# Pics of State Record Jewfish and Sawfish



## purpletdude (Jul 7, 2004)

Finally made it over to my stepmoms house and took some pictures of the jewfish mount and sawfish blades. I also took pictures of several photos taken at the time of the catch(s) and included pics of an article and a letter from the IGFA certifying the jewfish. Gus Pangarakis was a wonderful man and was quite a character. He is probably the only other man that holds two Texas State fishing records that will never be broken. We are trying to get all the other newspaper and igfa materials scanned and turned into pdf format, forever documenting Gus's legacy. Not only did he catch some of the largest sharks ever around Galveston, along with his state records, he was also a very heroic firefighter for the city of houston and medically retired as a Senior Captain after sustaining serious injury in a building fire.


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## purpletdude (Jul 7, 2004)

here are a few more pics....


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## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

Wow


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## Fishaholic (Jan 9, 2005)

Caught in the surf?? Thats amazing.


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## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

Completely astounding. 
Ive read that both fish were caught off the south jetties.
Great pictures.
Thank you very much.......


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## Catn' Around (May 21, 2004)

It must of been cool to be able to do that back in the day


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## purpletdude (Jul 7, 2004)

Actually guys....there evidently was a pier off the north jetty called "Bettison pier" It was supposedly the longest pier in the world and was destroyed in a hurricane and never rebuilt...that is where he caught both record fish. He used rump roast for bait and would pay a guy to run his baits out from the pier by motorboat. btw......he was fishing for shark when he caught both of these....he was the shark king in Galveston back in that day.


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## FlatWater (May 24, 2005)

Just wondering was the roast cooked or raw, and do you know how he rigged them up. Hell if fish like that can be caught on it maybe it's worth a try.


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## purpletdude (Jul 7, 2004)

LOL....I'm sure it was raw. You know the funny thing is....I love to yak baits out and catch up to like 6' bulls and blacktips and I actually gave it half a try just recently. I yakked out a piece of rump roast cut off a big one, about the size of a 15" horse mullet and got no takers. But I gave up too quick. I bet you would catch some sharks on raw meat like that....they just have to find it. Oviously...back in the 30's, there we're alot more species swimming around near shore waters to get a hook in.


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## hard knocks 32 sea craft (May 25, 2005)

To cool very nice


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## FlatWater (May 24, 2005)

yea thats true


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## Omanj (May 21, 2004)

The Jewfish head mount looks familiar. Was it ever in a sporting goods store? He truly will be immortalized (deservedly). Those photos remind me of a book I have by F.M. Mitchell Hedges "Battles with Giant Fish". He also caught giant sawfish and sharks in the 1930s. Hedges was exploring the South American coastline and would use ropes and chain leaders with big hooks baited with slabs of shark or whole jackfish to catch them.


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## speckle-catcher (May 20, 2004)

I work with PurpleTdude - and words can't describe how excited he is to share these photos with everyone. I've been hearing about this fish for almost 2 years and was beginning to doubt it's existance. 

IIRC, PTD said that there is a replica of the head at one of the State hatcheries (Lake Jackson, maybe?) - and may have been displayed at the main Oshman's store at one time.


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## purpletdude (Jul 7, 2004)

I'm not sure if the jewfish head ever was on display at oshmans. I think that one pic of him with the jewfish was setup and taken at an oshmans store front. I've discovered alot of things I didn't know about these fish while doing research and looking through all the documentation and articles my step mom has. I hope to get a website setup as a tribute to Gus and fully get all the stories and pictures and articles in there so everyone can read the articles and see all the pictures....there are more. I also need to find out what happened to the actual reel that he caught both fish on. It was always displayed at the house on the fireplace mantle under the jewfish head. It was a Penn reel if I'm not mistaken but I didn't ask about it when I visited her and got the pictures I did. Anyway, Gus always told me alot about those times but I was just a kid and it's hard to remember some details now here at 42....lol. Thanks for everyones interest in the record fish, I was just glad to finally get some pics out for all to see.


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## ashbrown (Feb 15, 2006)

Hello,
This is Ashley again and i was just wondering if you could send me information on Gus Pangarakis. He is my uncle. I have to do a geneaology project on my family and i was just wondering if you could send me any other information about him and his achievements. If you could it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You,
Ashley


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## 10trout/3reds (Jan 8, 2006)

Anyone else not able to see the pics? I can't see them in Firefox or IE.


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## NaClH2O (May 25, 2004)

10trout/3reds said:


> Anyone else not able to see the pics? I can't see them in Firefox or IE.


 I think it's because they got lost in the last site crash. This thread was started over 4 months ago.


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## 10trout/3reds (Jan 8, 2006)

That explains it then.

Nevermind.


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## daytripper (Aug 26, 2005)

I cannt see them either. Does anyone know how to re-post these?


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## cacciato71 (May 13, 2005)

I wanna see!


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## Mike in Friendswood (May 21, 2004)

Just a note: if you want to try for a world record, don't use rump roast. Under current IGFA rules, you cannot use any type of mammal (or mammal by-product) for bait, other than a pork rind trailer.


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## white cap (Jun 11, 2004)

Can anyone repost the pics as we would love to see um!

