
Sharkathon is an annual shark-fishing tournament on the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world: Padre Island National Seashore. The island is a regional treasure with a rich history of local shore fishermen.
Drawing the participation of 700 men, women, and children from across Texas, the competition results in the successful tag-and-release of over 100 sharks annually. With 250,000 sharks being slaughtered around the world daily solely for their fins, the anglers competing in Sharkathon are instrumental in gathering research
geared towards saving these apex predators.
Shark Cowboys begins with an introduction to our elite team of anglers competing for Men’s First Place Shark: Duke and Blayne. You cannot miss their camp when riving down the hours of undeveloped beach to mile marker 37. Duke and Blayne fish out of a retired military vehicle and base their headquarters in a huge PVC pipe and plastic dome tent. They’ve put together a support team of dedicated friends who are assigned jobs such as bait fishing, cooking, or tending the campfire to ensure Duke and Blayne can focus solely on kayaking out bait and tending their reels. These close friends met in vet school at Texas A&M, and their friendship was sealed when Duke, who grew up fishing on the coast, took Blayne on his first fishing trip to the Gulf of Mexico twenty years ago. They continue to bond over their passion for inventing better methods and instruments to successfully catch and release the largest sharks to win the Sharkathon.
Valerie Gallegos learned how to fish before she could walk. It’s an annual tradition for her and her father, husband, and sons to compete in Sharkathon. She is a self-professed poor sport and consistently competes against herself to improve. She recently won her first trophy fishing in Babes on the Bay, a huge all-female offshore fishing tournament in Rockport, Texas. In contrast to Duke and Blayne and their found family of focused anglers, the Gallegos fish while focusing on conservation and time spent together as a family. They’re joined at the beach by their huge crew of Alamo City Tundras cheering them on.
Valerie’s 10-year-old son, King, has inherited his mother’s passion for fishing. Over the course of the years we follow him, we see him lose focus of his love of football
as he gets more and more passionate about fishing and trying to catch a winner for the kid’s division of Sharkathon.
Dr. Greg Stunz, Professor of Marine Biology at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, is the leading scientist researching the sharks off the Gulf of Mexico. He explains on camera how this tournament is crucial in saving sharks and our oceans by gathering research that is not yet available. Dr. Stunz relates a tragic tale with humor about how, through tracking, they were able to see a favorite shark, Einstein, make a direct line to the Mexican fishing village of Tamaulipas, where he’s continued to ping for the past year in someone’s refrigerator.
Over the years, we follow our anglers, and we see heartbreaks and triumphs. For every thrilling high of catching a shark, there’s also frustration at cut lines, uncooperative weather, and navigating the unpredictable ocean itself.