Boatman of Year ‘hooked’ on fishing

 

2009 Boatman of the Year STAFF PHOTO BY DAN PARKER Dave Sullivan will be honored as Boatman of the Year during the Deep Sea Roundup July 9-12. Dave Sullivan was a hardcore fisherman from an early age.

One day when he was about 14 years old, he was fishing from rocks near the foot of the south jetty in Port Aransas, and he was catching one trout after another when he accidentally hooked himself.

Right in the head.

“The barb went all the way through my scalp,” the now 58-year-old Sullivan recalled recently. “I tried to pull it out, but it was too deep.”

So he did the only logical thing: He cut the line off the hook.

And he went right back to fishing.

“I sat there with a lure stuck in my head, because the fishing was so good,” he said, laughing at the memory.

Perhaps it’s no wonder Sullivan grew up to be chairman of the 2008 Port Aransas Deep Sea Roundup and this year’s Boatman of the Year. He said he’s proud of the distinctions.

The Boatmen organization “is probably the oldest fishing group responsible for the oldest fishing tournament in probably the whole state of Texas, if not the entire Gulf coast,” Sullivan said. “It’s the finest group dedicated to our fishing and heritage in all of the entire Gulf coast, so I’m pretty proud to be part of something like that.”

Sullivan grew up in Houston, moved to Portland in 1982, then took up residence in Port Aransas about five years ago. He has worked as an environmental consultant since 1973 and currently is employed by Naismith Engineering, where he manages environmental matters and planning.

Sullivan has been fishing in and around Port Aransas for more than 40 years. In the 1980s, he had a side business called South Texas Guide Service that had him working as a duck hunting guide and a fishing guide in area bays and offshore. Tarpon was a specialty for Sullivan. During the 1970s and ‘80s, 20 to 30 tarpon averaging 100 pounds each were landed from Sullivan’s boat, the Silver King, each year, he said.

“We used a certain fishing technique, using balloons and weights, vertically and horizontally stratifying baits in the water column,” Sullivan said. “We got a lot of fish.”

Sullivan said all of the tarpon were released, and some were tagged.

The winning entries in the dorado division of CCA Star tournaments twice have been caught by anglers on a Sullivan boat, Meat Haul, which is docked in Port Aransas.

Once in 2001, and again in 2006, the Meat Haul has landed grand slams – catches of a blue marlin, a white marlin and a sailfish, all in the same day, Sullivan said.

Sullivan is past president and a current board member of the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation. He is a past chairman of the environmental committee of the Corpus Christi chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association and currently serves on the CCA’s state board.

Sullivan also is a founding member of the Saltwater Fisheries Enhancement Association and a past chairman of that organization’s environmental committee.

But being named chairman of last year’s Deep Sea Roundup at first was a little frightening.

“Initially, you kind of go, “Oh, God, I’m going to have to spend a lot of personal time on the job, and it’s going to double up my work load,’ ” he said. “But when you start thinking of the history and heritage of Port Aransas, and how this is really probably the oldest fishing tournament in the Gulf states, all that worry is overshadowed by pride.”

Said Jack Nichols, treasurer of the Boatmen: “Dave bellied up to the bar and took the position to be Roundup chairman last year and did a very good job at working the Roundup. He deserved being Boatman of the Year.”

While a lot of people are aware of Sullivan’s work as chairman of the Roundup last year, they might not be so familiar with his efforts with regard to preservation, said Mike Miglini, last year’s Boatman of the Year.

“What they don’t see is Dave trying to gather old documents and keep old stories and get in touch with Boatmen whose days are gone by or are gong by and trying to preserve their stories,” Miglini said.

Sullivan has spearheaded the Boatmen’s bargain hunters’ sale, the proceeds from which go to get photos of past Boatmen framed and put up in the Community Center. He also has interviewed longtime Boatmen on videotape about their experiences.

Sullivan said his main reason for being a member of the Boatmen is to help an organization that looks after the interests of charter boat operators.

“It gets back to my son, who is a charter boat operator,” Sullivan said, referring to Matt Sullivan, who once was a deckhand in Port Aransas and now works as a charter boat captain in Hawaii.

“He and his friends grew up in the charter boat business in Port Aransas. That’s how they make their living, and they’re young men, trying to find a career in a business that just gets tougher and tougher all the time.”