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Catching Up On the News
Tricked out ain’t the half of it – beach fisherman’s chuckwagon-style detachable grub box that mounts to fixed hooks installed on the side of the truck.
I need to take a short break on the "How To" articles to bring y'all up to date on what's going on in our salty world. Mr. Joe Ames went missing while wade fishing in San Antonio Bay and it is believed he might have been attacked by an alligator. It is unknown whether the alligator attacked him while he was fishing or if something else happened to him and the gator discovered his body. I've always felt that as a group we have long been far too complacent about the numerous, very real dangers wade fishermen face. Our sympathies go out to Mr. Ames' family and friends. Wade fishing by yourself is always a risky business.
The "Rim" Fire near Yosemite National Park has currently burned 255,000 acres of National Park. That's 371 square miles with a cost of 81 million dollars. The fire is currently 80% under control. It was started by an illegal fire a hunter let get away from him. The largest California fire on record was the "Cedar Fire" in Cleveland National Forest, originally intentionally set by a lost hunter as a signal fire in hopes it would attract help. It burned 430 square miles, killed 15 people, and destroyed 2,200 homes. Here in Texas we all know a lot of us don't hunt because it's so expensive to lease a place and where government land is readily available to hunt on people carelessly burn up such huge tracts of precious natural resource it's genuinely tragic. Now I know its doubtful y'all have ever burned down a national park but the need is just as strong for proper care and consideration be given our coastal resources or they will disappear just as all that forested land has.
September 1, Eric "Oz" Ozolins officially became a fishing guide on PINS on September 9 I turned my business name (Padre Island Safaris) and website over to him. Jeff Wolda is still offering light tackle and sightseeing charters. His website is PI-Adventures.com and his phone number is 361-215-8400. His e-mail is [email protected]. Oz is an extremely successful, state of the art shark fisherman and will be doing shark fishing trips in addition to light tackle and sightseeing charters. Oz is honest and highly qualified and all you new shark fishermen and wannabe shark fishermen would learn a lot spending the day down-island with him. He is going to do overnight shark trips as well as day trips. Oz's phone number is 361-877-3583. His e-mail address is [email protected]. Oz's web site is extremecoast.com. Now these two young men are not really in competition for charters as there are plenty enough to support two guides on PINS. Problem is getting enough good condition days to do the charters. My personal hope is that both of them will get better at it than I ever was. There's so much more information available now days than I ever dreamed of having access to and I'll help out in any small way that might help as they get their routines established.
We've had a lot of work done on the Friends of Padre website and I invite everyone to visit it at www.friendsofpadre.com. We are making at least one round trip down the beach to the Port Mansfield jetties per week and are posting updates on driving and sea conditions, the amount of sargassum present, a fishing report, and a bird sighting report weekly. If conditions are too adverse to complete the trip then that will also be reported on the site. This report will be 100% truthful and accurate and done by professionals so it will be a real blessing to folks from out of the area intending to travel to PINS in the near future. These trips and the vehicles used come totally from Friend of Padre donations from the public and are carried out by unpaid Friends of Padre board member volunteers. If we go the entire length of the beach; and normally we will, these trips cost us about $80 in fuel plus oil and wear and tear on the vehicle and ruined tires. Donations and anyone or group interested in helping sponsor or support these activities would be most welcomed. It's a good organization well worth supporting. Friends of Padre is also the group that holds the Annual Big Shell Beach Cleanup each year. The next cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, 22 Feb, 2014.
Many of you who have kept up with the numerous problems plaguing PINS for the last few years will be glad to know that superintendent Joe Escoto has transferred to a different duty station. It will be a while before they get his replacement on board and currently they have an interim superintendent. Hopefully the new "super" will be more visitor concerned and user-friendly. God help us if he's worse. As far back as I can remember I have believed and told others that I believe the day will come when the feds stop us from driving on the beach. I always prayed God would let me drive on it long enough for me to work out my career so I wouldn't be out of a profession and too old for anyone to hire me to do anything else. Not that I knew anything else to do anyway. God blessed me to be able to do that and I am and will forever be grateful for that as there really isn't and never has been any place for me in town. Every time we get a new superintendent he revises rules and regs and we never know which way things will go. This is why I have tried so hard to build Friends of Padre into a force to be reckoned with. With a track record of stewardship so much better than NPS's record that they would never even consider curtailing driving on the beach because we very simply are too much of an asset to their efforts and the overall wellbeing of PINS. That is why the Big Shell Cleanup is so important; it clearly emphasizes how much the beach user group cares about the beach. I figure sooner or later driving on PINS will end up as a legal case in the courts. There is not and never has been a group to stand up for the beach people. CCA or SEA isn't going to go toe to toe with the feds in court on behalf of beach users. So with this reality in mind Stephen Naylor and I formed the Friends of Padre group to fill the bill. Other than the cleanup it's had a slow but steady growth but with the gung-ho current hoard members it is growing rapidly. We need your help and financial support. And in this case you aren't helping us; you are helping yourselves and future generations.
