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Wednesday, August 28, 2013 |
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Trip Report - Padre Island National Seashore
By Ken J @ 11:31 AM :: 2613 Views
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PACK Trip Report - Padre Island National Seashore
Yarborough Pass August 23-25, 2013
This past weekend the PACK Armada made its annual 4x4 trek down to PINS/Yarborough Pass Outing. Eli/Tim/Butch got an early start and made it down on Thursday. Phil/Mark/Ken joined up at the Malaquite Visitor Center Friday morning, and traveled down the beach together to Yarborough. The weather and water conditions couldn’t have been better. Little wind, surf was flat, water blue green to the shoreline, however the seaweed was heavy. On the way down the beach we ran into Tim and Butch. Tim was launching his Hobie Adventure Island with the intention to sail to the PINS rigs. Tim reported that Yarborough Pass was drivable, that he and Butch had driven over to Yarborough Flats (without trailer) Thursday. The PACK Armada set up camp just south of the Yarborough Pass on the beach side of the duns. The late arrivers then successfully made it over the Pass and meet up with Eli who was fishing/kayaking the Yarborough Flats. Regrettably Yarborough Flats water was stained with Red Tide. Flats water was stained badly, water had a bad smell, and there was eye irritation. No fish were caught at Yarborough. We now shifted over to plan B, Kayak and Fish the surf. The time we spent at Yarborough the wind had come up, and the surf now had a chop. We all tried to wade fish the surf, but the seaweed made it next to impossible, fouled lures. Tim and Butch returned to camp; Tim said he had gotten half way to the Rigs, but turned back because the weather was beginning to change. Friday night Phil and Mark cooked fajitas for all to enjoy. We spent the night sitting around the camp fire and star gazed. Saturday we all explored PINS. Eli made it all the way to the Mansfield Channel. Tim and Butch went over to Yarborough pulling a trailer and got stuck in the pass. The good news is we were able to get Tim unstuck in short order. Over the years we have had a lot of practice digging 4x4’s out of the sand. The rest of us tried launching into the surf with the hope of getting beyond the breakers. With all the experienced fishermen on this outing, nobody had strung a fish Thursday or Friday. Because of the rip current and wind conditions the anchors wouldn’t hold. All who tried BTB turtled multiple times in the surf. While wade fishing (second bar) I got hit by a wave, it knocked me down and I couldn’t get up because of the rip tide and more waves, ended up about 100 yards father south of where I got knocked down. Saturday we had a few bumps, one cut line, but no fish. Sunday morning about 2 am the coyote’s found our camp trash bags, we shoo’d them off but not before they had a mess for us to clean up in the morning. Sunday Eli finally landed a Skipjack. That skipjack was the only fish landed by any of the PACK Armada. As they say that’s why they call it fishing not catching. We broke camp early Sunday morning just as it started to rain on our parade. We didn’t catch any fish this outing, but all had a good time.
Photos: http://packtx.org/Photos/tabid/58/AlbumID/385-216/Default.aspx#SimpleGallery-385
Tight Lines
Ken J
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