Padre Island National Seashore
Yarborough Pass
June 15-17, 2007

Yarborough Pass is located approximately 15 miles down the beach from the Malaquite Visitor Center. The camping is primitive so you will need to provide your own food, water, and shelter. You will need a 4X4 vehicle capable of driving through deep sand to make it to Yarborough Pass, or you may be able to catch a ride with someone that has a 4X4. We will coordinate it as people sign up.

Ken Jennings (cell 832-372-6594).

We will meet at the Malaquite Visitor Center at 10:00 a.m. on Friday June 15, 2007. Then we will pile gear into the 4X4 vehicles and head for the camp site. Two wheel drive vehicles will be left at the Visitor Center. After arriving we will set up camp so we will have time to fish late that afternoon until evening. Saturday will be open to fishing and/or touring. On Sunday we will break camp around 12:00 and travel back to the visitor center and unload the gear. Then everyone is on their own for traveling back home!

Note: Some folks may want to come earlier or stay longer to take advantage of this great fishing area.

If you want to go contact the trip leader (or sign up at a monthly meeting) and provide the following information: name, email address, phone number (preferably cell phone), vehicle type, and if vehicle has 4-wheel drive.

See (Click here for directions and map)

Padre Island can be reached by way of Mustang Island on the north, or via John F. Kennedy Causeway from Flour Bluff, which crosses the Laguna Madre. Park Road 22 leads into the national seashore.

Traveling Down the Island
Safety: At Mile Post Five, on Park Road 22, the two-wheel drive zone ends and the four-wheel drive zone begins. There are no services or means to contact anyone for help, and the park service will not attempt to tow your vehicle. A wrecker may cost hundreds of dollars. Carry the following supplies with you in your four-wheel-drive vehicle: extra gasoline, extra water, a shovel, a car jack, a tow rope or chain, a few planks or carpet, and a cellular phone.

 

Conditions Down Island: At the end of the pavement, the speed limit is 15 m.p.h. for the first three miles and 25 m.p.h. from there on. Little Shell Beach is located at the four-wheel-drive warning sign. The coquina shells on the beach do not compact, decreasing traction. Many vehicles get stuck in these shell banks. Stay in the tracks of the previous travelers, and keep moving. If you see no tracks, try to drive higher on the beach. Northbound traffic has the right-of-way. Yarborough Pass is located ten miles from the start of Little Shell Beach. It’s a point marked by a primitive road that leads over the dune line to the Laguna Madre. This is the only place where you may drive behind the vegetation line.

 

If You Get Stuck don’t gun the motor and attempt to power your way out. This will just cause you to waste gasoline and dig yourself deeper. Take your shovel and dig under your vehicle and around the tires. Put planks or carpet in front or in back of the tires, depending on which is the best way to get out. Carefully drive on the planks. Once you do get out, keep up your momentum and move to a more stable area on the beach without stopping.

See Standard PACKing List for items to consider for any PACK outing. The camp area is remote (no water) and camping will be on the beach so consider the following as well:

1. Sand anchors instead of regular tent pegs (longer/wider pegs or bags that can be filled with sand and buried)
2. Personal latrine kit (shovel, biodegradable toilet paper)
3. Surf fishing gear (in addition to bay fishing gear)

Primitive camping on the beach. The Malaquite Beach Visitor's Center has an information desk, concession stand, restrooms and showers (open 24 hours) so if you want to clean up before heading home just stop by on your way out.

There is a $10 park entrance fee. A camping permit which is obtained at the Malaquite Visitor Center is free. Only other costs should be for food/gas while traveling.

See the "Top Spot" or "Hook-N-Line" map # F115 – Lower Laguna Madre.

Yarborough Pass and Yarborough Pass Flats are just south of the mouth of Baffin Bay on the barrier island side of the Laguna Madre. Once a link between the Laguna Madre and the Gulf of Mexico, Yarborough Pass was long ago sealed off by wave action and shifting sands. Today it provides an access point to miles of ankle- to knee-deep wadefishing on the upper Laguna Madre. On the other side of the pass you can find excellent surf fishing.

To find Yarborough Pass drive to the 15 mile marker then backtrack approximately 100 yards and look for a notch in the fore-island dune ridge. A four-wheel-drive vehicle is essential to navigate the pass. Driving through the notch places one on a caliche road, parts of which are sometimes flooded by marshes. Follow the road approximately one mile to the old dock area. Be aware that the notch through the dunes is sometimes filled with exceptionally deep and soft sand in which even four-wheel-drive vehicles become stuck occasionally. The flooded areas may be deep. Use caution when crossing to avoid flooding engine or exhaust. Do not drive off the roadway. The upper layers of the mud dry first, giving the appearance of solid ground, but leave soft mud underneath in which it is easy to become bogged down. The old dock at Yarborough Pass provides access to prime fishing on the nearby flats as well as Baffin Bay, the Kenedy Land Cut, and the Graveyard. Click here for an aerial view of Yarborough Pass. The white line in the middle is the Yarborough Pass caliche road running from the beach (right side) to the bay.

