Mark Hoos / Mark jr. on the Marli....Has been the top tuna boat in OC for the past decade. He runs a top notch boat and always makes sure the customer has fun as well as catches a bunch!!!! Good people all the way around:bigfish:

 

Never sure of your intent but I'll play.

IMHO - The late Capt. Bunting. He ran a headboat and found wrecks with only his compass and watch - well out of sight of land.

We'd often run over an hour - then anchor up. No doubt we were over a wreck - since snags were often.

Depth finder helped him pin point but that was after he navigated to the spot.

 

this should be a good one. i mean take your pick there are a bunch of great charter operations in OC.

 

Put your xtratuffs on boys.... ****s gonna get deep quick.

 

ok, i'll bite...

Tuna - Brian Porter
Marlin - Jon Duffie
Shark - Mark Sampson
Bottom - Monty Hawkins
over the long haul - Bobby Gowar

 

Second Tommy Tuna... No doubt

 

Good list Tommy, but gotta throw my friends from Reel Chaos in the mix especially for Bigeyes!

Jim
Magic Moment
35 CC

 

Brian Porter I third

 

What about the crew that ran out of Bahia in the 90's. I remember a boat named Sea Warrior. Does anyone know what happened to those guys?

 

Sea Warrior was owned and captained by Warren Sauers [spelling?] and also free lanced by Capt Jack Leonard, both have passed, Capt Jay Champlain may have also ran her,, His son Blaine is a good captain also

Phil

Ocean Rebel

 

There are a lot of names that have not been mentioned, I have only been offshore fishing since the early eighties, and even the good captains of the eighties and nineties are not noted yet, and I don't really know where to start, There was Coconut Hedges, on the Seven Days, Brynner Parks on the Smoker, Benny Gilbreath on several boats, Joe O'Boyle on several boats, and before them were captains like Buckshot on the Ships Café, also Fred Kersetter, Alan Fields, Jack Kaueffer, and many more, were these captains as good as the current list,, probably not, but they were top captains of their time, boats and tackle. I know I have missed several names

Phil

Ocean Rebel

 

Don't forgot. These guys were working with far less electronics and technology as well. Didn't a guy named Bill Lutz also run the Sea Warrior?

 

Top private boat of all time would have to be Kingfisher after the white marlin open win i guess.

 

To clarify, it was the crew from the kingfisher, fishing on the Odenspear

 

Phil, you have a great memory, I have been fortunate to fish with and call some of them my friends
Eric

 

Is the charter industry still viable? I remember in the 90's paying about 900 bucks for the day for a trip. Seems like the prices have skyrocketed like everything else. Not sure who can pay twenty five hundred bucks a day anymore. I'd be interested in hearing how that industry is.

 

Back in the 90s there were a lot more fish being caught on charter and private boats with more regularity and gas was $1 gal.,slip fees were about 1/3 of what they are now.just about all expenses have tripled.Today,If there's a strong bite,like back then,people will still book a trip at the last minute unless they are addicted and just have to go for the love of it.

 

Dr. Rosenberg, that is a very good point,having both chartered and worked on charter boats,there is a price point, once that is reached the industry declines. My observation was $200.00 per man,(excluding tip, beer, food ect) most guys can hide that / or justify that expenditure, after that number they cannot afford to go or worse........they do not tip, because they really have spent their budget , that is just my observation over the last 25 years fishing out of ocean city md

 

There was a boat named Always Late....can't remember the capts. name...who was on top for many years back in the 80's.

 

His name is Larry Richardson

 

Stu Windsor on the "Lisa" has been in the game forever.

 

Ok, where to begin.... Let me touch on the Sea Warrior. Warren Sauers owned the boat. Jay Champlin ran the boat with Warren throughout the 80s and 90s (when he was not running my fathers boat the Last Call, or when he moved onto a couple others including the Andra Leigh, Lucatia, or Reel Tease). Jack Leonard, jack falcucci, bill lutz, Robby Paquette, and a few others ran the sea warrior over the years as well. Warren passed on a few years ago. My mother is close with his widow. Warren was a mentor to me.

Top captains in OC over the years. Guy talbot put more big blue marlin on the docks in the 80s than any other. Best known for running the Bluewater. 50 foot whiticar.

The Simpson brothers (Albert, jerry, and Mac ). Pioneers in the fishery some of the best in their days. And they could catch anything from the bottom on out to the blue. A true fishing family.

Dale Brown. A legend. He traveled boats up and down the coast, as a delivery captain, back before it was common place. I once had an old Bahamian tell me that Dale Brown was the best giant tuna fisherman the Bahamas ever knew. In his latter years he ran the tortuga out of Bahia for flounder.

