Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire who wants to surf fish PINS

I'd recommend a medium to heavy action spinning outfit or a bait caster like a ambassador 7000-10000 on a 8-10 ft rod 20-30# line, i prefer braid.i also like a 7ft rod and my ambassador 6600c for chunking lures.

I have a 7 1/2" heavy action bait casting rod (my King Salmon rod) with either an Ambassadeur 7000 or an Ambassadeur 6501.

Braid I can do. The reels need new line anyway.

What type of swivels do you use? I used Sampos almost exclusively in AK saltwater.

Ed

i use spro swivels. here's a pic of some mirr o lures and soft plastics and spoons



you might of noticed white with a red head is pretty popular.

Funny, that same pattern worked best for Ling Cod and for Silver salmon in saltwater, too!

I was looking through the saltwater stuff in the new Cabela's in Wichita, KS yesterday and was wondering what I should buy. Now I know.

Thanks for the pics, Roger, some of us old folks need visual clues.

Ed

http://www.saltyangler.com/tyler.htm

Tyler Thorsen

Surf Report

Updated 3-16-2012


When I woke up the Saturday morning of the 17th Annual Billy Sandifer Big Shell Cleanup and checked the weather radar at 5:15am on my new Smart Phone my heart sunk. A line of red and yellow stretched from Brownsville to north of Victoria and I just knew the strong gusty winds and numerous rain showers would absolutely kill the number of volunteers we would be getting. Who in their right mind would come out in heavy rain, winds and temps hovering in the upper 40�s and low 50�s? Plenty that�s who! Ranger Buzz Botts and my friend, Tom Berger, were counting the volunteer numbers and cutting out two wheel and four wheel drive autos in the dark and the cold, rainy conditions in the Visitor�s Center Parking lot at Malaquite on the Padre Island National Seashore (P.I.N.S.) early that morning. When Buzz and Tom finished their count, the tally was close to 250 and with the CCA Corpus Christi Chapter of chili cheese dog and lunch brigade volunteers and other NPS support personnel, rangers and maintenance crew added to the total the ranks swelled to 300.

In addition to my fears of the turnout due to the hard rain and cold, no one even knew if there was any beach to drive on. Water to the dunes is our biggest fear in this event. We hold it rain or shine and even have a contingency plan if the water is to the dunes. Luckily we had just enough beach when we started to safely get our groups down south. Billy said to me in the parking lot �This event HAS ALWAYS BEEN IMPOSSIBLE and today more than most!� This is the photo from �Hula Dash Cam� in my �88 Suburban. Half the time we were driving through shallow water as the tide surged high up the beach as the front blew through.



Due to the reduced number of volunteers this year brought on by the foul weather we didn�t make it down as far south as we have in previous years. This year�s effort cleaned a total of 7.5 miles of beach from the 15 to the 22.5 mile mark removing 20 tons of trash from the isolated Big Shell. Thanks to all of you diehard volunteers who made the impossible possible! Thanks to Ainsworth Trucking for their trucks, trailers and drivers, ice and water. Thanks to Daniel Dain and the Corpus Christi Area Dominos, and my CCA pals Candace Tidmore, Rodney Gamez, Big Al, and Roadkill Willie for their lunch service, to Gambler Specialties, my pal and Big Shell Cleanup Chairman, Ace Leal, and his crew and artist Ben Beaty for their work on the t-shirts and Friends of Padre koozies. Thanks to Trac-work Inc. for the gloves, Roy�s Bait and Tackle, Fishbites, Smartshield Sunscreen, HEB, David Sikes and The Caller Times, Texas Saltwater Magazine, Padre Island Moon, The Ruth Parr Sparks Foundation, Stephen and Donna Gregory, CH2MHILL, Spoon�r Lures, Sharkathon, TXAM Pumps, Laura Paul, and Team Industrial Services. Thanks to my friends in the Corpus Christi and Rockport Chapters of CCA for showing up and getting the job done down the beach. Special thanks too to our section leaders and Todd Neahr for taking the helm with �herding cats� in the parking lot with guidance from leader Captain Billy Sandifer. And last but not least, thanks to Captain Ron Behnke and Julie Behnke for their continued gracious coverage of this event in the Saltwater Angler.

It�s Spring Break time and fortunately if you want solitude, you can head to the National Seashore P.I.N.S. early on the weekends to avoid the traffic on the JFK Causeway. The Spring Break crowd doesn�t venture that far south and they don�t get up early. The sargassum is starting to come in and a friend who flies for the Coast Guard posted that there is quite a bit offshore 25 to 40 miles out so don�t be surprised to see it increasing as time goes on. There is also a lot of wood debris washing up on the area beaches south of Bob Hall Pier on down to about the 18 mile mark on P.I.N.S. That most likely came from the recent heavy rains on the Upper Texas Coast. The fishing has been good for whiting, slot and oversized reds and keeper and oversized black drum. In addition expect to catch pompano when the water conditions are right. Jack Crevelle will also be patrolling the area beaches very soon. Use Fishbite and shrimp combos for the reds, drum, pompano and whiting and cut or live mullet or large spoons for the Jack Crevelle if and when they show up. Driving is tough at high tide due to soft sand. Be careful when walking near the dunes because there are numerous hardheads killed by the red tide that can ruin a trip to the beach with a spine to the foot.



Bring out more trash than you take in and enjoy the resource responsibly,



Tyler Thorsen
=================

Tyler will probably be fishing with us.

Thanks for posting that!

Makes me wonder if my 2WD '06 Tundra will make it!

I don't think my lovely bride will let me bring her Kubota Ute, though.

Ed

driving is usually better in august sept, also less seaweed.

Did you have to keep Leighton focused on fishing and not picking up seaweed to make homemade Sushi?

Ed

he stayed focused, eat throw a few lures sleep 30 minutes eat, drink throw a few lures, repeat. bet he averaged 4 hrs sleep a day.

What a life! I'm envious!

Leighton is my HERO!!!

Ed

We had 3 great cooks also. Leighton, Roger and the LtPat.

A guard dog also. Kept the birds away. Of course guard dog (Pete) got just a little too much sun on the jewels.

I seem to remember something posted about that. Is it Rogers' job to apply sunscreen?

Ed

No

Spray on only when you buy some.

Oh you mean the dog jewels

Yes then

Petey and me might hit the beach tomorrow to see what might be biting.

I'm about to drag out my fly rod and see if I can entice something in my ponds to "rise to the occasion".

Ed

We'll be in the surf in the morning as well.

I took my 5wt flyrod out for a bit this evening, just to see if I could knock the rust out of my joints.
Talk about beating the water to a froth! It took several minutes before my timing was good enough to actually tempt a fish into striking!

Does the wind ever drop down enough along the coast there to flyfish, or is it a spinning/baitcasting proposition only?

Ed

my brother Jeff fly fishes some, we get some calm days during the dog days of Sept august.

Cool! I'll have to toss the 8wt in the truck, too!

Ed