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Come Experience The Natural World Of Padre Island
National Seashore With Captain Billy Sandifer!
Welcome
With nearly 50 years experience fishing the waters of the Laguna Madre, Baffin Bay,
and
Padre Island, Captain Billy Sandifer has long been recognized as an expert on
all types of Texas saltwater fishing.
Sandifer Charters:
- Nearshore Gulf
- Bay Lite Tackle
- Big Game
- Surf Lite Tackle
- Surf Shark
- Fly Fishing
- Kayak Trips
- Birding
- Sea Turtle Nesting
- Sea Shell
His renowned surf fishing trips down the Padre Island National Seashore
have been the subject of numerous TV shows and magazine and newspaper
articles most recently with BILL SHERCK OF "LEGENDS WITH ROD AND
REEL"
The surf produces trout, whiting, and keeper redfish all year long
with huge trout available in numbers in winter!
Fishing report 06/23/2009
Roy and Patty Moore of Burnet, Tx. and Barbara Agan with pompano and redfish from their and Andy Agan's charter down PINS 22 June.
It's turning pretty. Lots of whiting. 5 pompano is a suprise this time of year. Driving is fine. No Sargassum. Quite a bit activity
offshore from 22 mile beach South. Be courteous to the other guy. It's his beach too.
See ya' Capt. Billy
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Fishing report 06/18/2009
I have been to the Mansfield jetties and back 2 of the past 3 days and fishing is extremely slow. Water has turned green to the 20 mile
this afternoon but is murky South of there. Occasional mullet are seen but catching has been whiting, rat reds and hardheads only.
Shark fished a couple of spots with cast baits today with no success. Waves are 5' and at close intervals and the current is racing
Northbound. I could barely stand up on the bar to cast long rods due to the current. Driving is o.k. except where people block the
beach and 4 wheel high is required in a few spots in the Big Shell. It's real simple. The wind has got to stop blowing 30 mph + every
day before action picks back up in the surf. Sargassum is not a problem. Lack of fish is. Rangers are keeping busy up around the end
of the pavement so watch your speed.
16th June 2009
Saw 4 bails of marijuana picked up by a Game Warden between the 6-8 mile beach and later learned
1,300 pounds were found along the coast.
Be Safe, Capt. Billy
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B. J. Brooks and Steven Naylor of Round Rock
with a bale of marijuana found at the 6 mile mark 16th June 2009
Fishing report 06/11/2009
Very tough day on the PINS beach yesterday. Tides are high and the 4-5' seas are actually 6-7'. Tremendous North bound current making all
fishing extremely difficult along with winds of 36 mph. We are presently trapped in a "wind tunnel" due to the low pressure positioned over
the central U.S.A. and things are forecast to remain that way through at least Tues. It has led me to cancel my charter for tomorrow.
Some Sargassum is present as are bait fish but the fish have "lock jaw" and I don't think that will change for the weekend. It's a good
weekend to do something else. A special thanks to beach visitors Jim and Mary Robinson, who pulled me out of a hole yesterday when the 4
wheel drive went out in my truck. I'm laying this old veteran truck to rest today and fitting out it's replacement.
Be safe. Capt. Billy
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Customers Bill Montgomery and Carl Leafsledt of San Antonio restraining the turtle while Shauna does her lab work
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Female turtle covering her eggs and packing down the sand on top of them
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Nesting Turtle
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Turtle tech Shauna Erlolacci taking measurements
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"Homeward Bound"
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"I'm Outta Here"
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Fishing report 06/04/2009
Trout are still in good supply and size scattered along the beachfront and topwater lures are providing the best action. Today there were
LOTS of 15 pound average Jack Crevalle running in and out of the holes in the wade gut in small groups and singles. A friend reported casting
a shark bait on a long rod and getting stripped of all line without hope of stopping him. Large schools of Spanish Mackerel and Skipjacks were
present nearshore with large numbers of birds working them. There are LOTS of finger and pony mullet in the surf and the presence of these
finger mullet is unusual here during the month of June. Fresh Sargassum was present in medium/heavy amounts on the first 15 miles of beachfront
but there really wasn't all that much in the surf. The beach was unusually crowded today so you know it's going to be wall to wall again this
weekend. I think it's due to the economy. People doing the alternative vacation deal and instead of taking one large and expensive vacation
they are staying closer to home and going to the beach. I think we are going to have unusually heavy beach traffic this Summer. Water was
clear and beautiful.
