Greetings from Latitude 26!

Just a short introduction then I'll get down to the meat. I'm a licensed 100 ton Captain here in the very tip of Texas, just a couple of miles from the border.

First and formost I'm a husband and dad who loves my family. And all the things that God put on this earth. I have raised, and am raising kids who have the same love of the sea and the land as I

I have the tongue of a sailor (which I am, the proud master of a 35 foot Pearson named El Caribe II.

Well....a little background bio. I served in the US Coast Guard, finishing up at the 8th district in New Orleans Louisiana. I immediately hightailed it back to Kodiak Alaska and spent several years commercial fishing for King and Tanner Crab (yep, just like the Deadly Catch show which I don't regularly watch), before returning to the continental US. I flunked out of the University of Oregon, just couldn't get that fly fishing addicition under control, and got my A&P license, working on aircraft. Everything from Southbound smugglers to manufacturers like LTV in Grand Prairie where I learned to seriously fish for largemouth bass, tournament style.

Always restless, I returned to college, and became a bonified Marine Scientist, which I have done for the better part of two decades, working for the State of Texas, the TCEQ and the U of T system. Now though, I just take the occasional consulting job that interests me. It is more important to share my knowledge of this place with others through guiding, and driving big boats for my friends at Breakaway Cruises where I do eco, dolphin and snorkling trips.

I know this place like the back of my hand. I started out hunting as a kid in the Western Valley on our family farm near Mission, chasing quail and doves with my trusty little single shot .410, killing many grapefruit and orange in the groves along with the occasional bird. Later I hunted deer on local ranches including the nascent El Tecomate when Gary Schwartz was gettin' her off the ground....

 During the same time I'd fish with my dad and uncle out around Port Mansfield, when specks would almost jump into your ice chest at night as we'd fish from the long gone Redfish Inn Pier under the lights on balmy winter nights...

My how things have changed.

Now the Valley sprawls east to west in a big urban gash that pushes the wildlife into smaller and smaller corners, and threatens our bay, river and pothole lakes. So this journal will not only examine our great fishing and hunting, but the shape of thing and what we are and aren't doing to make it better.

Stay with me while I provoke, tell stories, rant and rave and (hopefully) paint a picture of this piece of my life here at Latitude 26.

I promise in the next page I'll give you a story...maybe one about our new runnin buddy, Assault, a 12 week old German Shorthair who just joined the family a couple of weeks ago. He went duck huntin' with mama the twins and me yesterday yaknow...

Well, it's late and I gotta get some sleep. Tomorrow I help the Commander deliver his boat Ciclon to Southpoint for haulout then a skippers meeting at Breakaway, followed by a dive on Xcapes props, followed by a workout for Assault.

All before lunch.

So hang on ith me and we'll ride this thing as long as it goes.

Oh yea. you can follow me on Twitter too: http://twitter.com/CaptainJDW

See you manana.

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