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A Brief History of South Padre Island, TexasNorth latitude 26 is where you will find South Padre Island, Texas. Many people do not know that it shares the same latitude as Key West, Florida! This Texas Oasis is a little out of the way but it is always worth the trip!
Granted to Nicolás Ballí from King Carlos III of Spain in the year 1759, South Padre Island was later transferred on to Ballí's grandson, Padre José Nicolás Ballí. Padre José built a church and taught Christianity to the Karankawa Indians that resided there at the time. He gained a noble reputation for his work and thus the name, Isla de Padre was born. Nowadays, us Texan-folk call it SPI for short! The famous Rio Grande River that runs through the Pecos Desert of Texas (which was dug with a stick by Pecos Bill, of course) rolls down to the Texas Gulf Coast and separates the two cultures that MegaBite Sport Fishing knows and loves; Texas and Mexico. The mixture of these two cultures offers great food, good times and great fishing in what we lovingly refer to as the Redneck Riviera. The crystal clear water that covers grassy flats of the Laguna Madre Bay has produced many IGFA World Records. We're proud to say that one in particular was caught by our friend and fishing buddy, Bud Rowland. It was a 15 lb 6 oz MONSTER Speckled Trout that still stands as the largest Trout caught in record-keeping history! South Padre currently holds five IGFA world records in that category as well as many other records from a variety of fish ranging from Mangrove Snapper to Ladyfish. SPI, as we call it, offers the closest deep water in Texas for offshore fishing. And before I go any further, let me explain why that is important. If you're hunting IGFA deep sea game fishing records like we are at Megabite Sport Fishing, you need to be in the deep water where these species migrate and hang out. What some anglers forget is that the topography of the ocean floor is very different all along the Texas coast and the closest open ocean access may not be the closest deep water access. For example, in Galveston, anglers must run around 95 miles in a boat before they can begin to fish. In South Padre, we are fortunate to be able to experience the bite at only 35 miles! If you're like us, you find value in making the drive as far as possible via car and then making the final trek by boat. With that said, there are many days that we have caught Kingfish only 2 miles from the South Padre Island jetties. Another fantastic trip is fishing the South Bank and Shrimp Boats when shrimping is in season. You just never know what will show up under those big chum machines! If we go a little further offshore to The Canyon, we're in Blue Marlin territory! Sailfish are also more abundant there than in the Northern parts of the Gulf of Mexico and you don't have to go to The Canyon to catch them. We have caught Sailfish within sight of the SPI hotel strip. South Padre Island is accessed by crossing the Queen Isabella Causeway (that is 2.37 miles long!) that connects the mainland gateway town of Port Isabel, Texas. Visitors to the area can find everything they need for a perfect vacation including great food, wonderful hotels, fun shopping, entertaining nightlife, non crowded beaches, warm emerald green waters where the Bite.Is.ON! The Megabite Captain and crew look forward to seeing you soon! |