HACKED BY CYBER-ATTACK - ALPERENBTN

[diceman]

i was just curiious to see if any one was familiar with devil's elbow in the gulf of mexico. i read that it is the current that fish travel through the gulf in when migrassting through seasons. is there any truth to this. i also was wandering what the fishing was like on pins this past weekend, i still havent seen a report

[Torpedo]

Devil's Elbow is the area from the 29 to about the 41, it got its name from the two survivors from the 1554 shipwrecks. About 300 Spaniards were shipwrecked after a supposed hurricane. They landed on the barrier island and were greeted by the native Karankawa Indians with food. For some reason, several days later the indians began a relentless attack on the Spaniards as they trecked South towards Mexico. All were killed but two survived, one stayed with the wreck and was later rescued. The other, a monk, was left for dead after being wounded in the neck with an arrow he was buried in a shallow grave and survived the ordeal. Upon their return to Spain they recounted the terrible ordeal they had undergone. They were then asked where this had happened and they pointed to an area on the gulf coast which to them resembled a human elbow or a crook in the coast line. Since it looked like an elbow and the Karawanka indians killed and cannabalized many they were seen as devils. Hence "Cotho del Diablo", "Codo del Diablo" and now "Devil's Elbow".

There have been several references to Devils Elbow as the farthest outreach in the Gulf and where the continental shelf drops which is basically in line with the Elbow. There are also references to the area below Baffin Bay inland as the Devils Elbow. All this is in line with weather bouy 42020. I have researched several different sources Including talking to Capt. Billy Sandifer about it. there are several versions of what Devil's Elbow is.

I went back and researched back to the 1500s and what elbow they could have pointed to. The landscape on PINS has changed dramatically over the years especially with hurricanes. It is important to take the history from different sources and look at different maps to determine what Devil's Elbow actually is. This Map is one of the crude maps they had in the mid 1500s, from about 1562 and it is important to look at the big picture and see what the Spaniards saw back then. Note that it is a general reference and the entire gulf coast looks like an arm with the elbow being in what would be the Southern Texas Coast and the hand being the Yucatan Peninsula.



I asked Captain Sandifer where it was and he replied with the following:

"Ralph Wade has the longest time of any living surf fisher on Padre. He taught me to trout fish down there many years ago. My childhood hero was a man named Louis Rawalt. He lived on the island for many years in tents, etc. and didn't move inland till the children became school age and he felt they should go to school so he moved to Flour Bluff. He built and ran the Coastway Baitstand under the JFK bridge till his death. I asked Ralph Wade where El Cotho del Diablo was many years ago and he said he did not know but that his ol' fishing buddy, Louis Rawalt, had always said it was from the 29 to the 41 mile marks. Louis knew more about the island than any one man in history and if that was what he thought it was good enough for me."

So take it for what its worth, I spent many hours researching "Devil's Elbow" and from what I have gathered its where the Old Salts say. As for the currents the Northern Current from the Mississippi and the Southern Campeche Bay current converge on the "Big Shell" area and just South of Big Shell is where Devil's Elbow" begins. The beach changes here, less trash, better driving to the 40s. This is where the climate goes from semi-arid to semi-tropical. It is more important to learn how to read the beach and fish it hard more than anything else.

I have been in the process of writing an article on Devil's Elbow for several months now but have been putting it off. There is quite a bit more info as well as pictures that I have collected. Thanks for your interest, it sure rekindled mine. I think I will now sit down and finish my project...tomorrow.

Hope this helps.

Rudy

[GoinCoastal]

Wow........ I just love Texas History. I knew of the infamous Spanish wreck & 2 survivors. I had never heard the reference to Devil's Elbow. Very cool!!!!

Thanks for the post!
joe
_________________
GoinCoastal aka Cap'nSherbet

[Guest]

Two more things about the lore of the Devil's Elbow. First is that the confluence of the north and south coastal longshore currents moves with the seasons, and perhaps its average location coincides with somewhere near Big Shell. That makes it a great focus for things set adrift in both, and thus for beachcombing. Found an 11-foot-tall cypress knee (went to the CC Museum) and two kitchen sinks in the Devil's Elbow, for example.

