Business View Magazine
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rout, blacktip shark, sheepshead, bigmouth sleeper,
gray snapper, common snook, southern stargazer,
southern stingray, and tripletail, can all be found and
caught there.
“It’s a great fishing ground because it only averages
two and half feet of water,” explains Rob Youker, owner
of The Sportsman, a shallow water boat dealer in San
Benito whose main market is the Laguna Madre Bay
system. “It grows great fish, and because the sun can
get to the shallow bottom, it can easily grow plants, and
plants start the ecosystem which brings on all kinds of
stuff.” And naturally, all that “stuff” also brings on the
fishermen who want to experience the thrill of catching
fish, taking home memories that will last a lifetime.
Youker is a third generation proprietor. His grandfa-
ther, C.R. ‘’Dutch” Youker, started The Sportsman in
1951. According to his grandson, the founder was “a
gruff old guy” who came down from Kansas to fish and
hunt, but found no sporting goods store in the area. So
he decided to open his own at Monroe and First Street
in downtown Harlingen, Texas. “Well that didn’t last
long,” says Youker. “He was here a short time before
he got frustrated dealing with retail customers and
decided to go back to hunting and fishing. He called
my mother and father – I was nine months old at the
time – and he said, ‘Bob and Betty, you come down to
South Texas and I’m going to give you this little store.
You don’t need to pay me for it; you just come down
and take it over.’ And that’s how we got down here. So,
my mother and father built it into three different loca-
tions – one in Harlingen, one in McAllen, and then this
store that I’m at now in San Benito, Texas.”
In 1952, Youker’s dad, R. D. “Bob” Youker, decided to
sell boats and Evinrude outboard motors from the San
Benito location. A popular model at the time was the
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
The Sportsman
WHAT:
Distributor of shallow draft bay fishing
boats
WHERE:
San Benito, Texas
WEBSITE
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