The Salty Dog

Wellcraft 238 CCF

The Salty Dog is Capt. Mike’s personal vessel. It is a Wellcraft 238 center console with Simrad navigation and Furuno electronics. The Salty Dog has been a solid platform for the past 25 years. The Salty Dog has ventured up to 60 miles offshore and seen some nasty weather including 8-10 foot seas. The Salty Dogs is a great 'run-n-gun' center console, capable of hitting 50mph. Unfortunately, over the last several years the federal government has been chopping down idle petroleum rigs. As a result, there is almost no near shore rigs out of Freeport, TX anymore. With the need to run farther offshore to find decent structure, the Salty Dog has been retired from offshore use. You may still see Capt. Mike in the Salty Dog out in Galveston Bay, at the Galveston Jetties, or chasing shrimp boats out of Freeport, TX.

Welcraft 238 Center Console

Simrad NSS12 evo 2 with structure scan
Broadband 4G radar
Sirius XM weather
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
Furuno FCV585 with 1kw transducer
Uniden VHF fixed mount radio
ACR 406 Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon (EPIRB)
Garmin Delorme Inreach satellite tracker
Coastal Compact 6 person life raft

If we are going inshore fishing on the Salty Dog, we will try to be in the water by 7:00am. Summer storms seem to roll in late afternoon, so we plan to get out early and return to the dock no later than 3pm. We should be at Pelican Rest Marina by about 6:30 AM.

The boat will be filled with up to 135 gallons of gas (main tank only, not using the fuel bladder inshore). Salty Dog has four life vests, fire extinguisher, emergency ditch bag and a satellite tracker for safety.

Once back at Pelican Rest, we will need to load the boat on the trailer and proceed home to clean everything up. Depending on how messy the boat is, we may opt to take it to a quarter-operated car wash. It will take about 1 hour to completely wash the boat and equipment (with everyone helping).

Personal items to bring:

Saltwater fishing license (everyone needs one).
Cold food (sandwiches, cookies, chips, candy bars, or anything else you would like to eat).
- To reduce the numbers of coolers on deck, we will try to consolidate personal food and drinks into the main cooler on the boat.
Drinks (beer and soft drinks are ok, water is recommended). No glass bottles.
Sun screen (SPF 30 or higher)
Hat to keep the sun off your head and ears.
Sunglasses with neck cord.
Non-marking shoes, preferable white soled. They will get wet.
Fishing tackle of your choice if you want to bring your own.
Fish cooler, plastic Ziploc bags, and filet knife to bring your catch home if we are lucky.