Paul Mumford. Pioneered resin headed teasers. His teasers were sought after the world over by billfisher men. Also well know for the chain of "Paul's tackle shops". His son was skipper was quite a fisherman too. Both have passed on.

Buckshot and Gowar. Two crusty old legends that fished hard, partied hard, and were as good as anyone, anywhere they ever fished. Gowar was best known for the years on the Liquidator. Buckshot for his years on the Allison. I am honored to say I fished with Buck, and was able to call both bobby and buck my friends. I miss them both.

Capt. Fred Riffe of the Huntress. He held the marlin club top boat trophy in the 80s the way Duffie does now. His nephew Scott Walker was his mate and co captain. You will recognize his name because of his own exploits and the TV show into the Blue. Fred's wife Kati was an incredible angler also.

There are many many more. (Coconut, the Fields family, Mitch Pierson, Jimmy Garmer, Mike Aman, Glenn Mumford, The Miller Brothers) This is just a sampling. The "new guys" like Mark Sr and Jr, Porter, and some of the rest are well deserving of recognition as well.

Good topic.

 

I fished OC back in the 70's and 80's and a lot of the names Franky mentions brings back many memories. Didn't Lou Parsons run the Bluewater before Guy?

 

I will likely see jack kauffer in the next day or so and ask him about Lou. Guy was running the boat when I first came here in 83. I fished with Terry Hough who owned the Bluewater a couple of times. Nice guy.

Old stuff..... Chris and chuck miller were mating for my dad on the day the Last Call (then new to us) caught its first white marlin. That was in 40 fathoms near poormans. In the way in they spotted a tailer 6 miles off the beach. Couldn't get it to eat.

In 1984, Chris Bowie and Scott walker taught me to rig mullet as hook baits. This was basically to get me to leave them alone while they were trying to rig things. Double hooked on number 9 wire. Ben Mell taught me to rig a Bally hoo. Also on number 9 wire. Pin rig. Jack Leonard taught me to rig eels, squid, mackerel and strip baits. The only one rigged on mono was the mackerel.

For those that hanker back to the early 80s, the charter fleet at the white marlin in 83 consisted of such boats as the Helen D with Cspt. Ken Denlein, huntress with Fred Riffe, fools gold with Glen Mumford, sea warrior with warren Sauers, sugar britches with Tom valdivia, muff diver with joe Riley pappy's pride with bill kneesi, and my dad's last call. Other boats in the marina included the Shadowfax, the r and r, the blackjack, Gail IV, the stinchcomb's 31 Bertram (I am drawing a blank on the name) to name a few. At talbot street I recall the Pursuer, Bluewater, islander, wet whiskers, Irish rover, Lisa, slick chick.

There was an older gentleman named Lee. He was deaf, but man could he entertain me and Blaine Champlin all day long with old fish stories!

Another boat from back then that I forgot was the enchantress with Jim Tibbs.

 

If I am not mistaken, the current miff diver was originally the Imagination. That was Jim Tibbs boat first. He got it after the enchantress burned. Bill kneesi owned it in the middle. Another boat was the Robin's Nest owned by Ken Forti. Ken's daughter Robin went in to work with the Billfish Foundation.

 

Franky you can't forget about your father Captain Frank Pettolina and my main man Captain Joe Riley...maybe never the best but they have been in the game for 30+ years with a SUCCESSFUL an PRODUCTIVE charter fishing boat/business...they have also trained many of the captains of today, Porter, Chris Bowie rip, Wayne Bradford yourself and myself just to name a few....that to me means that they surely should be mentioned in this conversation.

-Ryan

 

When you mention joe Riley's success overt he years a couple of things come to mind. He was one of the first guys to realize the crowd pleasing side of charter fishing was just as important as the glory side of it. Keep the rods bent, people keep smiling. He taught me that. One of my first "good" days white marlin fishing was with joe. Granted, good is a relative term. In the mid to late eighties the top boats in town would have twenty ish marlin for the season (I know that is a good day now). I was 14 and working a day with joe. We caught 4 out of 7 whites. I was ecstatic. I was also dumbfounded when joe pulled off the numbers for an hour or two to bail dolphins. Joe explained it to me that afternoon on the ride in. Those four dozen dolphin meant as much or more to those 6 guys as the 4 marlins did. Valuable lesson. He also taught me that catching false albacore is better than catching nothing. Every fish is an important fish. Treat it as such and you will be successful in the charter biz. Keep people laughing and entertained and you will be successful.

 

Thanks so much. Has the charter client changed over the last 2 decades? Are you running just as many trips per year as in the nineties? I really appreciate the time you've taken to respond.