Tag Archives: corpus christi

Harbor Island Crude Refinery

There has been a lot of talks about the sale of Harbor Island, not more than a hop skip and a jump across the Corpus Christi Ship Channel from the city of Port Aransas, which has a population of 3,400 wonderful people. Approximately 250 acres of land has been up for sale and Martin Midstream seemed to have won the bid. Until now…

refinery, environment, port aransas, corpus christi, harbor island, zoning, petition, caller times

November 13, 2013 Caller Times newspaper article

It didn’t take long and a petition was started on Change.org . A website where not only locals can petition our officials but also gives the opportunity for the tourists who frequent Port Aransas to join the petition. This web petition was started in order to request a change of the zoning for this area to a lighter zoning. It is currently zoned as “heavy industrial” and this designation opens the doors to many types of industries which are all known to cause serious harm to the environment.

Now, it is looks like the Port Commission backed out of the sale to turn Harbor Island into a crude oil refinery. That’s great news but the reasons cited for the Port backing out of the deal was because not everyone had a fair opportunity to bid on the sale of the ~250 acres. The City acquired the island some time ago from Exxon/Fina who used it as an oil tank farm and began a cleanup of the island. Don’t let this fool you, more action is needed.

TPWD Lighthouse Lakes Paddling Trail Webpage

Now, facing even heavier industrialization, Harbor Island is relatively clean to the spectators who drive the highway as they come to visit its many access points for recreational activities such as kayaking, birding, fishing, camping, and sea shell hunting. Texas’ first Kayaking Trail was established here, the Lighthouse Lakes Paddling Trails.

Instead of turning it into an even bigger wasteland (and surrounding areas). Wouldn’t it would be nice if we could convince the city not only to eliminate the heavy industrial zoning but to also designate Harbor Island as an environmentally protected recreation area?

Lighthouse Lake #5 Less than 2 miles from Harbor Island

Main feeding populations of fish reaching hundreds of thousands of fish, if not millions if species were combined, including bull redfish pushing 40″, use the surrounding waterways as feeding zones and congregating places. Thousands of highly migratory birds also roost in the many mangrove cays that make up the island and its surroundings. And that’s just a smidgeon of all the species of animals and plants that call Harbor Island home. Many species of crabs and other crustaceans also call these marine estuaries home. And, to top it all off, these estuaries serve as a nursery for many species of animals, where bait which spawn offshore come into these estuaries and use them from the time they are babies as a sanctuary in order to survive and grow.

A crude oil refinery would certainly ruin this place on land and in the water for at least a 20 mile radius not only from the smell but also from the increase in average water temperatures due to the refinery using the water to cool the plants engines. I wont go into details about what kind of pollutants this will add to the ground water (well water) and especially the saltwater. This would could entirely eliminate the great revenue that tourism in this area produces. That would be a waste of another, and in an already thriving industry, Tourism. Our local tourism industry had record numbers this year and is better to visit with all the wonderful people that come to visit, than to see another city of amber lights billowing harmful pollutants into the very air we breathe.

If you asked what brings these kinds of levels of tourism, the number one answer is that Nature is drawing them. From the clean, oil and tar ball free beaches, to the jetties, piers, inlets, marinas and mangrove cays which provide these tourists the out of doors experience they are all seeking. Maybe its a break from the normalcy of living in the city, where grass and sand and in most cities, tree do not exist. Where there are few “wild things”, living, breathing, eating, just like you and I. There is always an aura about any small fishing village on an island, and that is usually one of peace, tranquility, and relaxation. That would be the true losses this place would suffer if heavy industry is allowed to build on Harbor Island. The longstanding Culture of Port Aransas would also suffer in my opinion, and it was the culture in the community along with the fabulous ecology of this area that brought us here in the first place. It would be difficult for me to continue living in this place with heavy industry pounding on my front door, on the fabulous Harbor Island.

As indicated on the Change.org petition site, the city of Port Aransas will be meeting at the end of this month regarding the zoning and will discuss it then. It is a good thing that the sale to Martin Midstream fell through as this shows that our officials may be hearing our voices.

With enough public reach through the petition and through the normal government channels provided, this treasure trove of an island can remain as the serene and ecological playground we all work so hard to enjoy whether you are a year-round resident or a visitor which calls this place their home away from home.

