South Again - My story of growing up part the Gulf Coasts greatest Charter Fleet.

 

South Again

Chapter 1

The interview

At 17 knots headed due West you navigate Pensacola Bay for about 30 minutes until you hit green buoy #12. That’s when it happens… turn the boat due South and line up on the Sea buoy and you’re in the Gulf of Mexico. You’re on the back deck of a boat, prepping baits and tying leaders, assuring the days clients you’ll fill the box and have a great day. You’re headed that magical direction that everyone in our profession longs for. It’s another day, another charter and thankfully you’re headed South Again!

 

   When I was a 17-year-old Boy, wide eyed and out of control I applied for my dream job. The deckhand on the back deck of a local charter boat. The GAMBLER was her name and I had no idea at that time how this simple act would change my life and direction forever. You see Capt. Buzz and his Son Capt. Brian were well known in our area and they operated one of the top Charter boats in Pensacola. Capt. Brian was the youngest in the business and had established his reputation as one of the best and his Father Buzz was everything a boat captain is supposed to be. These two were without question the best Captains I ever had the pleasure of knowing. Convincing them I was the guy that they wanted to take care of their boat and keep their clients happy and catching fish would be no easy task, but I was sure I was the guy. I was a horrible student in high school and a failed athlete and for the most part I had zero drive or determination to do much else other than go to Pensacola Beach, hang out, play volleyball, surf and party. The established Deckhands in Pensacola were the guys all of us young guys looked up too. Skin tanned dark and leathery from the sun, raspy voiced and well-seasoned. A cigarette always hanging from the corners of their mouths and a cold beer never too far away. They were the salt of the Earth, the guys that had forgotten more about fishing in the Gulf than we would ever know. They cleaned 100s of lbs. of fish in what seemed like minutes while entertaining clients all the while.

 

  These guys were our heroes, the local men all wanted to know where to fish on their weekends off and these guys held the key. They were always drinking free beers provided for intel and they always seemed to have a fishing story that seemed near impossible. I wanted more than anything to be one of these legends. Buzz and Brian called me back and based on a recommendation from my Father, they gave me my shot. We met at the GAMBLER and to my surprise the three of us were going fishing, are you serious? I get to go fishing on the back deck of the GAMBLER, with Buzz and Brian as an interview? I was shocked, so excited I could have jumped out of my skin. Even if I don’t get the job, I get to go Red Snapper fishing with these guys for the whole day, just the three of us. “Kick the ropes Brad”, Capt. Buzz yelled at me. “Take the ladder off first, set it on the dock, then kick the stern line next” he continued. Capt. Brian added to the simple list of orders, “Make sure you roll that stern line up nice and neat!”. “Yes Sir” I responded, and the list of orders continued. “Brad take the power cord off, a half twist to the left then roll it up nice and neat and hang it from the power station” Buzz added “then get your ass up to the bow”.  I rolled the power cord up and ran up the starboard side of the GAMBLER to the bow pulpit where the bow line was secure. Buzz yelled down from the wheelhouse “Unhook the bow line then stretch it out nice and straight on the dock”. He continued “The straighter the line is on the dock the easier it will be for you to catch it when we dock this afternoon”. The whole while Capt. Brian is watching to make sure I do things correctly; Buzz is an easy-going Man but like any Captain he has his ways. You will execute every task his way, his boat his rules. No room for debate, just do it the way he asks, and everything will be fine.

 

 With my simple list of commands complete I give the boat a small push from the pilling that sits near the starboard spring line cleat and Capt. Buzz eases her in gear. First a slight bump in reverse from the port motor to get the bow turned out just right. Then a skillful bump forward of both motors to get us around the boat docked in front of him. Then we motor out past the C dock located at the end of Seville Harbor and the fuel dock.  We motor slowly out past the Pensacola Port to let the diesel motors warm up. While Capt. Buzz eased the 40’ Resmondo into full gear Capt. Brian and I went to work. As we started pulling rods out of the cabin from the overhead storage racks, he is giving me the run down, “Line the rods up outside behind the cooler” he tells me. There was a custom-built cooler on the back deck that had a beautiful wooden rod rack built into it. It would hold 14 offshore rods and that was the center of the back deck. “Line them up, single rigs on one side and double hooks on the other” He continued. “This will help you keep everything in order when you’re rigging” he finished. I felt nervous and anxious but oddly comfortable, I felt at home and at peace like never before. I felt like I belonged back there, setting up rods, the smell of diesel and saltwater.  I wanted this job, this life more than anything. I hung on every command Capt. Brian gave me and executed them to the T, I followed every command with a prompt “Yes Sir”. Now Brian was only a few years older than me at the time, I was 17 and he was 19 but he was already a 100 Ton Captain, and he was everything I wanted to be.

