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Towboat Trash Member White Shrimper Boot Club

Joined: 25 May 2009 Posts: 615 Location: somewhere on 130 miles of beach
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 1:59 pm Post subject: PINS 11/7-11/8 |
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"Nope. Huh uh. They never picked up any of the bombs or whatnot from the bombing runs. No, they had an observer. He flew, oh, I'd say at the 300 foot level. Maybe five, three to five foot. But he flew around the perimeter so that he wouldn't get in the way of their dives, and he was the observer for each one of 'em. Then they had what we called--they called--a banjo. It was on observation place. It was all solid glass in front, and it had--well, it looked like a banjo, you know--it had the degrees marked on it, the degree of dives. And they had radio contact with the planes on their degree of dives. This other fellow, he was observing there how well they were doing shooting. And the other thing that they did, they towed targets. One plane would tow a target. It was made out of nylon. Something that was about that big around and about 15 feet long. And they strung it out in back of the tow plane, oh, I'd guess it was five or six hundred feet. And, of course the ammunition that these other boys had that were diving on it, shooting it, the ammunition--the da*n bullets some way or another had paint on them. And when it went through this sleeve they'd leave that mark, you know, it'd be red or green--whatever it was....well that was a target. According to what they told me once that the commander that had those stations--in charge of 'em--he said that's where they sent all the outlaws, the Navy outlaws."
--Oral interview with Louis Rawalt via Bob Whistler, August 1978
"Talking to LTC Taylor was amazing. He said it was a free for all, strafing cattle, bombing catle, firing missiles at cattle, etc."
--a fellow historian discussing an interview with one of the WW2 trainer pilots
"What they'd do is, they'd send out a plane about 30 minutes ahead and if there was any of the cattle in there, he'd buzz 'em--you know, to chase 'em out. 'Cuase every time they killed one of them dam*ed cows over there Burton would jump the Navy and he**, some of them dam*ed old cows wasn't worth $15 and he'd get $300 a head for 'em...I used to tell him,"Dam* it, Burton, what are you doing? Running some of those old buzzards in there that are about to die?"
--Oral interview with Louis Rawalt via Bob Whistler, August 1978
"And these boys would make their runs and turn those .50 calibers loose and, oh he**, they'd miss that dam*ed target by 400 yards and hit that dune over there. And a norther would come up and blow that sand on the back side to the lagoon and all these .50 calibers would roll down to the bottom. They were stuck in those sandhills, you know. I'd go over there and get a bucket full of those things. They were brass, but they were filled with lead. And I'd just build a healthy fire and get some hot coals and I'd just pour a bunch of them in there. Melt that lead out, and the lead would go down in the sand,the fire would burn out and you could pull it away, and here you'd have a big sheet of lead to make my sinkers out of."
--Oral interview with Louis Rawalt via Bob Whistler, August 1978
"Clock makes a fool of history,
Yesterday's so long ago, don't agree with what I know..
I see the line in the sand,
Time to find out who I am.
Looking back to see where I stand,
Evolution,
Evolution.
--"Evolution," Motorhead, 2004
A wild streak is a hard horse to break in a person, and a rebel hair is either massively American, or will wind you up in lockup, getting to listen to rap artists beat on the glass and walls as they compose hits for when they get out. But there's truly no way under this same old shining sun not to turn Motorhead up so loud that the rafters quake and the floor trembles and my drumsticks break in half and go flying across the drum room where I keep a 7 piece Pearl Export Series with 8 cymbals.....
But that's besides the point and off topic. Having worked a month straight this go round, and then spending an entire 7 days with little baby, it was time for a quick 24 trip to the sand before work on Friday. With the weather rapidly going to detoriate starting Tuesday afternoon, I got on the sand as soon as possible Monday morning to do some backside missions and then shark for the night way down Fransisco Vasquez land.
Over the top, away and gone...
"I know and you know it's true,
Move over I'm coming through..."
And the sand was looking right, but it wouldn't last long with the front on it's way...
And rather quickly, I was pulled over and suited up to complete the morning's mission. Go find a WWII navy bombing range visual training aid.
And I found not much hand changed with the vegetation in my absence at work, as we've still been under record heat until just recently.
But I wait all year just to see the seacoast bluestem wave in the northern winds...after all these years it never gets old for me.
But the Runyon's sunflowers had spread in number a little bit.
And there were no Golden Monarchs, their migration already having carried them south but there were plenty of Common Buckeye/Mangrove Buckeye. Hard to tell with seeing the ventral surfaces as the dorsals look the same on both. Thanks for the help again with butterflies Charles! They say these eyespots on their backs serve to startle or distract predators such as birds!
