Padre Island National Seashore
Yarborough Pass
August 21-23, 2009

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, click here to email, phone: 832-372-6594

We will meet at the Malaquite Visitor Center at 10:00 a.m. on Friday August 21, 2009. 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: name, email address and phone number (preferably cell phone). or Register for a PACK login account and then use the Auto Enroll link above to automatically have your name added to the list below.

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 PACK List for items to consider for any PACK outing

Important items:

• VHF Radio for communication and emergency contact
• First Aid Kit 
• Lunch, Water, snacks
• Sand anchors instead of regular tent pegs (longer/wider pegs or bags that can be filled with sand and buried)
• Personal latrine kit (shovel, biodegradable toilet paper)
• Surf fishing gear (in addition to bay fishing gear)

Recommended guidelines for participates:

• Make sure trip leader or an officer has your emergency contact
• Notify the trip leader if you have any potential concerns
• If inexperienced, then buddy up. Make sure the trip leader knows your experience level
• Communicate with the trip leader, if you are unsure of your skill level required
• Member dues are current
• Guests are invited to particpate
• Have performed deep water entries
• Cary a first aid kit
• Have a life jacket
• Have a VHF radio
• Inform the trip leader of your float plan if planning to fish alone or longer then the designated times.
• Sign in and sign out at the launch site. Inform the trip leader if you will be launching in a different place.

Recommended for Trip Leaders:

• Insures proper authorizations
• Secure sites
• Prepare emergency preparedness plan
• Keep abreast of weather conditions that might effect the trip
• Point out any potential area hazards
• Maintain a head count
• Have available a first aid kit
• Have a VHF radio

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.

Expenses/Fees:

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	21	High	5:23 am	1.4	7:03am	Rise	8:20 am	0%
		Low	10:27am	1.0	8:01PM
		High	3:48PM	1.6
		Low	11:09PM	0.3
		Low	9:49 PM	0.9	8:26 PM	Set	8:49PM
Sa	22	High	5:22 am	1.2	7:03 am	Rise	9:25 am	3%
		Low	10:58am	0.7	8:00 PM	Set	9:24 PM
		High	5:15PM	1.6
Su	23	Low	12:10am	0.6	7:04 am	Rise	10:28am	8%
		High	5:20am	1.2	7:59 PM	Set	10:00 PM
		Low	11:39am	0.4
		High	6:46PM	1.6	8:26 PM

 

• Park Website http://www.nps.gov/pais
• Headquarters - 361-949-8173
• Visitor Information - 361-949-8068
• Hatchling Hotline - 361-949-7163
• Today's Weather/Tides - 361-949-8175

(We prefer for you to create a login account on this website so that you can have your name added to the auto register list below. If you don't have a registered login account on this website we can list your name here; please contact the trip leader to request your name to manually added. If you have a login account then use the enroll feature at the top of this page to become part of the auto enroll list below)

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