjack on a lightweight Zebco. AR caught her first fish with Momma helping, and it was a keeper whiting. Per Momma's wishes I won't post that pic. But I must say she's never looked better than helping our 4-year old bring in a fish in the surf.
We only had 10 or 12 keeper whiting Saturday. My brother hooked one stingray, but it planted itself on the bottom so he just broke the line. Once again the hardheads were few and far between, which always makes for a good day.
We had a good supper in Port Aransas, despite some redneck Olympics in the overfilled parking lot. (We may or may not have had to pull out a shovel and make a sand ramp to get back up onto the parking lot- at the risk of our undercarriages and our marriages).
All in all, it was a great trip. The whole family was together, we caught and cleaned a bunch of fish, my girls had a blast, and we're ready for the fish fry. PINS might be my favorite place in the world, and I love sharing it with my kids.
