Friends of Padre: Reports

Via Jeff Wolda FOP REPORT Air Temp: 72 Water Temp: 69 Wind: 10-15 NE switching to East Waves: 3ft Water: Trout green north of 29, clear south Weed: None Driving: 2 wheel drive to the 19, 4x4 south at high tide Spring arrived early this year. Hopefully it will stay that way. Driving at high tide can be tricky from the 20-30 mile marker. Soft sand and the lack of a consistent road have turned it very soft. Spring breakers began to show in force today. Lots of camps on the north end. It was a perfect day to be on the beach but, Mother Nature looks like she’s going to put an end to it. Forecast this week is calling for big winds before a cold front on Wednesday that will bring rain and storms for the end of the week. As far as the fishing goes, the south end was the place to be with jacks and Spanish mackerel on top waters and spoons. Saw several very large schools of sheeps head and one of redfish in the 2nd gut. Birds observed: Black Terns Sandwich Tern Royal Tern Caspian Tern Curlew Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Willet Laughing Gull Herring Gull Blue Herron White Tailed Hawk Willet Grackle

Via Captain Billy Sandifer and Troy Adler Troy Adler and I traveled the entire length of the beachfront. Fog was dense and remained off and on during the day and hindered seabirds attempting to feed and no bait fish were observed. The first 50 yards of the beach was soft although in the afternoon PINS personnel had graded it and it was much better. On low tide there were few soft spots; most of these are when large trees are blocking the beach and you have to drive up high around them. On high tide there was quite a bit of 4 wheel high driving; especially in the Big Shell. Sure hope it rains this coming week and packs that loose sand down some. The water was green all the way but really pretty the farther south we went. Quite a bit of Turtle Grass from the bay was scattered along stretches of the beach; especially on the north end but no sargassum weed was observed. No wildlife and very few fishermen were observed. The trash in the Big Shell area isn’t too bad this year due to the abundance of high tides which cover it up. There is more trash on the south ½ of the Big Shell. Lots of Valentine's balloons have already been washing in. Sections should be able to knock out a mile easier than usual and if this is the case PLEASE hop scotch your way to the north and pick up more trash rather than quit. It sure would help how many miles we can clean. Weather forecast sounds good with temperatures ranging from the 50s to 70s but there is a 50% chance of rain. Of course the forecast could change. The tide forecast is for low tide levels. No migrating birds yet. Bird species observed included 1 White-tailed hawk, 1 Osprey, 1 Northern Harrier, good numbers of Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, 1 Black-bellied plover, Brown Pelicans, Royal and Forester’s Terns, 1 Wimbrel, Laughing, Ring-billed and Herring gulls, 25 Long-billed Curlews and 66 Horned Larks. Hope to see you on the 27th! Billy

Friends of Padre made a trip down PINS yesterday to check on current conditions. Driving was excellent at low tide, but tough at high tide as the water covered the beach in some areas restricting driving onto the high road. Very minimal sargassum observed on the beach. The surf was rough due to the strong northerly winds. Reports of redfish and jacks being caught. There is a large amount of wood debris on the beach including very large trees. These trees make driving difficult in some areas as many are located across the low and middle roads. No red tide aerosols were noted, although some foamy reddish water was observed along the second sand bar. This may have been the result of the wind-driven high surf rather than the presence of red tide. Three dead cownose rays were seen on the beach although no other dead fish were present. Mullet were present, although they were holding close to the bottom and were not easily seen. With winds expected to switch and build throughout the week, the surf will remain up. Birds observed: Great Blue Heron Crested Caracara Aplomado Falcon Sanderling Red Knot Piping Plover Semi-palmated Plover Black-bellied Plover Ruddy Turnstone Willet Long-billed Curlew Whimbrel Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Franklin's Gull Least Tern Caspian Tern Royal Tern Sandwich Tern Brown Pelican Cormorant

Via Captain Billy Sandifer In the morning the surf was choppy and the water off colored North of the 40 mile beachfront. In the afternoon the water cleared. Water temperatures were warm from one end of the beach to the other. Finger Mullet and Pony Mullet were observed from the 28 mi. beach to the 38 mile. Squalls passed to the North and the South of us and the forecast SE winds were actually out of the due East. Occasional small Whiting and lots of Hardhead catfish were the only fish encountered; although fisherman at the jetty said they had caught one small Blacktipped shark. Pelicans were observed feeding offshore in the Little Shell and the North end of the Big Shell. No anchovies were encountered and the numbers of Black Terns were dramatically decreased from the thousands of a few days ago. Those Black Terns are with the anchovies; wherever that may be. We have had extremely high tides and more are forecast for this week. Driving is 2 wheel drive all the way to the jetties as long as you avoid the high tide phases. There is a large washout around the 50 mile and we were told it must be crossed “out front” on low level tides as going high towards the dunes is undoable. Overall bird numbers were noticeably down but the first birds of the season were observed for several species. These include 22 Red Knots, 1 Wimbrel, 2 Tri-colored Herons, Semi-palmated Plover, 7 Ring-billed Gulls and 6 Common Terns. Other species observed included 14 Long-billed Curlews, 3 Spotted Sandpipers, 4 White-tailed Hawks, 8, bobwhite quail, 2 Yellow-crowned Night Herons, 2 American Oystercatchers, 1 Caracara, 1 Blue-winged Teal and one Black Skimmer. Other species observed included 700 Brown Pelicans, 500 Black Terns, numerous Piping Plover, Ruddy Turnstones, Wilsons Plover, Sanderling, Caspian Terns, Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, Least Terns and Laughing Gulls. Have a good and a safe holiday. Billy

