b'Coastal Bend Tour GuideBEACH PARKS PROTECT ISLAND ECOSYSTEMSPadre Island National Seashore is the native island experience in its rawest form, including the best shore fishing in the countrya bold statement to be surebut consider that one of the worlds strongest ocean currents, the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current, enters the gulf at Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula and exits 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 exceedingly popular with shark hunters and other big game fishermen. The park boasts that some 380 species of birds, half of all those identified in the United States, have been spotted here.(361) 949-8068nps.gov/paisMustang 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, located within the main gate, includes RV spaces and campsites, restrooms and ranger station. Park beaches 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 ParkTheCoastalBend.com THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEFall 2019 91'