Corpusfishing.com

[Yak Daniels]

My grandpa, or Papa as I called him for my first 29 years, passed away a little over a year ago but we are just finishing cleaning out some of his personal stuff at his house and garage. He moved to Texas from Indiana back in the 40's and brought his carpentry skills with him and quickly became one of the best carpenters in the area for the next 50 years specializing in cabinetry work, custom houses, and church renovations. One of his proudest projects was the Fulton Mansion renovations back in the mid 70's where he went so far as to special order square nails to match the original nails that were used during the initial construction. He was a work-aholic and took pride in his work beyond what many would consider normal.

Despite his hard work ethic, he made sure to make time for his wife and three kids. Whenever weather and work would allow, he would load up the suburban 4x4 and run down PINS. From the stories that I've been told, back in those days there were only a handful of guys with 4wd so everyone knew each other and helped each other out whenever necessary. With such low vehicle traffic beach combing yielded some pretty cool finds, as you could imagine. He would take whatever he found, such as ship door hatches, and make coffee tables for friends and family using his wood working skills. Whenever the family wasn't beach combing he would be on the jetty fishing for tarpon. Back then, tarpon were all over the place around the south side of the first T at Bob Hall Pier, Port Aransas jetties and Port Mansfield. Of course Port A and BHP were easier access so more populated. Papa preferred running down to Port Mansfield North Jetty just to get away from the crowds (I guess that where I get it). His only stops on the beach would be to cast net mullet or to comb the beach while the truck cools down. He's not around to tell me stories anymore but my mom and Granny still talk about their trips and the hunts for the Silver King. My mom still swears she caught a 30 lb Triple Tail off the jetty but I don't believe her.

I don't think that he had fished since the early 80's so 99% of his gear is long gone, but this past Sunday I was going through the last bit of stuff he had in the garage and came across these Tarpon leaders, gaff and rod belt. They have apparently been hanging in their garage for decades but I had never noticed them. I'm told that no store had the leaders that he wanted so he had to make his own; ~6/0 offset J hook - 48" stainless cable - barrel swivel - 24" of stainless cable with a float - top barrel swivel. I have since hung these up in my garage along with the last sign from his company.




Apparently the corks were too expensive so he would make his own out of wood, of course. He would hook a live mullet under his wooden cork and toss out his homemade leader hoping to catch Tarpon off the rocks. Once hooked, he had to be careful about where he was going to gaff it since he only cared about releasing the Tarpon. He said the shark fishermen would try to buy them from him but he would never sell (sounds about right for us shark fisherman!). He never had an interest in keeping Tarpon, except for one scale. That and a memory is all that he wanted.

5 years ago I showed up at their house with my new-to-me 17 yeard old 4x4 beach suburban with 285k miles and they sure got a kick out of it. It was at this time that he started to "talk shop" and share fishing, camping and other beach stories. He wasn't much of a talker so I always got my stories about him from others. I didn't realize until the last couple of years how much like him that I am, except for the wood working, that's too difficult. I told them that I shark fish and man was that a stern look that they gave me. When I explained to them how shark fishing has changed an awful lot over the recent years they were so happy to hear of sharks not having their jaws cut out and left on the dunes for all to see, but rather be tagged and released with just a photo and memory to keep.

I am looking for some old beach and fishing pictures and will upload them to this posting when I find them. It's crazy to think that even back in the 40's and 50's, all that my grandparents wanted was for people to appreciate PINS like they always had.
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-Pat

[ratherbefishing]

Good story!

Get your Mom and Grandma to tell you more stories so they are not lost...
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[CHRISLAYNE]

Awesome Story !!

[Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm]

good stuff Yak!
becky
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[gut bucket]

Sorry for you lost,That

[ziacatcher]

Great story! Looking forward to hearing some more

[TXHill]

Very cool!!!! Jeff Wolda

[deputydawg]

That's is awesome!!! I'm glad you found it and appreciate it! My grandfather's hunting stuff is hanging in my den in a shadow box we made. That stuff is priceless!

[Tyler]

That is really special. Thanks for the pics and story!
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