And some bushy bluestem.
But the butterfly food, Padre Island Mistflower-was looking like it was done blooming for the winter...
And there I was, at my destination.
Doesn't look like much does it?
But it is.
This would be the visual aid for bombing range...let's call it Nicodemus.
This is the arrow's head.
Here is a satellite image of said arrow aid.
Pretty cool.
And this would be a doggone tick! Not again!
So I got on back to the beach, loaded up, and headed south...
And counted plovers of all types, Ring billed gulls, ruddy turnstones, and on and on as I went.
But my soul was unsettled and my mind wasn't totally invested. I guess I didn't know then what I know now. Sometimes getting off the beach after a few days things have happened, things have changed...
And the sun's rays hid from me as I fished shrimp and fishbites south, trying to find pomps....
But there weren't any to be had for me that day, and I had to switch to live bait and go round up some mullet.
And just like that, I again thought about how the edge of the sea is a place of washed up dreams not meant to be, a place of no constants except continual change and movement and wind and tides. But how it still draws so many of us to its shores.
But I found my mullet laid up down deep on bottom, and filled the livewell.
And got to it.
And this past week's 7 day high tides and swells had caused so much erosion, so much change, that the whole beach had been altered.
And miles and miles south, I finally landed one lone Spanish, first fish of the day.
And I watched the suspended sediments left over from the storm swell make their way back to the water's edge as the swell subsided and the seas continued to calm.
And was thankful for the day.
And I got where I wanted to be for the night, not too impressed by the lack of lure or bait fishing success that day. And I began setting up shark camp.
Man's best friend on the beach.
Just enjoying being alone, I set up my rig and spread 'em out and thawed a fresh grander Jack in the late afternoon sun's warmth.
And I rigged up a bluefish, and split the jack into three baits.
And circle hooked the mid section.
And sun set on the shark camp of Vasquez and I.
And I roasted up some beans on the grill and some pork chops.
And around 230am...
There we were.
With likely mating scars...
A 7ft 1 inch female Bull shark, which appeared quite pregnant. They say bulls hunt alone...some accounts claim they don't migrate much. I had to wonder if this was the same fish I seem to keep catching every month in this spot. I'll bust this fish's butt the first night, and then never see her again.
But soon the morning came and the winds blew from the north and all the creatures hunkered down and the birds flew in those storm circles that they make...
And Fransisco Vasquez peeked out at me from the dune line and grinned, because he knew I'll be back again soon...
But on this morning it was little baby time, time to get home to my lil family and back from my journey into my own mind, into God's creation, into that special place where the sea meets the sand and folks go when they want their backs to dry land and their faces into the salty sea breezes...
And I filled my morning coffee, and went and sat on the dune, no one but myself for miles and empty miles upon empty miles of Island....
And the rains came and the north winds blew, but it was ok. In fact, it was all ok. No matter what would await me back in town, what tomorrow would hold, next week, or next year. Every last step across the sand on that Island, every night spent alone standing the night watch to baited rods, every ghost that roams the back island prairies, every memory of those who came before us there...none of these things have ever allowed me to go home weaker than when I arrived. And the same holds true for you.
And I suppose that my shrimp and fishbite plan was anything but successful, as I didn't catch nary a hardhead, much less a pomp. And only Spanish were to be had during the afternoon's solunar period on live mullet. Cut mullet wasn't producing. But I got to walk in the footsteps of the Navy WWII flight training boys, and I got to right-middle-finger-flick a hungry tick 12 feet from off my hand out across the bluestem into oblivion, and I got to royally tick off what is likely the same bull shark I catch every month in that spot. Only this time, on a 28/0 circle hook. And if there's anything that I do know, is that winter time is the special time on Padre. Being alone and with less folks around, feeling the cool north winds blow is a feeling unlike any other. And I do think that every ghost that roams those empty stretches of God's country feel it too, and I think they watch, listen, and see. And in the case of someone like myself, I think they get real close in late afternoon when a man can't see through the sun's lateday rays over the dunes just to watch, just to laugh, and just to feel alive again. As for you and I? We should be thankful for every day we have while we're here, just as alive as we choose to be.
Ya'll take good care and best fishing.
--Colin _________________ Protect Padre at all costs for future generations to use and enjoy and never forget our freedoms aren't free.
www.padreislandexpeditions.com
Last edited by Towboat Trash on Thu Nov 10, 2016 3:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm Full Grown Flour Bluffian

Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 3932
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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great report!!
bushy bluestem buddy....its a FACW.. (edge-of-wetland plant)...
becky _________________
Central Scrutinizer wrote: | Thanks for the Memories, Ranger Rick. |
ziacatcher wrote: | However I bet if you were fishing naked Ranger Rick would have a problem with that |
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HungerBuster Flour Bluffian in training
Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 371
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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A Great escape for the afternoon. Thanks for sharing brother. _________________ Fish ON! |
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shallowsport Full Grown Flour Bluffian

Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 3260 Location: Flour Bluff/Kingsville
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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Loved the post! _________________ "I do hunt and I do fish and I do not apologize to anyone that I hunt and fish." - Norman Schwarzkopf |
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david weber Bear Mullet
Joined: 29 Nov 2012 Posts: 118
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 5:30 pm Post subject: Your Zodiac |
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I have a Zodiac also. Where did you get the rear stabilizers? Do they help when busting through the surf? |
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Jetty Rat Horse Mullet

Joined: 12 Oct 2016 Posts: 125 Location: The Bluff
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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cool report, thanks! |
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ironmanstan Exalted Ruler of Flour Bluff

Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 12256
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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If anyone could have a tv show it's this guy. I would be a camera man but I don't like ticks or 🕷. I do like history. Fantastic report. _________________ I LIKE MINE FRIED. |
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deputydawg Full Grown Flour Bluffian

Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Posts: 1991 Location: Humble
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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ironmanstan wrote: | If anyone could have a tv show it's this guy. I would be a camera man but I don't like ticks or 🕷. I do like history. Fantastic report. |
I agree on the TV show or just a book! As usual great stuff. |
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Monkeychow33 Finger Mullet

Joined: 28 Oct 2011 Posts: 38 Location: Bluff
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the post, with all the pictures and reporting I almost feel like I tagged along. |
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JayandCoyote Flour Bluffian in training

Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 405 Location: Corpus Christi-Southside
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 12:37 am Post subject: |
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Nice report. Enjoy the baby. They get big quicker than you think. |
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ST1300 Pony Mullet
Joined: 08 Feb 2015 Posts: 73 Location: Pensacola Bay FL.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:55 am Post subject: |
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I enjoyed another great read. |
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drum head Finger Mullet
Joined: 30 Nov 2014 Posts: 18 Location: La Vernia, TX.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Always dreamed of going down the beach, you make my dream come true. |
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fishaddict Horse Mullet
Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 150
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2016 1:53 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Tow Boat. No one shows the beauty of that place better than you. Camping looks tough for a while.
Marshall & Dorinda _________________ lifesabeach |
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captfrankie Flour Bluffian in training

Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 269 Location: Port Aransas
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 10:17 am Post subject: trip |
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Saw you on our way down. Silver Dodge. Thanks for stopping to chat. Rained almost the entire time down to the jetties and back. _________________ Life is Good |
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Hoggeman Flour Bluffian in training

Joined: 29 Aug 2008 Posts: 480 Location: Dallas
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 1:54 pm Post subject: Well done |
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Thank you for taking time to post a great report!!!
Hoggeman _________________ Fin in the wind |
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