GPS Kids | Gulf Coast Fish Story: Part One

Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to fish the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Galveston, Texas.  The trip was videotaped for a future airing on some outdoor TV shows hosted by Wade Middleton that Garmin sponsors.  Below is part one of a pictoral essay of the trip.

Thunder and menacing lightning greeted us at the marina.  Our captain and pro angler Bill Platt readied the boat while we hunkered down in our truck.

You don’t need to be Al Roker to know when you’re in a thunderstorm, but with the boat’s XM WX Weather displayed on a crisp and bright 12-inch touchscreen display, we could easily tell that this was a storm that would quickly pass, and we headed out to sea.

We hurtled across the bay with Jimmy Buffett’s Son of a Sailor piping out of the 32-foot Contender’s sound system.  An appropriate song — for this certainly wasn’t your daddy’s fishing boat.  This state-of-the-art fishing rig was tricked out with the latest in electronics — including a gps kids watchMAP 5212, gps kids watchMAP 4212, a GMR 24HD high-def radar, and the GHP 10 autopilot…

…to say nothing of the trio of Yamaha 350′s dangling off the back end!

Our morning mission was shark fishin’.  The strategy: motor up behind the shrimp trawlers combing the bay — ideally one with gulls circling overhead — and toss a baited hook into the propwash.  The theory here is that the birds and fish are attracted to shrimp — and bigger fish are attracted to the smaller fish.  And sharks?  They’re pretty much willing to eat whatever they can sink their teeth into.  “Master Johnny” proved to be our lucky boat.

Fish on!!!

We all pulled in as many blacktip sharks as we cared to.  This was strictly a catch-and-release endeavor — no sense in brining a five-foot, 110-pound, pissed off, toothy fish into the boat.  After two or three fish apiece, our forearms stung, and we agreed it was time for our next adventure.

Stay tuned for part two!

Leave a Reply