Youthfully optimistic, Capt Kenjo
Kenjo Fly Fishing Charters
Port Aransas, Texas

Fall Fishing South Texas Saltwater

double rainbow, port aransas, texas, gulf, coast, saltwater, fly fishing

Port Aransas Double Rainbow over Harbor Island

While it has been awhile since I have posted any reports or stories, I can assure you I have been busy chasing the local tail. While on the water very little attention has been given to the camera, and more time has been spent with rods in hand and tighter lines. As with any fishing experience, there have been some great days for catching, and some great days for fishing. That being said, it goes without saying that there is no such thing as a bad day of fishing!

A perfect example of what some might argue as a bad day of fishing versus an epic night of fishing is when you get spooled 4 times in one night of hunting tarpon.

tarpon, silver king, fly fishing, spin fishing, full moon, jetty

This little silver king graced us with its presence and allowed us this quick opportunity for a photo.

Somehow though I still felt the need to apologize to my crew for finding tarpon that were too big to catch with the equipment we had to use. Never in my life did I anticipate apologizing for this reason, especially because of the epicness of the tarpon hunt. But, because of the beating we all took during that trip, it was worth cracking my apology as the joke of the year. Hell, before the trip even started when picking up the crew from the airport I felt my own nervousness showing through, something inside me knew that it was going to be the sickest fishing trip that any of the 8 of us had ever experienced in a total of 120 years of combined fishing experience.

phil shook, lydia ann lighthouse, red fish, texas, saltwater, fly fishing

A scrappy young of year redfish comes to hand near the Lydia Ann Lighthouse with author Phil Shook.

Redfish and trout are still in the bay and reports of big black drum are starting to trickle in steadily from local sources.

With the cool Norther that we are getting right now as I write this article, the fish should respond well to the dramatic change in weather patterns are start putting on the feed bag in order to fatten up for the impending winter season.

protected, seagrass, Pelican, saltwater, flyfishing, flats

Lest we not forget, seagrasses are protected. This sign is posted at the Southwest entrance to Brown and Root Flats

Next weeks weather patterns are looking excellent, with a little bit of rain later on in the week (fish are already wet and don’t care if it rains). We should have calm seas with moderate winds early in the week and should make stalking redfish and trout pretty exciting.

A sad thing I have noticed alot of people doing recently is that they are running their motors across the flats. For those of you with your own shallow running boats, take the time to respect the law, and more importantly, the environment from which we take so much pleasure.

Stop your outboard motors at the edge of the flats and either get out and push, or use a push pole or trolling motor to get your boats onto and off of the flats. With a little research of the maps and some forethought, you will find short routes on and off the flats for quick trip, or longer routes if you have more time. Use the wind to your advantage to help push your skiff onto the flat, and if you plan your route correctly, the wind and tides will help you move your boat off of the flat just as easily so that you do not exhaust yourself.

Please be mindful of all the plants and animals on which we tread. I am certain that if a redfish could, it would be waving the “Dont tread on me” flag as well.

If you are interested in booking a fly or spin charter for redfish, trout, drum or flounder, I have This Sunday November 10th available and Wednesday the 13th of November. Give me a call or email to get in on the action.

Keeping the hooks sharp,
Capt Ken Jones (ken@kenjofly.com)
361-500-2552 – Port Aransas, Texas – Certified Wildlife Guide

Nearshore Fly Fishing the Texas Gulf

fly fishing, jacks, port aransas, texas, gulf, mexico, guide

Feisty jack crevalle on fly

On the third day of a successful Texas Tarpon Hunt with a score of 1/6, the poon eluded me the 3rd day and just before a strong warm front hit. The full moon certainly have the seas roiled up and will be so for the next few days. Looks like the break from the winds will come Thursday and I am looking forward to getting back on the water.

Doubled up with jack crevalle blitz

Saturday afternoon’s clients absolutely tore up the jack crevalle fly fishing with top water popping flies and glass minnow or bay anchovy flies. The action was nonstop with many double hookups on these little young of year jacks. I absolutely lost count of how many fish we caught. Kudos to Eric and Dakota for not letting the wind get the best of them and holding fire until the boat was in good position! Their quick and short casts with few false casts had these guys hooked up constantly. It was great unhooking one fish from the port side then having another one to unhook already boat side on the starboard.