Thanks and more History is Good..................WC


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## activescrape (Jan 8, 2006)

You really got me wanting to see these fish so I'm bumping it back to the top.


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## boo (Nov 21, 2005)

I cant see them either


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## Arlon (Feb 8, 2005)

surely somebody saved the pictures??


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## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

I would love to see the fish also.


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## bk005 (Feb 23, 2005)

I would love to see the pics also


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## speckle-catcher (May 20, 2004)

I'll go slap purpleTdude in the head and tell him to repost the pics.


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## purpletdude (Jul 7, 2004)

Sorry it took so long to get these reposted....anyway...here they are


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## boo (Nov 21, 2005)

WOA!!! Thanks man!


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## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

That is unreal. I would have ran in the other direction if I saw that on my line. Great pics.


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## shanegair (Feb 17, 2005)

wow, those are some huge fish.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

Yee Gawds, Purple...How about some stats..weight, length etc on those two. I am old enough to remember a 1100 Lb. shark Gus caught and sold to old man Oshman. He had it stuffed and it hung in his original store downtown for years....


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## GHSmacker (Feb 27, 2006)

Those pics are incredible. I couldn't even imagine doin battle with stuff that big. 

Do sawfish even run in the Gulf anymore?


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## purpletdude (Jul 7, 2004)

The Jewfish (Goliath Grouper) is 551#, not sure what the length was but I'm sure I can find out. The Sawfish was 736# and I believe it was 14'-7".

Both are state records that will never be broken.

Reason....no jewfish that big anymore within state waters and the only population of sawfish that I know of is within a marine preserve off the gulf coast of Florida (population is around 3000). Someone caught one off the beach there last year and it was a big to do.

For me it's not so much the size of these fish that amazes me.....it's where Gus caught both of these fish that gets me......

Both caught off a long since gone PIER......in Galveston......

I would have loved to fish this area back in the 30's when he caught these fish....

By the way....I understand that Sawfish were very common along our shores back then. Especially up around the ship channel and dock areas. These fish were supposedly very docile creatures that patrolled the shallows and were very easily snagged. That is why we have no more Sawfish......people.


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## johnybass (Aug 25, 2005)

If anyone wants to see what they look like alive, we do have a 1 year old, 100 lb. jewfish and a sawfish that goes about 80 lbs. at the downtown aquarium in the restaurant in our 150,000 gallon artificial reef tank, pretty cool to see the sawfish play around and wave his hedge trimmer around at the surface.


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## hunterjck (Sep 30, 2010)

*Record Jewfish and Sawfish*

I remember around 75 years ago there was a wooden building 'way out on the North Jetty. It was during prohibition and liquor and beer were sold there and there were slot machines. There was a porch on the channel side and I remember a large rod and reel there and pictures of large fish caught there.
My uncle caught a large jew fish in that area.
I don't remember a long wooden pier out there but maybe the wooden structure could have been referred to as a pier.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

This sounds crazy but I have been trying to contact a Pangarakis for the past month. Somehow I wound up with Gus's Texas state record certificate on the jewfish, and also his IGFA certificate for the world record. I found them in my woodshed while cleaning it out last month, it was in a Rubbermaid box. Also an article from 1976 in the Magnolia paper, talking about his fishing exploits. And a yellowed clipping from about 1937 in the Houston Chronicle, announcing that jewfish are an unexploited resource, ripe for tourist fishing. I must have borrowed this stuff in 1987 when I visited Gus's widow in Magnolia, while copying the sawfish photo off her wall. Maybe the paperwork was behind the photo? I removed the glass from the frame, to take the picture. Never seen the jewfish photo with Gus before, until now. 

Anyway Shannon at the Chronicle is interested in doing a story about Gus, so will a Pangarakis please contact me. I figured the family would like to have the paperwork back. I talked to one of the Pangarakis family members in Conroe about 2 years ago, he has Gus's giant shark reel, but I think he moved back to Magnolia and we lost contact.


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

Amazing catches and stories. TH, I'm thinking you may want to post a link in TTMB to get more attention to your search.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

Anybody know a Pangarakis? I sent the original poster an IM or email, but no reply.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

Joe, he hasn't logged on here since...
Last Activity: 01-26-2007 09:42 PM

TH


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## tspitzer (Feb 7, 2013)

I read some where that the Indians used to catch them and use the snout for a weapon--must have been a ton of them way back--


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

I wonder how Indians would catch a jewfish. Dunno if they ever had rope. And they couldn't gig them with a spear and torch light. Hard to make circle hooks, in those days.


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## speckle-catcher (May 20, 2004)

I'm trying to reach out and find purpletdude. We no longer work at the same company, and I'm not sure how to find him.

if I get contact info, I'll let you know.


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## Cylinder (Oct 8, 2006)

I remember seeing a large, dead sawfish on lowers PINS in the late 60's / early 70's. It's saw was removed. Remember it being 8-10' without the saw. 
Used to fish Bob Hall in the late 60's. There was a gift shop on the beach that was shaped like a pirate ship that had pictures of some really large sawfish caught in that area, maybe even from the pier. Even had a post card with Mr. P and his jewfish for sale. Good memories. Roger


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