Friends of Padre Beach Report 08-25-2015 Via Board Member Cody Moravits Water Temp: 86 degrees F Wind: Calm in the morning, 10-15 SE in the afternoon shifting to NE in the evening Waves: 1-2 foot becoming choppy as the wind picked up Weed: None Driving: Driving is decent the length of the beach at low tide. Some areas down south were "spongy" and 4WD is needed at high tide Bait was present the length of the beach and included mullet and anchovies. A few nice trout were spotted in the wade gut and Spanish Mackerel and Ladyfish were feeding heavily on anchovies all day. Birds Observed: Black Tern (1,000's) Least Tern Sandwich Tern Royal Tern Brown Pelican Long Billed Curlew Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Willet Laughing Gull Herring Gull Black Bellied Plover Great Blue Heron Green Heron Tricolored Heron Yellow crowned Night Heron Cattle Egret Willet Grackle Caracara Turkey Vulture

FOP REPORT 081715 via board member Jeff Wolda Air Temp: 84 Water Temp: 84 north and south end Wind: Calm morning, 10 out of the east late morning, 15 SE early afternoon Waves: 2-3ft Water: A little sandy early then clear after noon Weed: None Driving: High tides over night along with storms off shore pushed the water up over the road down south causing some 4x4 early. Beach conditions have remained consistent over the last couple of weeks. Driving is excellent on the north end but, south of the 22 at high tide does require some 4x4. Bait the length of the beach includes mullet and schools of dusky anchovies coming in early in the afternoon. As the dusky anchovies move in so do the skip jacks. There were very few birds on the north end of the beach today with the exception of the regulars. From the 35 south the black terns and pelicans are lined up on the beach waiting for the schools of bait to come in. Fishing was excellent this morning with trout caught on top waters until the wind shifted out of the east around 10 and it was over. Birds observed: Black Terns Sandwich Tern Royal Tern Caspian Tern Curlew Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Willet Laughing Gull Herring Gull Black Bellied Plover Blue Herron Willet Grackle And Caracara

Via Captain Billy Sandifer Water was green and warm from one end of the beach to the other. Mullet were present in large numbers in some areas but were present in varying numbers the entire length of the beach. One very large shoal of Anchovies were spotted far offshore of the 39 mi. beach with a very large number of fishing eating birds working them. The early morning surf was glassed off with lite WNW winds. Around 11:00 the wind swapped around to ESE and blew 10-15 mph. Driving is great North of the 39 mile and South of there areas of soft sand were encountered frequently. Blue crabs were abundant in the surf South of the 30 mi. The only fish we know of being caught were Whiting, Shark pups and Skipjacks. Fishing was very slow. Probably due to the West wind in the a.m. Birds observed included the first Black-bellied Plovers returning from nesting, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, scattered “peep” Sandpipers and small Plover, Wilson’s Plover, 2 White-tailed Hawks, 3 Caracara, 23 Dark Ibis, 4 Black Skimmers, 2 Cattle Egrets, 1 Golden-crowned Night Heron, Ruddy Turnstones, Willets and Sanderlings. Thousands of Black Terns remained along with good numbers of Caspian, Royal, Sandwich, Foresters, and Least Terns. Laughing Gulls were present in good numbers as were Brown Pelicans, occasional Great Blue Herons and Long-Billed Curlews. Here's a video from the North Mansfield Jetty.

FOP REPORT 081115 Via Jeff Wolda Air Temp: 84 Water Temp: 76-79 Wind: 5SE Waves: 1ft Water: Dirty to the 2nd bar and trying to clear late day Weed: None Driving: Excellent with a little 4x4 south at high tide The cold water upwelling is back. Dirty to the 2nd bar north of the 35 with water temps around 79. South of there the water clears late in the day but is noticeably colder. There is bait the length of the beach with mullet and schools of dusky anchovies moving in late in the day. Most of the schools seem to have small skipjacks and bluefish preying on them. Hopefully a week of light SE winds and calm seas will help get rid of the upwelling.