As school approaches, the most stressful time of year comes with it for Capt. Jon, me, to wear two hats — one of the fishing boat captain and one of a high school English teacher.
For my customers, this news is not a big surprise because everyone knows a teacher or knows another teacher — captain who also fishes. In fact, the combo is by no means strange to the party boat fishing industry. There are many boats owned by teachers from Orient Point to Port Jefferson to City Island; in a strange way, both are seasonal jobs. But this lack of enthusiasm is certainly one-sided, for when I tell my students about my other passion, obsession, crippling dependency, etc., it is all they want to talk about. They are shocked, dumbfounded, and in awe of the fact that a teacher at their school might actually do something “gasp” cool. And for the past eight years, the dissemination of that information was almost always followed by the inevitable question, “Can we call you Captain?”
Teenagers will latch onto anything to break the mundane order set by adults.
But like a high school, which caters to people of all backgrounds — depending upon your “area”, a party boat is, in many ways, is the greatest leveler of class one can find. I suppose that is why I love working on them so much — you never know who you are going to meet. One striking example of this occurred some time ago when a bricklayer named George “The Greek” fished next to Star, the wife of the owner of Symbol Technologies, whose diamond earring cost more than the boat I was employed upon.
George, a very simple man who spoke very little English, spent a good deal of the trip taking pity on the poor woman who couldn’t catch a fish to save her life, throwing porgy after porgy into her bucket — taking no notice of her five carat earrings or starched white button down shirt because that is what true gentleman do.
And now, in mid-August, I stand on the top deck of my boat and watch the cars pull in, I sip my coffee and wonder. Mercedes, Toyotas, Fords — there is no predicting who will pull into the lot. There is just something about fishing that brings everyone together. It’s a skill some people spend a life time to perfect; it’s a means to source one of the last readily available wild foods of this planet; it’s a hobby that a father can teach to his child; it is a trophy a CEO can adorn an office wall with. Catching a fish triggers something in all of us, something many people have buried long ago — a testament, though small, that you can provide for yourself, for your family and that, most importantly, the fish you landed is a “helluva” lot bigger than the one caught by the person standing next to you.
The Captain Bob Fishing Fleet is located at 5675 W. Mill Road in Mattituck. For information on the fishing fleet, charter boats and dinner and sunset cruises, call (631) 298-5522 or go to the fleet’s Facebook page.
