PINS Surf

We spent saturday on the beach of Padre Island National Seashore. The wind was high, not quite as strong as our last group trip to PINS but strong. The current was also severe. But we didn't get skunked. Evan helped me land a hard head and miki caught her first ever fish without any help. She was super excited when the whiting took the dead shrimp and the 3/0 circle hook tied below a sliding weight (fish-finder rig).

Stripers from the surf

A colleague at work told me about a striped bass surf fishing clinic that an East Bay tackle shop was hosting. I’ve always wanted to catch one so I agreed to meet him out there. My buddy went to the tackle shop where they watched a video, ate barbecue and bought a lot of gear before driving to the beach. I decided to skip the clinic and meet them on the beach with whatever I had.

I found parking 3 blocks from the ocean. It was strange walking through the city in my fishing clothes and surf rod. It was 5pm when I hit the beach and there were a lot of people already surf fishing. There was one nice striper on the beach. My buddy gave me a large plug which I tried casting with my surf rod but my gear wasn’t matched for this type of fishing and I couldn’t cast the plug very far. I went back to the truck and grabbed my trout rod (a curado on a 6.5’ all star rod w/ 12lb mono). I tried the plug again but I wasn’t happy with the way it flew. It tumbled through the air and didn’t go very far. I switched to large kastmaster spoon w/ white bucktail. I could cast that pretty far but the rod was a little on the light side.

I walked down the beach 100 yards and found a distinct bowl. There was a steep slope to the beach and the waves were closing out right in front of me. I timed my casts so that I could walk forward and cast in between the sets. I wasn’t getting great distance but I felt like it should be deep enough. After 30 minutes of casting, my line came tight as I was about to pull the lure out of the white wash at the waters edge. I set the hook as a reflex but I thought I had snagged some kelp or seaweed. When I felt it pull back I looked down the beach to see whose line I had snagged. Nobody there… Then I felt the headshakes. Oh yeah! I kept the pressure on and the next wave pushed it so shallow that I could see its tail thrashing the foam. I kept the line tight and waited for more help from the surf. A couple more waves put him right at the waters edge but not high and dry. When I tried to drag it up the beach the line snapped. I went from walking backwards to a flat out sprint for the water. I pounced on the fish with both hands just as it was covered by another wave. I had to drop my rod to grab the fish. After that the reel turned ¼ revolutions and completely bound up from the sand.

The fork length was 26”. I am guessing it weighed between 6 - 8lbs. My buddy and one other person from the group also caught stripers. We left as it was getting dark but I think that some people were going to continue fishing that night with plugs.

They seem to be getting bigger

Monday evening gave up this nice 125# boy-pig. Ran out to do some checking and hunting with a co-worker and we picked up this fella off of the 2nd newest place. He didn’t go without a bit of a fight, co-worker gave him the business with Mrs. Maggie and it angered him quite a bit and I gave him a few doses of .41 medicine to slow down a charge and he proceeded to make a mess of my good work pants. The newest place gave up a couple of nutria but has yet to show an ample amount of piggy activity. However as the days get warmer I assume they will begin to get in there and take advantage of the ample water source. I believe this pushes the tally for the year beyond 50. Just in time too as we have hit the halfway point in the year, I believe this should be the halfway point for the annual tally book.

STEVE SHOT THE LITTLE ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, he was also engulfed my a massive stink cloud but I’ll let him tell the story…Steve, Ive made the preamble, its all buttered up for you