03/23/2026
Please do your part and leave the beach better than you found it! Pick up trash, if you fish- make sure your hooks and fishing line go with you! Our kids and marine life depend on us to make their 🌎 a little better!
**Sea Turtles Are Getting Tangled in Fishing Line at the Port Aransas Jetties**
There are some things you see on the rocks that stick with you, and this was one of them.
Yesterday at the Port Aransas South Jetty, I witnessed something no one who loves this coast ever wants to see. A few dead sea turtles were being reeled in by anglers, and when I climbed down the slippery jetty rocks to get a closer look, I found both of those turtles wrapped up in so much broken fishing line it was hard to even believe. It had gotten tangled in line that had been snapped off and left behind in the rocks. That turtle never had a chance.
Sea turtles swim right alongside those rocks. They move through the same water where anglers cast, where leaders break off, where old rigs get hung, and where too many folks leave line behind like the tide is going to magically clean it up.
That broken line stays there, drifting, wrapping, waiting. And for a sea turtle, it becomes a trap. They get tangled, can’t free themselves, and drown right there in the same place we all come to enjoy.
Let that sink in for a minute.
🐢The Port Aransas jetties are one of the most loved fishing spots on the Texas coast. Families come out there to catch sheepshead, redfish, drum, Spanish mackerel, and more. Folks bring coolers, rods, bait buckets, and kids ready to make memories.
But somewhere along the way, too many people stopped respecting the place itself. Too many busted leaders, too much trash, too many snagged rigs left in the rocks. What looks like “just a little line” to one person can become a death sentence for wildlife.
This is not just about fishing. This is about stewardship.
If you fish the jetties, pick up your broken line. If you can safely retrieve a hung-up rig, do it. If you see trash, grab it. If the guy next to you cuts off a rat’s nest and drops it on the rocks, call it out. We have all seen it. We all know it happens. And if nobody says anything, it keeps happening.
A sea turtle should not have to die because somebody was too lazy to clean up after themselves.
The coast gives us a lot. It gives us sunrises over green water, bull reds at the end of the rocks, pompano in the cleaner surf, kids catching their first fish, and stories we tell for years. The least we can do is take care of it. The least we can do is leave it better than we found it.
This is a reminder for every angler, every visitor, every person stepping out on those rocks. The jetties are not just ours. They belong to the birds, the fish, the crabs, the dolphins, and yes, the sea turtles too.
If we love this place, we need to act like it.
Pick up your line. Pick up your trash. Respect the rocks. Protect the wildlife.
Because a good day of fishing should never end with a dead sea turtle tangled in our mess.