 

  He had the long hair that was popular at the time, the custom painted, lifted Toyota pickup truck and the gold chain with fish pendant that every Capt. Back then had to have. He was the Man, he at a few years older than I took this boat out every day and loaded it with fish. He was living the life I dreamt about. I had to impress Capt. Brian because if I got the job, he would be my Boss and my mentor. I wanted nothing more in the world than to work for him.  “Go inside and open the cabinet over the stairs” Brian instructed, “Grab the hooks, swivels and a roll of leader material”. I grabbed all the materials needed and headed out to the back deck. You see this is the true test, we were about to tie leaders together! There is not a more important task for a deck hand than tying knots. Your ability to tie knots, fast and secure is the entire job. I brought the material out to Brian, now I am nervous, don’t mess up I’m thinking to myself. The job interview has now officially started.  We tied leaders together for 15 minutes, Brian quizzing me on rigs and knots the whole time. Where had I fished, what had I fished for and just generally getting a feel for who I was as a person. My experience on the water at that time was not extensive, I had only been living in Florida for a couple years. We tied single hook rigs, double hook rigs and made a few Haywire twist with steel leader material as well.  He showed me a few tricks that I still use today when tying leaders nearly 30 years later. With all the rods rigged and gear ready we sat on the gunwales of the 40’ convertible, had a cigarette and enjoyed the rest of the ride down the bay just chatting.

 

  It seemed like things went well, but at that age it was hard to tell. We were still headed West down Pensacola Bay when we made it to the Pass. The Pass is where Pensacola Bay dumps into the Gulf of Mexico.  This to me is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. The emerald green and turquoise waters of Pensacola on either side of the boat. The brilliant white sands of Fort Pickens and Fort McCrae beaches. The bluest sky you have ever seen in your life, and this is the place where you first start to feel the swells coming from the Gulf. The boat begins to climb the swells gently up one side and back down the other. This is to me a place I will always remember, this place defined so much of my life that it will always be special. Capt. Buzz is at the wheel and looks more at home than anyone in any place I’d ever seen. Standing behind the large steering wheel, VHF radio going off above him. You see back then all the Charter boat Captains rode the same channel and would tease each other all day. Buzz slightly changed our heading and began to head a bit more East. We were headed out across the shoal that runs out from Pickens Point. Crystal clear water and a light onshore wind made for a magical moment for me. This was my first time ever out of Pensacola Pass and my first real trip into the Gulf. I could not believe it; I was on the back deck of the GAMBLER.  Capt. Buzz grew up on the water and was a supervisor at the local Paper Mill. He bought the GAMBLER brand new from Resmondo and hired his Son to run it.

 

   Buzz knew the waters better than anyone, this was back before GPS and chart plotters that showed you where to go. He and Brian ran the old LORAN C and could tell you where you were and how far you had left to go just by looking a series of numbers on a screen. The way LORAN worked was the top and bottom number either ascended or descended depending on your heading. Buzz could look at the last digits of each line and a compass heading and know exactly where in the Gulf he was. This is a skill that is largely lost these days but was an absolute necessity back then. He was the best, if you wanted to learn how to navigate a boat from the best in the business, Buzz was the man. “About 30 more minutes Boys” Buzz yelled down “Start cutting the bait up and get everything ready”. He continued with “We’re gonna start at the sailboat Brian”, Brian knew what that meant and nodded back at his Father. We were going to a private spot, a sunken sailboat that had been moved by one of Pensacola’s many hurricanes and they had found it out fishing one day by accident. Brian and his brother Kenny had dived the spot many times and reported it was covered with giant Red Snapper. This spot was only maybe 4 miles offshore, straight out from the Pensacola Beach fishing pier. As we got closer Buzz began to slowly pull back on the throttles and bring the GAMBLER down to a slow idle. Eyes on the LORAN and watching his bottom machine, he was looking for signs of the structure and fish. Once located, Buzz would decide which way the current and wind were pushing the vessel then “hold up” into those to keep the boat sitting in one spot while we fished. While Buzz was rounding up on the sunken sailboat Brian and I baited a few rods, checked the ice in the end of the custom cooler and prepared to make a drop on the structure for Snapper.

 

 Overcome with excitement I nervously looked over the side of the boat trying to see the Snapper all the way at the bottom in the 100’ of crystal-clear water. Then we heard it “Alright Boys, drop em” Buzz yelled from the wheelhouse. Brian and I released the spools on our Penn reels and let the heavy weight drag our bait down to the structure and whatever waited for us down there.  In a matter of seconds our baits hit the bottom, we engaged our spools, reeled in the slack and BAM, we were both hooked up to giant snapper immediately.  Laughing the entire time, we both struggled to drag our prize catches to the surface with Buzz coaching the entire time. “Pump the rod up and reel down boys” he would yell at us, “Get that fish out of the wreck boys”. Within a few minutes we both hauled giant Red Snapper over the edge, quickly admired the beautiful catches, iced them down and quickly lowered another bait to the bottom. A few hours later with a box full of snapper and a boatful of smiles I had done it; I had convinced the experienced crew of the GAMBLER to hire me as their 1^st mate. That ride back to Pitt Slip Marina there was a lot of explanation of the job, expectations from the captains and fun tales of charters gone by. Was this a dream, would I wake up any minute this all not be real? I had spent an amazing day on the water with two of the area’s top Captains and with the 100s of kids in our area that wanted this job… IT WAS MINE! I was now the deckhand on the Charter Boat GAMBLER.

 

   This moment in time means more to me then I can ever put on these pages or ever be able to explain to anyone. I grew up on the back deck of that boat, that blue nonskid surface, the smell of cut bait and bleach at 0600 in the morning. The excitement of a crew of new faces every morning and the feeling of unloading the days catch in front of excited on lookers every afternoon. Over the next few chapters I will tell you stories of days, trips and experiences I had while I was one of the salty, tanned and crusty deckhands that made up the Pensacola Charter Fleet.