Good fishin' Capt. Billy
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Fishing report 06/01/2009
Large numbers of good sized to trophy sized speckled trout showed up in the Padre Island surf on Wed. 27 May and have remained in good supply
since. Topwater bite is best but if they toy with the topwaters switch to Bass Assassins and they'll take them. Color choices have changed
every 2-3 days. The trout are present the entire length of N. Padre Island surf. Scattered Jack Crevalle averaging 16# are being encountered
daily as are Atlantic Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel.
Gabe Goodman landed tagged and released an 11' 6" female Tiger the afternoon of Sat. May 30. James Clark of San Antonio landed, tagged
and released an 8' 8" male Lemon Shark and a 8' 4" female Bull Shark. Several other large sharks were hooked and lost and several 5 1/2'
Lesser Blacktipped Sharks were caught. Sargassum is present in varying amounts from one location to the next. Driving is o.k. A bit bumpy
due to the Sargassum on the beach.
Remember it is nesting Kemp Ridley Sea Turtle Nesting Season and the speed limit is 15 mph. Report any turtles seen on the beach but do not
interfere with one laying eggs.
Good fishin' Capt. Billy
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Jeff Wolda of Bulverde, TX. and his dad, Don Wolda, with Don's 5# topwater speckled trout.
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Jeff immediately followed his dad's 5 pounder up with one of his own.
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John Holbrook of Carolina with a nice topwater speck Fri. May 29,09
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Fishing report 05/28/2009
Beach/Fishing Update
Trout, Ladyfish (Skipjacks) and large Jack Crevalle were encountered today fishing with topwaters. Water is beautiful but there is quite a
bit of fresh Sargassum which is going to make long rodding and shark fishing difficult. Driving in the Big Shell area should have improved
following recent rains.
See ya' on the sand. Capt. Billy
Fishing report 05/21/2009
Gary Wilson with a 16 lb. Jack Crevalle, Roy Thompson with a 27 1/8" Redfish and Larry Wilson with a 5 lb. Speckled Trout. Water has cleared
and is pretty green to at least the 39 mile. We never went South of the 39. Driving is tedious, slow going and bumpy on high tide and good
on falling tide. Fresh Sargassum is present in varying degrees along most of the beachfront with more coming in from offshore. Pony mullet
showed up thick South of the 25 mile in early afternoon and the Jack Crevalle were scattered along the beach but not visable and not schooled
up. Individual fish. Some Skipjacks were encountered at the 15 mile early, there were lots of hardheads and few whiting. Topwater bite didn't
happen today. Long rod fishing and kayaking shark baits is going to be tedious due to Sargassum and large breaking swells. Be careful and be
courteous as we all know it's going to be a mad house down there this weekend.
See ya' on the sand. Capt. Billy
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Fishing report 05/19/2009
I spent Friday the 15th. fishing the entire shore line of PINS. Water was green to the 15 mile then turned muddy and stayed that way to
the jetty with no visable activity. Small scattered patches of Sargassum were encountered but they did not interfere with fishing. The
36 mph SE wind did and catching was confined to whiting and hardhead catfish. There are lots of fish in the area; we simply have to get
out of this wind tunnel we've been in and the beach is really going to produce well. Scattered speckled trout have been reported and I
think there are lots of sharks present. Driving was good and we drove out front both ways. Those intending to fish the holdiay weekend
need to be aware of the tropical presence off Florida as it is possible that it could cause unusually high tides with the forecast E and NE
winds.
The bite is on in the bay systems and has been getting better each day with new Gulf water bringing in large numbers of Speckled trout,
ladyfish and some Jack Crevalle. Activity is so far confined to the Land Cut, Yarborough and Eastern portion of Baffin Bay. On a bay charter
Sat. the 16th. we got a late start and were absolutely overwhelmed by the number of boats present in the bay system. Trying to avoid the crowd
I went into the back of Baffin and found that the water turned brown slightly West of Los Corrales and it remained that way throughout the
Western part of the bay. We did manage scattered trout in the ULM but the problem is one we will be seeing more of for the rest of the year
in the bays. Too many boats. Avoid weekends if possible. Pictured is Jeff Svejkovy of Wyoming with a nice speck on his first ever salt water
fishing trip.
Capt. Billy L. Sandifer
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