San Marcos Tierra 11/8/09 photos

This is my first ride out to San Marcos Tierra since Jimena. Holy Mackerela what a change! I came in through the back of the estuary because I was told that it was now accessible. In the early 90's I could get into a fish camp at the back where a spring bubbled up with clean fresh water but it had over grown years ago. When I dropped down into the arroyo I was shocked. In both directions the arroyo was washed nearly clean. These first shots are looking towards the back of the estuary as I drive in.













Lots of bait size fish feeding in the shallows here and some 10 to 12" juveniles working them. Too many biting bugs to spend a lot of time there this trip.


And a couple of flowers in the arroyo:




This next group is at the mouth of the estuary. Before the mid 90's was closed and the estuary was fresh water (mostly) and there were enough fresh water ducks to hunt and enough robalo to net. The pangas would race full bore and try to get over the protective barrier and into the estuary to net the rabalo. On a few occasions I helped drag/push them over the berm. I don't know what changed in recent years but almost every hurricane has washed out the barrier and the water table dried up so the spring no longer adds fresh water. The ducks are gone now and I haven't heard of robalo being caught or netted. But I do/did see pangas in there netting several times a year. During the winter the mouth has always closed back up and you could drive/walk across the mouth.

This shot was last Spring. A few weeks later the mouth was closed.

Google earth shot of the area


Road out to the mouth


It's wide open now. More of a bay than an estuary.




Shore to shore of the mouth




[Edited on 11-9-2009 by Russ]

San Marcos Tierra, the beach

I took the beach route home. Here's my surf fishing rigs.




The beach just south of the estuary





And what I call the "Flat Rocks". My favorite place to fish if the netters haven't raped it recently. No luck on this trip so I guess they had just netted the area... or I just can't fish.

Thanks Russ... Great photos and the satellite map locator is nice, too! Hope nobody yells at you for driving on the beach!

Russ, you must have been torn between sharing those great photos and divulging one of your secret spots so you flipped your google sat picture upside down, you sly dog.

I thought San Marcos Tierra must be out on Isla San Marcos somewhere because the sat photo shows the water on the left when I'm used to seeing it on the Right

I wondered how you got your Rhino out there- duh.

Nice photos of beautiful beaches.

oladulce, I'm more confused than you now. No switcharoo. The land is West and the water, SOC, East as it should be. There is an arrow pointing North towards the island. I was out there again today and honest it hasn't changed. I really don't know of any areas that hold fish I'd like to keep a secret, yet. And my Rhino has Ranger stickers on it and only been in water about a foot deep. So far as I remember.

Russ could be from Australia... putting south at the top of his map?

I don't know how I got that so twisted around. Does this help every ones gyros?

This shot, zoomed in a bit from the one above must be an updated pic sometime after hurricane John. You can see the mouth is open here and not in the first one. After this years hurricane, Jimena, the mouth is twice as big and the north side is barren, scoured clean. The arroyo is also twice as big as shown below and scoured clean too.

Thanks Russ. I'll sleep better tonight