A few days prior the tarpon were feeding well, and 2 have been jumped while blind casting. Don’t hesitate to methodically and thoroughly work a likely area. You never know, a 4-footer might just surprise you! Also remember to check every hook for sharpness when you tie it onto your leader and check it frequently while fishing. Lost fish shouldn’t come from dull hooks!

Some dates are available for charters on the flats for big redfish with a single angler, or near shore trips up to 2 anglers using fly and spin gear as provided. Feel free to give me a call (361-500-2552) or email (ken@kenjofly.com) for more information.

fly, fishing, texas, gulf, mexico, coast, saltwater, jack crevalle

Jack Crevalle Blitzing near shore the Texas Gulf Coast

Fishing Port Aransas Flats & Nearshore

Fly fishing the Gulf of Mexico

It has been “one of those times” …when you don’t get on the water as much as you want, and you know it would never be enough even if you did…

Big Bluefish for being this far South in the Gulf of Mexico

When this struggle begins, and its not all under your control, it is easy to be satisfied by using whatever kind of equipment falls into your hands for more than 15 minutes. There is great satisfaction in the simple action of merely catching a fish (alive), admiring how extremely vivid its coloration is, morally respecting the fish’s willingness to fight for its own existence, then releasing it (still alive) back to the water so it can continue its own adventurous life throughout the mighty seas that this brave fish calls home.

redfish, fly fishing, Corpus Christi, flats, saltwarer, poppers

The BIG one got away

A recent saltwater flats trip with a solo fly angler proved that there are some bigger than usual redfish in the 30inch class making good game in areas where only the skinny flats skiffs can reach them.

It is mandatory though that the fly be placed carefully near and in front of the fish.

No need to start a retrieve as these fish have been eating the fly instantly when it hits the water and certainly before you can recover the slack from overshooting the line. Any 10 minutes in your yard spent practice casting to improve efficiency, accuracy and stealth will prove to be more than worth the effort when a 30 inch redfish eats your fly at 30 feet faster than you can set the hook. When sight casting these fish it is best to only use 1 false cast and lay down a straight leader, and prepare for the strip strike just as the fly hits the water.

kingfish, mackerel, gulf of mexico, live bait

Birthday Girl gets a King as a Grand Prize!

Nearshore fishing has also been dependable with King Mackerel action taking the lead. Ling are still present and are suckers for live menhadden. Red snapper in the inshore state waters are present as well with some keepers in the mix. The False albacore (a.k.a. bonito) are also around with the spanish mackerel and if you haven’t caught a false albacore on fly you can’t appreciate the absolute speed these fish posses.

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED TALKING TARPON! Arghhhh!

These fish are here right outside my backdoor right now. The most commonly sighted tarpon are in the 10-40lbs class, BUT the larger fish are here too. The big ones just are not around the same habitat as the smaller ones. Only the most serious of fisherman posses the desire and patience required to spend an entire day scouting for that one fish that breaks their last personal best record. Find the bait and you will find the fish. I don’t know about you but I am certainly ready to put in several very long and consecutive days of hunting the Gulf’s monstrous Silver King.

Shoot me a message if you want to join in. Tight lines and keep your hooks sharp!

Captain Ken Jones (ken@kenjofly.com)

wade in wade out

Five out of the last 7 days has been spent wading the flats, at all all hours, morning, afternoon and evening, in all kinds of weather such as winds blowing North at 20-knots or a gentle breeze from the East at 10-knots. As usual the fish behavior and locations along with water levels are certainly different each time. This morning was no exception and as my lower back cried out for relief and a much needed break, I can’t help but wonder when I will have a few hours to spare and go back out to see what kind of no good the fish are up to!

Red fish counts are strong but not in great quantities just yet, some days the balance between number of stingrays and red fish is toppled like just the other day when I only saw one red fish but counted 22 stingrays.

Red Grass Flats Redfish

The Texas Shuffle is a critical maneuver if you want to keep your legs from being pierced by the barb of an old stingray and at this point it is quite the primal instinct for me to glide my feet across the mud and grass flats much like one would glide along while cross country skiing. Same motion of the legs and feet and one other benefit of doing this is to allow the toes of the front foot to feel for the next hidden hole that is ever so slightly filled in with a light smackery of detritus. It seems that most holes I discover are caused by old prop scars as they can be trench-like in shape and size. Others are soft mud pits which you could lay down in if it weren’t for the 12-24″ of water covering it. That’s one bath I don’t really want to take. Onto the next one! Keep your hooks sharp, just in case you run across some big bull redfish busting tiny shrimp just before sunset and you still have a one hour wade just to get back to dry land.