Although the surf seems to get tougher to fish successfully each year, 2013 will go down in my records as the year we were shut out through at least mid September with fishable days being few and far between and the abundance of fish when we did have good days minimal at best. Our summer trout season tried to kick off a couple of times but sargassum or upwellings of cold, offshore water curtailed the action in short order each time. I'm hoping fall will give us some good memories of 2013.
If we don't leave any there won't be any. -Capt. Billy L. Sandifer
The "Rim" Fire near Yosemite National Park has currently burned 255,000 acres of National Park. That's 371 square miles with a cost of 81 million dollars. The fire is currently 80% under control. It was started by an illegal fire a hunter let get away from him. The largest California fire on record was the "Cedar Fire" in Cleveland National Forest, originally intentionally set by a lost hunter as a signal fire in hopes it would attract help. It burned 430 square miles, killed 15 people, and destroyed 2,200 homes. Here in Texas we all know a lot of us don't hunt because it's so expensive to lease a place and where government land is readily available to hunt on people carelessly burn up such huge tracts of precious natural resource it's genuinely tragic. Now I know its doubtful y'all have ever burned down a national park but the need is just as strong for proper care and consideration be given our coastal resources or they will disappear just as all that forested land has.
September 1, Eric "Oz" Ozolins officially became a fishing guide on PINS on September 9 I turned my business name (Padre Island Safaris) and website over to him. Jeff Wolda is still offering light tackle and sightseeing charters. His website is PI-Adventures.com and his phone number is 361-215-8400. His e-mail is [email protected]. Oz is an extremely successful, state of the art shark fisherman and will be doing shark fishing trips in addition to light tackle and sightseeing charters. Oz is honest and highly qualified and all you new shark fishermen and wannabe shark fishermen would learn a lot spending the day down-island with him. He is going to do overnight shark trips as well as day trips. Oz's phone number is 361-877-3583. His e-mail address is [email protected]. Oz's web site is extremecoast.com. Now these two young men are not really in competition for charters as there are plenty enough to support two guides on PINS. Problem is getting enough good condition days to do the charters. My personal hope is that both of them will get better at it than I ever was. There's so much more information available now days than I ever dreamed of having access to and I'll help out in any small way that might help as they get their routines established.
We've had a lot of work done on the Friends of Padre website and I invite everyone to visit it at www.friendsofpadre.com. We are making at least one round trip down the beach to the Port Mansfield jetties per week and are posting updates on driving and sea conditions, the amount of sargassum present, a fishing report, and a bird sighting report weekly. If conditions are too adverse to complete the trip then that will also be reported on the site. This report will be 100% truthful and accurate and done by professionals so it will be a real blessing to folks from out of the area intending to travel to PINS in the near future. These trips and the vehicles used come totally from Friend of Padre donations from the public and are carried out by unpaid Friends of Padre board member volunteers. If we go the entire length of the beach; and normally we will, these trips cost us about $80 in fuel plus oil and wear and tear on the vehicle and ruined tires. Donations and anyone or group interested in helping sponsor or support these activities would be most welcomed. It's a good organization well worth supporting. Friends of Padre is also the group that holds the Annual Big Shell Beach Cleanup each year. The next cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, 22 Feb, 2014.
Many of you who have kept up with the numerous problems plaguing PINS for the last few years will be glad to know that superintendent Joe Escoto has transferred to a different duty station. It will be a while before they get his replacement on board and currently they have an interim superintendent. Hopefully the new "super" will be more visitor concerned and user-friendly. God help us if he's worse. As far back as I can remember I have believed and told others that I believe the day will come when the feds stop us from driving on the beach. I always prayed God would let me drive on it long enough for me to work out my career so I wouldn't be out of a profession and too old for anyone to hire me to do anything else. Not that I knew anything else to do anyway. God blessed me to be able to do that and I am and will forever be grateful for that as there really isn't and never has been any place for me in town. Every time we get a new superintendent he revises rules and regs and we never know which way things will go. This is why I have tried so hard to build Friends of Padre into a force to be reckoned with. With a track record of stewardship so much better than NPS's record that they would never even consider curtailing driving on the beach because we very simply are too much of an asset to their efforts and the overall wellbeing of PINS. That is why the Big Shell Cleanup is so important; it clearly emphasizes how much the beach user group cares about the beach. I figure sooner or later driving on PINS will end up as a legal case in the courts. There is not and never has been a group to stand up for the beach people. CCA or SEA isn't going to go toe to toe with the feds in court on behalf of beach users. So with this reality in mind Stephen Naylor and I formed the Friends of Padre group to fill the bill. Other than the cleanup it's had a slow but steady growth but with the gung-ho current hoard members it is growing rapidly. We need your help and financial support. And in this case you aren't helping us; you are helping yourselves and future generations.
Although the surf seems to get tougher to fish successfully each year, 2013 will go down in my records as the year we were shut out through at least mid September with fishable days being few and far between and the abundance of fish when we did have good days minimal at best. Our summer trout season tried to kick off a couple of times but sargassum or upwellings of cold, offshore water curtailed the action in short order each time. I'm hoping fall will give us some good memories of 2013.
If we don't leave any there won't be any. -Capt. Billy L. Sandifer