SI-TEX HOOKS UP WITH TOP BOATING/FISHING WRITERS
Inshore/Offshore Combo Trip With SI-TEX Field Tester Capt. Jamie Hummel Lets Journalists Experience Long Island Sportfishing and Latest SI-TEX Marine Electronics

The best way to understand marine electronics and how they perform in the real world is to experience them in real-world conditions. This holds true for both companies that manufacture them and members of the media who report on them.

SI-TEX did precisely this June 15-16, taking a group of top boating and fishing writers out with Capt. Jamie Hummel, noted Long Island fishing guide and long-time SI-TEX Marine Electronics Field Tester. SI-TEX recently finished rigging Hummel’s new Parker 25 Pilothouse “Yeti” with a full array of new SI-TEX electronics, including an SP-36 Virtual Feedback autopilot, an SVS-650 Color Sounder, an EC-11 chartplotter with powerful open-array radar and an SST-110 precision stand-alone digital temperature sensor.

Joining Hummel and SI-TEX Vice President/Sales Allen Schneider were John Raguso, Boating and Electronics Editor for The Fisherman; Glenn Law, Electronics Editor for Salt Water Sportsman and Kevin Falvey, Editor-in-Chief of Boating Magazine. These writers were treated to a unique inshore/offshore sampler platter of Long Island sportfishing. On the first day, the group targeted the region’s legendary striped bass by anchoring up and drifting clam bellies back into the outgoing current. The group didn’t have to wait long between bites. Numerous stripers were landed, with SI-TEX’s own Schneider proving to be the hot angler, reeling the two largest keeper bass of the morning.

As the current dwindled and the bite slowed down, the group decided to run to a nearby artificial reef a few miles from the inlet. Capt. Hummel used his hi-resolution color sounder to pinpoint scattered, low-relief hard bottom areas holding fish. There, they enjoyed steady action on black seabass and even a keeper fluke. On the second day, the group opted to take advantage of the great weather forecast and run offshore aboard Hummel’s custom Egg Harbor “Sasquatch.” The plan was to drift for mako sharks in pockets of warm offshore water (which we found with the help of SI-TEX’s SST-110), however a parade of big blue sharks surrounded the boat almost non stop. Catching and releasing these big blues provided plenty of exercise and diversion for the crew, as did catching the large offshore bluefish that occasionally blasted through the chum slick.

“ I think this time on the water together was valuable for everybody involved,” said Schneider. “To a man, the writers appreciated the opportunity to hear the SI-TEX story and see our latest products in action — not on a test bench, but in real-life situations. Events like this underscore the type of company we are. One that uses its own products and listens to the input of customers and field testers. We’re looking forward to editorial media coverage in the coming months, and to doing more of these types of projects with writers in the future,” added Schneider.