Padre Island fishing, North and South

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Ciguatera
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:40 am

Padre Island fishing, North and South

Post by Ciguatera »

Oilcan and I just got back from a few days of fishing and beaching on North and South Padre islands. Oilcan met up w a group of yakkers Thurs 8/20 and fished the MP rigs. 5 kings caught, 3 kept with an additional handful of smacks. Oilcan fished the nexted day down PINS and pulled a slot red out of the surf on cut ribbonfish. I met up w him Saturday 8/22 and we fished the MP rigs. Huge pods of smacks busting glass minnows on the surface. They took a gold spoon over and over. I caught about 5-6 and kept trolling for kings w weighted ribbonfish. It seemed like the majority of the fish activity was in the top of the water column, I had 1.5oz on my leaders and not a run all day. Oilcan caught 1 king on the troll w a lightly weighted ribbonfish and 1 king throwing a gold spoon at the smacks. The casted king was caught on light tackle for a unexpectedly good fight. Wind picked up significantly and we had a sporty paddle back to the beach but beached safely around 3 pm.

We loaded up the cars and headed down to SPI for a mix of family activities and fishing. A day of surf fishing produced a big ladyfish caught on freelined live bait in the first gut but nothing on cut mullet in the second gut. We had intended to drive north on the island and set up for surf fishing but all the beach access was shut down outside the main town area. Result was everyone was crammed into a small area of beach rather than spread out.

Monday 8/22 we launched out of the KOA boat ramp at pier 19. Isla Blanca park was shut down so we could not use their boat ramp. We paddled out through the channel and first tried the south jetty but the water looked dead. Paddled over to the North side of the jetty. I stayed in the channel but Oilcan paddled to the gulf side and found birds working a huge pod of ladyfish for some action. I trolled the channel then beached onto the jetty and walked up and down to find some live bait. Mullet was sparse, but I managed to cast net a 10" mullet and put him out in the channel about 10' under a balloon. I continued the hunt for bait and about an hour later, by balloon started getting tugged hard. I started fighting the fish and he was a good one. He made a big jump out of the water and he was a bright silver fish with stripe down the side. I still couldn't ID him so I kept bringing him in. After one final run when he saw the rocks, I got him up and measured him. A 35" Snook!! I didn't take a pic since I wanted to release him fast but what a fish! After that, 2 more undersized snook and 1 slot red were caught on freelined finger mullet on the channel side. Paddled back to the launch and headed to the condo for margaritas and ceviche.

Tuesday, I packed up and drove back. Oilcan fished the beach 1 more day and caught and released another slot red.

Great Trip!!
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TexasJim
Posts: 726
Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:56 am
Location: Crockport

Re: Padre Island fishing, North and South

Post by TexasJim »

Great trip and report. I've been wanting to pull my skiff down to Arroyo City to fish the Laguna Madre. I think Adolf Thomae Park is the only Cameron County public ramp open. TexasJim
Ciguatera
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:40 am

Re: Padre Island fishing, North and South

Post by Ciguatera »

That was my first time down to the Laguna. Beautiful body of water. Will have to make it back there to fish sometime. When we drove up the island, it looked like all the bay side access sites were closed as well. You might look at access on the mainland side. Good luck!
TarponTime
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:49 pm

Re: Padre Island fishing, North and South

Post by TarponTime »

Very few access points down here. KOA( long paddle to jetties) or The Pearl(beachside) are the only spots i know of unless you have a beachside owner friend. I pay for a private ramp to fish Laguna. Well worth it. And yes, we have beautiful water down here 95% of the time. Nice report. The jetties can get pretty hairy with PBs on flat days. But lots of fish.
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Killerbee
Posts: 454
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 7:37 am

Re: Padre Island fishing, North and South

Post by Killerbee »

Great report! Man a big snook is on my list !!
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