Viper X Gaffs Story

In 2009 I bought a boat and all of the gear to go deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. That summer I spent almost every weekend on that boat in the Gulf fishing and catching different species of fish. I would go thirty miles out for snapper and on my way in troll for mackerel. Sometimes that ride back would get rough. It was a test of both faith and courage. During that summer I had a lot of fun on that boat for the rough water, sun, women, wind, fishing and the marina. That made a nice chapter in my life and I was hooked on fishing. The next summer was a different chapter, the BP oil spill put a damper on fishing in the Gulf for a few years. I took up bass fishing during this time. I bought a bass boat and started fishing in the rivers. That boat was sporty and made fishing fun; I couldn’t wait for the next ride. In the spring of 2012 I took a ride on my motorcycle back down to the Gulf and stopped by the Gulf State Pier with my camera for a few shots. I was surprised to see that there were so many fish being caught that day. That night as I was looking at all of the great pictures I took I wanted to take my tackle and go fish at the pier. The next week I caught my limit of king mackerel so I was hooked on pier fishing. After a few years of fishing on the pier I made a lot of friends that became like a family to me. One afternoon of fishing, it was a slow day of catching fish and all of the daily fishermen were leaving. I decided to make my last cast of the day. I threw my bait in a different spot and it drifted further out, the sun was starting to set and I was thinking about leaving, but my drag started to pull. To my surprise, I was the center of attention to a crowd of people watching me catch this fish. At this time I realized after fighting with this fish that no one around me had a gaff to land my fish. I had to release this fish because I did not have a gaff. After a few weeks I started trying to buy a new gaff from a few pier friends but had no luck. I decided maybe I can build my own. I evaluated what I made and changed the plan and redesigned it into something I liked. This is how Viper X Gaffs was created.