68 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Late Spring 2019 TheCoastalBend.com Coastal BendTour Guide For lucky Coastal Bend residents, it’s easy to take for granted the fact that we are surrounded, quite literally, by saltwater. Aside from the Gulf of Mexico, our bays and estuaries provide some very fertile fishing waters, some of the best in the state of Texas, which are virtually all accessible to the public. Some of the best Fall fishing spots are located on, and on the way to, North Padre and Mustang Islands. For easy reference, see Upper Laguna Madre Fishing Map in back. JFK Cause- way—This is the over water highway from mainland Corpus Christi (Flour Bluff) to North Padre Island. Take the“low road”exit be- fore the curve at Humble Channel, which is straddled by Cos-Way and Red Dot bait stands, both with fishing piers that run along the channel, a major migration route for Redfish, Speckled Trout and Flounder. Continue on the low side of the causeway toward the island for easy wade fishing access to Laguna Madre. Packery Channel—From Padre Island, turn north on Highway 361 toward Port Aransas. You will see the Packery Channel Bridge and easy parking areas on both sides of the bridge that provide direct access to this very busy route for migrating fish between the Gulf of Mex- ico, Laguna Madre and Corpus Christi Bay. Mustang Island State Park—Far- ther north on Highway 361 you will see state park structures on the ocean side, but you will also see unpaved access roads on the west side of the high- way, which lead you to productive wade fishing along the back side of the island, in Corpus Christi Bay. Feeling Lucky? Just pull over and start fishing! Padre Island National Seashore is the native island experience in its rawest form, including the best shore fishing in the country—a bold statement to be sure—but consider that one of the world’s strongest ocean currents, the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current, enters the gulf at Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and ex- its at the Florida Straits, and makes its sharpest turn along the National Seashore. The result is that the “gut,”or drop-off between sandbars, can be up to 15 feet deep between the shoreline and first sand bar, among the deepest in the world. In those deepest near-shore guts, big fish are fed on by even bigger fish, which makes “Big Shell” and “Little Shell” ex- ceedingly popular with shark hunters and other big game fishermen. The park boasts that some 380 spe- cies of birds, half of all those identified in the United States, have been spotted here. (361) 949-8068 Mustang Island State Park encompasses almost 4,000 acres that stretch across Mustang Island between North Padre Island and Port Aransas, and includes shoreline on both the Gulf of Mexico and Corpus Christi Bay. The facilities area of the park, lo- cated within the main gate, includes RV spaces and campsites, restrooms and ranger station. Park beach- es tend to be less crowded with fewer vehicles, and two rock jetties extend in to the gulf. On the back side of the island, a network of flats and marsh zones provides fantastic fishing and birdwatching, along with an extensive paddling trail. Google: Mustang Island State Park Beach Parks protect island ecosystems Shore Fishingon our islands is plentiful and accessible from dozens of locations. Bob Hall Pier is lo- cated at the Nueces County Padre Balli Park, south of the hotels and condos, and is the site of several record catches. The Packery Channel Jetties offer free, direct access to a hot zone of fish migration between the Gulf of Mexico and Laguna Madre. Horses on the Beachbrings visitors a most memorable and exciting experience—horseback riding on our beautiful North Padre Island beaches! HorsesOnTheBeachCorpus.com Texas Sealife Center Each year in the Coastal Bend hundreds of sea animals become injured, stranded and otherwise subjected to duress, often due to human behavior. For decades, bands of ecological volunteers have acted to rescue and rehabilitate injured wildlife, but with limited re- sources and facilities. The Texas Sealife Center provides space for rescued sea turtles, birds, mammals and other creatures, and works with Tony Amos’Animal Reha- bilitation Keep (ARK) in Port Aransas. 14225 S. Padre Island Dr. on Padre Island