Captain Ken Jones

361-500-2552

Port Aransas, Texas

New Waters – Texas Coastal Bend

Many things in life change; like leaders, tippets, flies, fly lines and Destinations.

Early morning sunrise flyfishing in the South Texas Coastal Bend

Some of them unexpectedly and even sometimes unplanned and hopefully things turn out more rosy than imagined. After working the grindstones of New York City for what 6 years seemed to have been 12 and for the most exciting times of my life, day in and day out, non-stop action on and off the water, I recently have found myself settled in South Texas after a grueling past year with some seriously pinched nerves. Warm climate seems to be the best medicine for this country boy, aside from actually being able to see the stars at night.

Quite literally, having run out of road in Port Aransas, Texas, a place twice visited by President Roosevelt to fish for Tarpon, the little piece of Mustang Island north of the Laguna Madre is a nice spit of sand and hopefully is here to stay for a while.

Upon arrival I immediately began scouting the local waters and found many excellent fishing scenarios available.

Redfish habitat

Whether on foot or from some sort of watercraft of your choice, the rich biodiversity of the marine ecosystems in the South Texas Coastal Bend area will get you hooked and keep you coming back for more. Truly, this place is prime and the fish are eager.

To get up to speed, I’ve compiled short bit of notes on the fly fishing opportunities available in this area from boat and on foot (sand, mud, rocks, beaches, rip-raps, jetties, bulkheads, cuts, guts, swaths, piers and docks), and will continue to track fish patterns based on seasons and other relevant environmental conditions.

Hooked up!

In October, the redfish are running hard and is prime time for bull reds. I feverishly attempted to intercept these big bulls on fly, although it may take some more time to nail them consistently.

Fly Fishing juvie tarpon in South Texas

At the jetties, multiple shots from juvenile tarpon exist with a good chance of hooking up.

Even during the North blows, the Spanish mackerel even respond well. The larger tarpon in the 60-80lb class have also been sighted with a keen eye. I have yet to hook into a tarpon in this size range but they do visit Port Aransas during certain times of the year.

Speed Demons like this make smoking hot drags!

King Mackerel also come in close to shore and are a serious test of your tackle and fish fighting skills. A lone 30-lb king mack like this one can take 175yds of line off the spool in about 10-seconds flat.

During November, the redfish continue to haunt the flats, while the speckled trout are lurking around the edges keenly out of sight. Bird variety and populations begin to explode in the marshes, flats, and along every 50 yard stretch of mangroves. Spoonbills are a treat to sight with their pink colored plumage and odd head/neck behavior when feeding. They are truly marvelous animals! Seagulls and terns take flight all along the beaches and fight every morning for their next meal. When times are tough the terns will even sit on the backs of the pelicans immediately after the pelican dive-bomb some bait and the tern will pick scraps from the pelicans beak as it drains the bucket-loads of seawater from its pouch filtering the bait fish it had caught.

Mangrove cays such as these are excellent fish attractors

Load of mullet in all sizes keep the water shaken but not stirred unless a over slot red fish cruises nearby. Nervous water appears on every turn in the shoreline, and with the multitude of mangrove islands the next trophy red could be ahead. Top water flies are good game this time of year and can produce some exciting takes from redfish on the flats.

Mangrove snapper are also plentiful and can fill up a 5-gallon bucket quickly with small pieces of shrimp dangled around the rocks. Or you could simply tie on a small clouser and nymph-fish it around the rocks as well although you don’t need boobers. Sometimes anglers get lucky and bag a nice Gag Grouper from the rocks.

Nice Gag Grouper from the rocks at Port Aransas

For now it seems the variety of species is dwindling but the redfish, trout, and flounder are still abundant and should hold average population levels to keep fisherman busy throughout the winter down here in South Texas. There are always rumors of snook lurking and can be a tough challenge on fly given their rare but confirmed presence in the coastal waters of the Laguna Madre.

The one secret I can really tell you is you gotta go (fishing) to know (fishing).

Keeping the hooks sharp,

Captain Ken Jones

361-500-2552

Popular redfish hang-out