Americana Outdoors E-Magazine - December 2021

See the Yamaha Helm Master® EX at work!

Check Out Bill’s Garmin Off Shore Setup!

On Americana Outdoors Presented by Garmin, we’re going on an action packed offshore fishing adventure with Bill Platt and team Papotanic! The goal today is to hit the water bright and early to set sail across the Gulf of Mexico in search of large amberjacks, wahoos, cobia, and maybe even some large blackfin tuna! Team Papotanic is looking to cover close to three hundred miles round trip for this expedition, and the use of both Yamaha and Garmin electronics will give them peace of mind as they make that lengthy journey. At the helm of Bill’s boat we’ll find it decked out with two Garmin GPSMAP® 8616 units , a Garmin GSD™ 26 CHIRP Professional Sonar Module, and of course, the latest version of the Helm Master® EX from Yamaha . Throughout the day we’ll see how Bill uses these tools in conjunction with one another for superior boat control, navigating the waters, finding the big fish, and for staying on top of the fish. To kick things off, the guys drop lines to catch dozens of live bait before they start looking for the big amberjacks. Once they have enough bait-fish in the boat, it’s game on in the battle of endurance against these monster sized fish. One after one, the crew puts everything they have into reeling in some larger than life amberjacks, each one followed by a celebration for a job well done. After having a pretty successful morning, the team have their sights set on catching even bigger fish, and bigger fish, means bigger bait. Using the Yamaha HelmMaster® EX, Bill and the crewmake their way over to another location near a shrimping boat with the intention of reeling in larger bonito fish as bait. Surrounded by a school of sharks and plenty of fish, it’s here where they set their sights on a gorgeous black fin tuna lurking below. After putting in a good hour of work at this location, Johnny Walker finally gets a hook in the tuna’s mouth, and it’s a battle of sheer will to get him in the boat. As Team Papotanic comes up on the end of an exhausting but exhilarating day of fishing, Bill hooks a behemoth of an amberjack deep below the water’s surface. Tune in and find out if Bill wins this battle, or if the monster amberjack will break loose and become another fisherman’s tale!