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Bill Platt

Owner of Custom Marine Electronics, Bill started fishing at the age of 5 and owned 2 boats before he ever owned a car. Today he’s a licensed charter boat Captain and professional fishing guide. Bill has fished professional tournaments since 1986 and has several first place and championship wins.

“Having the right equipment to find kingfish, wahoo and billfish is key. I give a lot of credit to Garmin for keeping Team Papotanic in the winner’s circle. I’ve been buying and installing Garmin products for years. My first was a white handheld GPS 45. Now I have a 37-footer with a Glass Helm of three GPSMAP 8215 chartplotters, GSD 26 CHIRP sonar, 6kW radar, and Auto Pilot.”

SEE THE FULL STORY HERE

7-25-2014 1-27-14 PM

New Video

PAPOTANIC-2014 Texas Center Console Shootout. Thanks all for watching the video !

Salt Dog Media:

Bill Platt Fishing from Saltdog MEDIA on Vimeo.

Bill Platt Fishing from Saltdog MEDIA on Vimeo.
Sarasota-ska

Papotanic Wins Sertoma with a 49.76!

Sarasota, Florida—The Houston, Texas team of Jose Reyes, Bill Platt, Ernie Pyle Jr., Gill Strelec, Jr., and Ozzie Fischer fished 100 miles southwest of Sarasota and at ten o’clock pulled a 49.76 over the gunwale. “We were fishing a spot in 160 feet of water trolling runners, but were being harassed by a hungry shark, so being from Texas, we dropped lines off the back with Russell Lures which are made in our great state,” said Platt. “I know live bait is how all of us fish but we wanted to fish the area and we thought we’d try this because the shark just wouldn’t leave us alone. It worked and took us a total of seven minutes to get the gaff into her. The lures did everything the manufacturer told us they would do.”

….( Read the entire article here..)

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Texas Center Console Shootout

Team Papotanic Wins Inaugural Texas Center Console Shootout!

It turned out to be a very close finish but our Team Papotanic came away with the win at the inaugural Texas Center Console Shootout presented by Pelagic. The tournament took place from July 25-27 in Surfside Beach, Texas, and was only open to center console teams. With a winning margin of only 5 aggregate points, Captain Bill Platt and the team took home the spoils of a great inaugural event.

Mother Nature proved to make conditions worse for all teams involved by bringing in high winds and very rough sea conditions on the final day of the tournament. Team Papotanic had nearly 600 gallons of fuel, including two 55-gallon drums (as seen left), fuelensuring they would not be stranded deep in the gulf when conditions got bad. Each of the gamefish divisions counted towards determining the winner of the tournament.  The heaviest two fish from each species went towards the team’s final score.  The team with the highest two-day point total would be crowned Shootout Champion.

Congratulations to Team Papotanic for their 1st Place Tuna, weighing in at 50 lbs., and for keeping on their current hot streak of wins this season.  If you’d like to keep up with Team Papotanic, check out Captain Bill Platt’s website.  For more information about the Shootout, visit Pelagic’s Facebook page or Surfside Marina’s. ..  ( read the entire article here )

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Fishing News

Coolcatch—Angler lands rare fireback grouper

Galveston Capt. Bill Platt has caught a lot of fish in his years of fishing. But this summer, he pulled in something even he had never seen before.

 

 

“We were fishing in about 300 feet of water, out of Galveston about 100 miles,” he said. “We were bottom-fishing, catching grouper and some warsaw. Then I hooked into a fish, but got hung up in the bottom.” “Platt could have easily lost the fish, but managed to free the line and bring the fireback grouper up to the surface. He said he didn’t immediately know what he had caught. “It was quite something,” he said. “Those things are pretty rare and I had never caught one, even though I’ve been fishing the Gulf my whole life.”

The fireback grouper was caught using a small blue runner.

“You can see the colors really well and that’s why I like it so much,” he said. “I saw all the colors and was like, ‘Wow, he’s all lit up.’ It’s a fluorescent, bright color.

“I’ve caught 500-pound blue marlin, and yeah they’re pretty, but this was the best looking fish I’ve ever caught.”

… (See the full article here )

 


 

Fishing the Gulf with “Deadliest Catch” Deckboss, Edgar Hansen

Garmin pro Bill Platt recently had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take Edgar Hansen, deckboss and engineer of the of the “Northwestern” (one of the crab fishing boats featured on Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch”) fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. They loaded Bill’s 36′ Invincible – rigged with Garmin’s GSD 26 CHIRP sounder – with snapper, grouper and tuna, and even caught the attention of the Texas Game Warden (who just wanted a few pictures) on their way in! Check out the video below to see ‘em in action…