HACKED BY CYBER-ATTACK - ALPERENBTN

[Oz]

Literally.. PINS is on FIRE! Apparently whether or not there was any connection to the 'controlled' burn a couple weeks ago, one flared up on the national seashore I think yesterday or the day before and is BIG. Toasted LOTS of acres and the Feds don't look like they are interested stopping or reducing it. Don't know where it started but traveled a few miles down to the mid 20's and moving fast and likely to keep on going burning the rest of the island unless we get some rain. Walked up on one of the 'pre-burned' dunes and took some pics at dusk. Tons of Deer were going NUTS and freaking out.. probably a fawn trapped in a concave ring of fire.

Anyhow, here is a quickie report..

Headed down with Scott.. weather forecast looked good.. until we got out there. I knew that mega August Northern would mess things up.. just didn't know how bad. Anyway we hit the beach and it is filled with WEED.. solid down to Mansfield. It is like April all over again. Anyhow, we ran a couple baits (in rough as hell water) and they sat all day (with maintenance). Eventually Scott got a Bull Shark along with a Bull Red with mega healed Shark attack scars. I managed a couple Jacks and a Trout (Trout fishing was even tough with the all the weed). The skipjack are all over the place though.

Hopefully the winds will switch and blow some of this stuff out before the weekend. Water was still managing a somewhat 'Trout Green' but will be gone soon if the winds don't lay.

Sorry about the bad news guys.. but its the only thing happening right now.. LOL Although there was a report of a Tarpon being landed.
_________________
- Oz

eXtreme coast international

[Oz]

Here is one pic..


_________________
- Oz

eXtreme coast international

[Curmit]

Coupla jacks, sweet. Congrats to Old salt for the bulls, hopefully the weekend will be nicer and the weed will not be as bad.

[Curmit]

That is crazy about the fire, it sure seems like there isn't enough out there to sustain a fire for very long let alone all the way down the island.

[tfrench]

Congrats on the shark! Wish I would've stuck around long enough to see it.

[Old salt]

It's strange that they aren't doing anything to control this fire, which was started by a negligent camper or something on Saturday.

Whenever a person camps or walks around the dunes, a ranger crawls all over him. However, thousands of acres are burning, and they aren't trying to stop it.

Call me crazy, but I have a theory--they are letting a lot of acres burn so they can cry about the negative impact humans have on the beach. Between the turtles and the fire, they can argue that the beach should be shut down to people. Believe me, there are some federal powers that be that want to shut the beach down.

Anyway, I hope I am wrong about the situation.

[Curmit]

Yes Old Salt for once I hope you are wrong.

So T did you show the boys how to get things done and catch fish the right way.

[Guest]

Grass fires on the island have been started by intent, negligence, accident (like from sun focused through a bottle or an old headlight), or good ol' lightning for years. However they get going, they're hell to put out, with a good chance you'll stick a truck and have to watch it burn, too. Besides, they do very little permanent damage and often play an important role in the local ecology. That's where the "controlled" burn motivation comes from. Within months, those plants that adapted to natural fires on the island tens of thousands of years ago will be back, greener than even, and a lot of the exotic woody stuff that shouldn't be there, like salt cedar, will be history. Grass fires are usually only a pain in the butt when people put something in their paths, from a wooden fence to a multimillion-dollar mansion, that they swear needs protection. Doesn't justify setting them just because you're a pyromaniac, though. Leave the setting and the control to the experts.

[Big John]

I agree with Johnny that the fires are an important part of the ecology of the island, as they are in most environments.

Many of the grass seeds and other plants benefit from a rejuvination of the soil. Some seeds require a fire before they will germinate and form a new plant!

Fire is the only sure way to kill of the not native to Texas mesquite brush that plagues South Texas now. South Texas used to be a nice grassland coastal plain without a mesquite tree around. The Spainish settlers brought the seeds North over time in the bellys of the cows and horses they drove North.

You can already see vibrant green grasses growing up where the last burns happened.

It isn't for some hidden agenda that they let the fires burn in National Parks. It was policy in Yellowstone to fight them for decades, until recently they figured out that the forest was suffocating itself without the effects of fire to thin the old timber and rejuvinate the soils. Now, any naturally started fire is left to burn unless it threatens a campsite, lodge, etc, and then only to the extent it takes to save the structure/ people/ monuments, etc. Now the forest is making a comeback to its former glory, and the parks populations of wolves and pumas are starting to increase on their own without man's intervention. No part of Yellowstone was closed off to visitors that wasn't already closed either. No hidden agendas.
_________________
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke and hungry the rest of his life!

John Sullivan
Native Corpus Christian
Currently Displaced in San Antonio

[Old salt]

Wildfires certainly have a cleansing effect on the environment. New growth is essential for the system. However, a wildfire started by people burning thousands of acres can be a powerful tool in the potentially oncoming debate that the beach should not be dirtied by human contact.

[Bluffer]

We need rain, Sept is just around the corner

finally figured out how to post pics.
_________________
Fish hard, fish the Bluff. Surrounded by water!
-A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem-

[SURFCREEK]

PINS ON FIRE!!!! BUT THERE IS STILL FISH DOWN THE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO CATCH A BIG FISH NEXT WEEK

SURFCREEK