About 35 miles down from the JFK Bridge is the Kenedy Land Cut. This narrow, 22-mile stretch of the Laguna Madre lined with fishing shacks and floating houseboats holds trout and redfish in its deep channels as well as along its shallow, light sand shorelines. Those who make the trip often will find schools of specks chasing shrimp on the surface in the middle of the channel. Look for diving birds as a sign that trout are feeding in the area. Fishing from a kayak will provide miles of sightcasting opportunities for tailing and cruising trout and redfish that move up on the grass beds and light sand bottoms along the shoreline. Since the wind normally is blowing out of the southeast, the west side of the cut is the most favorable. Look for trout and reds tailing or following stingrays along the dark grass beds at the edge of the channel drop-off and near depressions at creek mouths.

Another intriguing lower coastal feature in this area is the Graveyard. The Graveyard, or Nine-Mile Hole, is a broad, shallow tidal flat accessed by several channels on the east side of the Kenedy Land Cut. During the late spring and summer months it can draw large schools of redfish as well as large trout, black drum, and ladyfish. The bottom varies from firm to boggy. It is a prime area for driftfishing, wading, and sightcasting, but knowledge of tidal movements in the area and a shallow-draft boat are required, to avoid ending up high and dry.

Following are GPS coordinates for spots marked on the F115 map referenced above.

	082	Flounder in the Land Cut	N27° 09.150', W97° 26.250'
083	Rocky Slough			N27° 10.700', W97° 26.050'
084	West Shore Flounder		N27° 11.750', W97° 26.000'
085	Yarborough Area		N27° 11.150', W97° 24.950'
086	Flounder Flats			N27° 11.650', W97° 23.350'
087	Yarborough Flats		N27° 12.900', W97° 23.500'
088	The Meadows			N27° 16.620', W97° 22.950'
092	Old Radar Screen		N27° 17.900', W97° 26.450'
093	Penascal Point		N27° 16.120', W97° 25.400'

And here are GPS coordinates for the pass:

		Yarborough Pass at the Beach	N27° 12.350', W97° 21.840'
Yarborough Pass Bayside		N27° 12.050', W97° 23.033'

Tides:

Day		High /Low	Tide Time	Height Feet	Sunrise Sunset	Moon	Time	% Moon Visible
F	15	High	6:49 am	2.1	6:33 am	Rise	6:46 am	0
	15	Low	9:49 PM	-0.9	8:26 PM	Set	9:30 PM
Sa	16	High	7:44 am	2.0	6:33 am	Rise	7:52 am	0
	16	Low	10:41 PM	-0.8	8:26 PM	Set	10:23 PM
Su	17	High	8:32 am	1.9	6:33 am	Rise	8:58 am	4
	17	Low	11:32 PM	-0.6	8:26 PM	Set	11:08 PM

• Park Website
• Headquarters - 361-949-8173
• Visitor Information - 361-949-8068
• Hatchling Hotline - 361-949-7163
• Today's Weather/Tides - 361-949-8175

Friday morning 12 hard-core PACK Members met-up at the PINS Malaquite Visitor Center.  The Park Rangers reported that beach driving conditions were fair, for 4x4 vehicles.  Half way down the beach we had our first 4x4 stuck in the sand.  With a little teamwork we were back on our way to our campsite.  Camp was located about 100 yards south of Yarbourgh Pass on the beach.  As soon as we had camp set up we made our way to the Pass and over to Yarbourgh Flats Laguna Madre.  Jason T got his truck stuck in the Pass sand.  We had to hook 2-4x4's in tandem to get his truck unstuck.  An hour later we were on our way to get after fish on the Yarbourgh Flats.  Fishing conditions: Clear sky, water clear to trout green, slight chop, with wind pumping in excess of 15 mph, Friday/Saturday/Sunday.  Everyone launched, and were into dink trout.  Finding keeper trout became difficult.  The fish we kept were few and hard earned, each and every one of them.  Friday night everyone fended dinner for themselves.  Barry S provided a apple pie for all to share.  Saturday morning we were up early and after the fish.  We started off fishing the flats, then moved over to the islands about 2 miles south of our launch point.  It seems everyone had their limits of dink trout.  Keeper trout were few and hard to come by.  Again, keeper trout that were landed we earned.  Jim R had a nice stringer of 7 trout that he managed over near the island on the famous Baffin Magic - Norton Sand Eel Jr's.  A few reds and black drum were also strung and added to the ice chests.  Multiple groups of schools of Stingrays were seen swimming all over the flats.  Saturday night we had a group meal of hamburgers with all the trimmings, Dutch oven peach/apple cobbler.  Sunday morning everyone was up at first light with the intent of getting a couple of hours of fishing in before heading home for father's day.  We stuck one of our 4x4 vehicles in the pass.  It took over 2 hours to get it dug out.  With the delay it was decided to break camp and head for home.  On the way back to Malaquite, driving conditions had gone from fair to terrible.  We had two vehicles stuck, and had to dig them out.  Upon our return to Malaquite where we were able to get a shower, we all agreed that the Park Rangers needed to change the 4x4 sign on the beach back 5 miles to the end of the pavement.    Everyone had a good time, PINS / Yarbourgh is one of the special places that needs to be visited and fished.  Mother Nature was kind to us, we saw deer, quail in the dunes, and schools of stingrays were seen all over the flats.  PACK will be back next year for sure.

Tight Lines
Ken J