PINS Thanksgiving. 2002

Its that time of year, when I have to thank PINS for providing me with another year of entertainment.  The weather this year was working against me, strong (20 mph +) North wind and as cold as a witches tit. My mate Spur comes with me, not expecting to do much fishing, we still go.

This is a boys day out and together we ride the beach like a couple of old farts digging through trash, turning logs and just looking and sniffing. Here is a picture of the first bit of trash we found.

Spur climbs on it, has a look at it, sits on it, has his picture taken on it, jumps off it and we talk about it.

“bet that cost a lot of money if you had to get a new one” $1000 or maybe $2000 was the conclusion”.

Bumped into to Billy Sandifer, who was plugging for trout. Don’t think I have ever seen Billy with that many clothes on. I pulled up to him as he was busy trying to remove a Mirror lure from his woolly glove. What you doing mate. “ Just paying a visit to mamma was his reply. A lot of the knowledge I have gained about PINS has come from Billy. Sometimes it’s not what he says but what he don’t say that has got the answer you might be looking for.  I asked him “where are the mullet we need for bait”, “ Nick it’s a north wind and -40 degrees, I know you have seen that the mullet in a North wind will always move offshore and go deep.

“I’m heading south” I told him and of we went. PINS will always teach you a lesson or show you something if you look hard enough. I finally arrived at the jetty's at Mansfield, 60 plus miles south of the last bit of blacktop you see on PINS.

Plan A. Water cold and getting colder, must start the flounder moving off the flats, through the Mansfield jetty’s to the stable water temperature of deep water.  I did see the Ultimate Power fisherman. and his mates over on the south Jetty’s working the strong south current. I would have liked to pay them a visit but unlike the surfers I was not going to swim across the channel to just say, “hello”.  After freezing our butts off for about an hour, trying to catch a flounder, we decided that it was just not going to happen. Plan B. Lets head back north and see if we can catch some reds in the dirty water. If only we had a mullet. Driving back north, we could see birds on one of the cuts that had been created by the last hurricane, which is now land locked. One of the things that I have learned on PINS is that the birds are far better fishermen than I will ever be. “Now why are they on that bit of water,”

We  parked up and walked to the salt water lake behind the dunes. It was just full of mullet, fighting for their life trying to head to the Gulf that was cut off from them by about 200 yds of sand.  (Remember, “Nick, it’s a north wind, I know you have seen that the mullet in a North wind will always move offshore and go deep”.) They were so thick that we scooped them up by hand. I have been back to this lake before to look for bait but have never seen any movement. The cold had had made them all move to the skinny water in a futile attempt to get to deep water and warmth.  (If ever I come back, please don’t make me a mullet.) I was trying to think how the heck do you get warm if you’re a fish. It would be like running around on the beach with no arms and the temperature is 30 degrees and getting colder. (We got bait.)  I reassured Spur that we would get some Reds out of this nasty looking water now.  Heading North I again come face to face with how tough life could be if you are not a human sitting in a bright yellow Suburban heading north whilst listening to Bob Dylan. (I have been gifted with a set of eyes that can spot a pimple on an Elephants arse at about a 1/2 a mile. Cant read a newspaper without bifocals, but I can see that pimple.) I noticed two things race out of the dunes towards the surf. One of them had gone into the surf. I had to go another ¼ of a mile until we could see that it was two coyotes. I raced up to them, surprising them, as they were involved in a fight. The one on the shore was trying to kill the other one. They started running, the one on the beach making for the dunes. The weaker of the two would not, it just moved a few feet from us. Scared and badly hurt.

The picture does not show the blood that was coming from its ears; it does show the fur that had been ripped from its back.  “If ever I come back as a coyote, please lord make me the meanest on the block”.  As we headed back north we stopped and fished, and had some of the best beef stew you could get on a cold day.  The stew was donated by Surfgirl, so that me and Spur would not go hungry on our pilgrimage. No, we did not catch one fish. We did not get cold. We did not pick up that chunk of wood that Spur was convinced anyone would pay at least $200 for. We did talk about the great fishing we had last week and some of the fish we have caught this year on PINS. The greatest fishing hole I have ever fished in my life. 

Thank you PINS for another great year. Regards Billy, Spur and Nickaway

Billy 2002 Red

Nick Trout 2002

Spur Red 2002

Padre Island National Seashore 2002 AKA. PINS.