Report submitted by 'Oz'

PINS Week-Long Surf Report Padre Island National Seashore, TX October 19-25th, 2008 Tweet

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Kip and I decided to rock down the beach for a few days. I left first and headed down south. There were various reports of weed/no weed, clear/dirty water, and other variables that would all affect the fishing. Heading down there wasn't much more debris washing in but various structure still evident in the guts.

I get down to an area I had wanted to fish. The surf is still slightly rough and decide to hang tight and cast baits until Kip arrives. Weed is in close and current ripping. Maintaining a line to stay out was quite difficult. Lots of Mullet running and despite the weed, I did manage a nice Trout right off the bat.

Not long and I begin getting into the Reds as well.

After a limit of Reds, it gets dark and get prepped for the next day. Kip finally arrives later in the evening after a rough drive. The next morning we wake up and I cast back out and immediately nail a Jack.

We spend the next several hours messing with cast baits and rigging up big baits for later.

As I look down at Kip, he's hooked up on a shark.

Kip gets in and releases the first Blacktip of the trip.

Night falls and I get a Blacktip on a small bait.

The rest of the night we have interactions with a couple big sharks but are unable to land them. All baits for the night would get hit but only the Blacktips would hit the beach. The next morning I see Kip hard at it. As the sun is coming up, he is hooked up and lands another Blacktip from the wade gut.

We would deal with the weed off and on throughout the day. It would progressively get worse though but every now and then we get some action. Kip lands another Blacktip during the mid-afternoon.

Therest of the day would prove to be difficult dealing with the weed. We basically waited the afternoon out and rigged big baits for the night. Come dark we each have big baits out. Unfortunately the baits wouldn't sit long before getting hammered by the weed and current. It is pretty much game over.

The next morning the tide is high and Kip is hard at it nailing some Jacks.

We hang out for a couple hours in the morning trying to get more Jacks but the bite turned off. The weather had been forecasting a strong cold front to move over the area Wednesday night. We did not want to stay on the beach for the tides may reach the dunes and cause a disaster. We ended up venturing to the jetties to take shelter along the channel. When we arrive we see what appears tobe dredging equipment. I call up Skipjack on the phone and he confirms that they are about to begin dredging. Well, there goes the fishing...

Before sunset Kip goes out in the zodiac and I go out in the kayak to see if we can pick up anything at the end of the jetties. Kip gets a couple of oversized Reds and I finally get out there and instantly jump a small Tarpon. Two jumps and it throws the hook. Bummer but cool. Kip runs back to the beach to get some live Mullet. I throw one of my last live Mullet out and jump a larger Tarpon 5-5 1/2'. Get two jumps and throws the hook again. Very cool. Damn its hard to land these bastards from the yak. Duke it out til dark.

We camp for the night and just after mid-night get the wrath of the coldfront blowing on us. The next morning the dredging crew is back at it. The guys then begin unloading bulldozers onto the jetties. We go over and talk to the foremen and they let us know that they are just prepping and can't start dredging like they want because of the weather and large surf.

We relocate again to go back further into the channel. With the barges gone we are able to cast a couple baits out. I begin to nail a few fish with shrimp...

Come dark we fish for a bit and Kip rigs up a couple of shark baits to deploy in the channel. Late in the night one of the baits gets picked up but no hookup. The next morning the wind has calmed down. We slowly get packed and have to head back to the 20's to meet up with the Spooktacular crew for the weekend. We take a slow drive back and pick up some various interesting items that have washed up. In the afternoon we get around the 20 and set up camp. No weed provides us with a positive attitude. Water is however a few degrees cooler. I cast out some baits and get a Bluefish and Pompano both on the same rig.

Kip and I get out some grander baits for the evening.

The baits would stay outall night untouched. The only bait picked up was a Bull Shark Henry landed on a short bait. Come morning we would pick up the baits. I slowly would pack up to leave due to having a slight back injury. The rest of the guys would stay and party on for Spooktacular though. Here are a few of those random images courtesy of Frenzy.

- Oz and crew

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