Shifting emphasis: A bunch of years back, a 13-year-old boy was shark fishing from the beach at Corpus Christi. He caught a mako of some 400+ pounds. He explained that he'd seen the shark a good ways out, so he swam out and tossed the bait near the shark. Swam back to shore, and the rest is history.
I never saw a basking shark in the Gulf of Mexico, but fishing the blue water is great. Never know what will turn up. Sea turtles, yeah, and manta rays from eight to twelve feet across. Offshore drilling for oil and gas is the best thing that ever happened for offshore fishermen.