Fishing: It ran northwest Florida. Here's a boat that carried the weight
Fishing was a big deal in northwest Florida. Here's some of that history.
PANAMA CITY– When entering History Class Brewing Co. on Harrison Avenue, residents and visitors might notice a sign honoring the "Margie-Ann." There's more to that story.
The following is transcribed with permission from the brewery's marketing guy, Eric Darnell.
"Here at History Class, our goal is to tell the stories of our town, and we've always been a fishing village," Eric says. "So let me introduce you to the Margie Ann."
"So I grew up fishing in Panama City. My dad obviously started me. My great-uncle Cleve started him, and it goes a lot further than that. It's not just my family," said Josh Sauls of Heritage Excursions.
"There's several families that have been here for generations. As long as I can remember, man, people are making a living out here," said Sauls. "They're charter fishing. They're commercial fishing. It's just a really great thing to know that you can provide for your family from what God's given us on the earth."
"My great uncle Cleve had a couple of boats here in Panama City, and they fished everywhere," said Sauls. "Uncle Cleve had been fishing since back when boats were under sail. I have pictures of his boat, the Isaac Bowles, and it didn't even have an engine."
"It was a sailboat, and they still went out and caught red snapper and groupers, anything they could sell and make a living," said Sauls. "The Margie-Ann was technically the flagship of our little fleet of boats, and it fished out of Panama City and Grand Isle, Louisiana, and everywhere else all over the Gulf."
"Our lives revolved around fishing and around the boat. It's all we had until 2007. I lost my dad to heart disease," said Sauls. "It was the hardest part of my life, but you know, I got to do things with my dad that most people never get to do."
"Not long after that, the boat suffered some damage, and ultimately she was dismembered," said Sauls. "The transom of the boat is still here today. We were able to save that part as well as a few other iconic pieces of the boat."
"I always felt like the fishermen of Bay County have kind of been unsung heroes, so to speak, and knowing that something that they built, something that we have, will go on, and the story will live on, it's amazing to me," said Sauls.
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"The stern of the Margie-Ann is more than just my family history. This is the history of Panama City, and it's important," said Sauls.