The second is that its weather often seems totally unlike what you just left in Corpus Christi, especially in the wintertime. Have seen it rainy and cold in CC in January, then driven into sunshine and 70-degree temps at the Elbow. Got a hell of a sunburn on New Year's Day '66 wearing just a swinsuit at Coyote Pass.

[Big Ed]

Thanks for the story. Was really interesting. Have seen Billy S. coment on the devils elbow several times, but was never really sure where it was. Billy's reference to Louis Rawalt Broght back some old memories. In about 1969 I worked for the old George Young Toyota in downtown Corpus. They had a Land Cruiser with, believe it or not, 15" aircraft landing tires. Those tires were huge for the time, and no tread really, just grooves that ran around the circumfrence. For its' time it was as capable as any vehicle running the beach. The sales manager at the dealership was aware that I knew Roy Swann who was the outdoors writer for the Caller-Times and told me I ought to set up a trip down the beach with Roy and get the Land Cruiser a little publicity. I set things up with Roy, and we stopped at the bait stand on the way out and picked up Lewis Rawalt about 5:00 am one summer day. We drove all the way to the Mansfield Jetties stopping to plug with Mirrow Lures and gold spoons on the way down. Don't even remember catching anything, but just listening to Roy's and Mr Raywalt's stories for several hours was a treat I'll never forget. Although I had been fishing the beach for 3 or 4 years, I learned more that trip than many people do in a lifetime, mostly from Mr. Raywalt.
P.S. look at the Texas Fishing records and note the size of the Snook that Lewis Raywalt caught on the island.
_________________
Big Ed
San Antonio

[FlakMan]

Snook 57.5 0 01/01/37 Gulf of Mexico Louis Rawalt
_________________
Ahh sand between my toes!

[Curmit]

Killer info on the island guys, most of us know bits and pieces but that was all the inbetween for me.

Damn to break the record I gotta catch a snook bigger than 57.5" gonna be hard to do.

[galvbay]

Do any of you old-timers remember the Red Dot Baitstand on the IC? It was located almost where Snoopy's is (closer to the bridge). I think the old guy running it was named Ace Kimbrel. There was also a old houseboat on the north side of the road that another old fishmerman had. I think his name was Art Mostello. Why and how I remember these things 40 years later...who knows! They did make a impression on me though! galvbay

[Oz]

Curmit.. that is 57.5lbs, not inches.. LOL
_________________
- Oz

eXtreme coast international

[Curmit]

Oh man I am screwed I thought I had a chance at it. I already got one between 32" and 34" and I thought that was a monster, LOL.

The record fish could have eaten my monster, damnit jim.

Oh well guess I better start targeting another fish to break a record. What is the record for hardhead, LOL got a few bigguns of those too.

[Bluffer]

Ya, I remember Ace and red dot baitstand. Think he got out of it right after they took the old swing bridge down and built the current bridge now over the ICW.
_________________
Fish hard, fish the Bluff. Surrounded by water!
-A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem-

[Guest]

The first spoil island north of the JFK Causeway (NE of the intersection of the GIWW and Packery Channel) is Rawalt Island. Don't know how it got the name, except maybe it's because you could look right at it from Rawalt's baitstand. It's been a bird rookery for years, and is where the pelicans, brown and white, hang out between gorging at the cleaning tables along the causeway. Had to remind the Corps of Engineers about this a few years ago so they wouldn't destroy the trees, much less the nests in them, when they were planning where to dump the spoil from the re-opening of Packery. Next time you're cleaning fish nearby, recall this appropriate memorial to him.

[Old salt]

I'm looking forward to the story.

[Curmit]

Let us know when you get the article done Torpedo, I can't wait to read it.

[Crhfish]

I too can't wait for the full story. You have a gift with the words that I wish I had.
_________________
Catch, Release, Catch, Release