SECOND ANNUAL TEXAS COAST BUILDERS MEET

[Dougster]

Dougster makes it home Sunday afternoon, bloody but unbroken. Stories will follow, and then will come the myths. Having failed to bloody MadDog's decks with fish, anything for a friend Dougster bloodied them with his own. For now it's a private toast to Charles, Princess Leah, and my brother Don.

Says stories to follow Dougster

[mechdave]

The wife and I had a great time this weekend! It was good to see everyone again and to have a nice relaxing weekend. On Friday a friend and I went 20 miles south east in the morning and traveled another 17miles north, looking for anything on the old rig #s I have saved and fished/dove over the last 15 years. It's really depressing to see all the rigs that have been removed over the last 2 years. All the rigs I had recorded on my GPS have been removed at the bottom, with nothing at all left, no fish, no structure, NOTHING! When I throttled up to return home something on the boat sounded terribly wrong. The drive just made a chattering noise and the boat didn't move. We ended up having to be towed in (Sea Tow insurance is a lifesaver). We took the boat home and left it to worry about later. I got home late Sunday and pulled the lower unit off and found the drive coupler had failed. That's good news I guess, nothing wrong with the lower unit anyhow. I'll start pulling the engine tomorrow after work and will be ready to replace the part as soon as I get it. I have already found and ordered a replacement part on E-bay.

[Uncle D]

Glad everyone so far has made it home safe. I finally got my wife to join in on dinner Sat. nite. We had a great time getting to know everyone a bit better. Thanks Charles for letting me hang out with you guys. I know I didn't give you much of a choice but it was fun for me at least. Mad Dog got us on fish on a day that not much was happening. I think the fill moon had a lot to do with it. Dougster and I tried to see who could talk the most. My hats off to the guy with the PhD. I don't know about the rest of the crew, but my arms are sore from clearing all the sea weed from the lines. But the boat and motor performed flawlessly all day and I didn't go overboard even once although I tried several times.
Both Steven and Adams builds are first class all the way. You guys did good and I received more useful tips for mine.
Adios, Don

[Steven]

Daughter #1 boated a 4' king today and daughter #2 got a 40 incher to the side of the boat. Daughter #1's got taken by a shark on release. Had the whole family out. 7 of us.. More dolphin antics. Will have videos of all the fun.

[Mad Dog]

Got a few pics uploaded last night. Here you go...

Steven sporting hin new Bateau hat for bringing his recently completed build to the meet.


Said new boat in action


For those of us who did not believe UncleD really had a better half here is proof, Don and Julie


Some familiar faces from last year's meet.
Dave and Pam (sorry for the lousy pic Pam )


Dougster and Shirley


The rest of Stevens clan (I don't see chicken tenders anywhere on this menu)


Some of the gang waiting for the main attraction to arrive (that's Adam wadeg to the right)



And the featured guest

I'll post up some of the action shots later.

MD

[Mad Dog]

After a predawn run to the corner store for coffee, pastry and other stuff UncleD and Dougster meet up with me and Princess Leah for a run into the Gulf. After much arranging of gear and supplies we are pulling out into the Corpus Christi Ship channel. With UncleD at the helm puttering us out I'm rigging rods for our first drop. While placing a rod in a stern rod holder I look up and see this...



"Hey! That looks like a Bateau.com design! I wonder if that's Steven's build?: So we come about and close the gap. Sure enough there is Steven, dad and son. They are a little distracted but this...

being close enough to toss a sinker on it's deck.


After a quick greeting we head out for the end of the jetties.

Birds are everywhere hitting the bait being carried on the out going tide. Clearing the jetties we drop a couple lines. After a few minutes UncleD is hooked up on a nice king. We noticed this guy

zeroing in on the king. Don hurries and get's it close enough for me to gaff. We are distracted by the dolphin and forget to get pics of the fish. Fresh bait is dropped and an added diver plug and we are off again. The fleet of non-commercial king mackerel harvesters start showing up so we turn the bow out to sea. I don't like picking up hundreds of yards of mono in my prop.

Wish I could say we slayed them but we went several hours of trolling and drifting. In the process we learn that UncleD has a real talent for getting weed off our lines so Dougster pegs him with a new title, "The Weeder"

We finally find some flotsom and make a bee line for it. As we drift up to what turned out to be a lost containment boom a small school of cobia come out to check us out. Dougster drops a baited line an hooks up with an undersized pup about 25". UncleD drops another line and hooks up with a larger one. The fish of course turn two lines into a bird's nest. We get Dougster's on board but UncleD's get's cut off on the boom. Here is Dougster with a his catch.


That's it for landed fish. We worked that school for an hour. Cobia can be finicky.

Here is a little quiz. Identify the source of these blood stains.





That's it I tried real hard to get Princess Leah hooked up. We had a screamer on the line with the rod in her hands but the hook pulled. I think we were foul hooked which just pulled out as I tightened the drag. We never gained any line back until the hook pulled.
That's it! Except that on ride back in we are cruising the channel and spot another boat the looks strangely familiar. Turns out to be Adam (wadeg) in his OB15. Funny how the Bateau.com designs stand out.

MD

[AdamG]

Actually, wadeG has an FS17, and adamG has the OB-15. We confused everyone last year, too.

[Aripeka Angler]

Nice pictures guys I am sure you guys had a blast. Steven, your boat looks great on the water

Here is a little quiz. Identify the source of these blood stains.

I am guessing the hackles on the cobia's back got a finger maybe

[Mad Dog]

I am guessing the hackles on the cobia's back got a finger maybe

Finger yes. Cobia no... It was a bit choppy. Not too bad but just enough to throw Dougster for a loop. He caugth a finger on box latch and... let's just say he needs no daily asprin to reduce clotting.

MD

[Dougster]

I did a half gainer We had a hang up on the flotsam and Don and I were struggling with it when I decided to add some distraction with the gainer. Feet went one way, and I went the other. Down that is. No harm but for the little metal hasp catching a finger. I washed it a second and went back to helping Don with the hang up. Pretty soon I noticed blood on the decks and checked out the finger more, which prompted me to grab a rag and wrap it. Rag got bloody, mess everywhere. When things cooled down I took off the rag and Princess Leah very nicely helped me bandage it. Lotta drama over a little quarter inch cut in my finger

We did get that one king and Don showed me how to "ball" it instead of fillet it. So I ended up with meat. Here's what I did with it last night:

I tried 3 marinades: brine, buttermilk, and Teriyaki






Teriyaki was best, but they were all good. Best kingfish I've had. None of that fishy/bloody taste. We're having it again tonight.

Anything to bloody the deck Dougster