Article by Capt. Franky Pettolina
I was sitting at my desk wrestling with ideas of what to write about this week. One of my first thoughts was to share some old White Marlin Open stories from over the years. There have really been some doozies, that’s for sure. Like the time we all sat at the Reel Inn until the wee hours waiting for a BIG blue marlin to be brought in. It seemed like everybody had a friend who heard from somebody on the boat on the Single Side Band radio (this was in the glorious days before SAT phones and InReach). All of these friends were telling us that the boat would be in as soon as they boated the fish. When a lady who actually had heard from someone on the boat came into the bar and told us that the fish had been lost none of us wanted to believe it. I am not sure if we just wanted to keep drinking or if we were all that optimistic that we would get to see the biggest blue marlin ever to be weighed. Either way we stayed at the bar. I am positive that Spunky liked tallying the receipts the next morning. I am also pretty positive that he started most of the rumors about the fishing coming in that kept us at the bar longer!
One of my other ideas was to write about nicknames of fishermen that I have known over the years. There have been plenty of good ones. Capt. Splash (who had a habit of falling overboard while drinking his morning “coffee”), Rear Admiral Moon (who might have been a little too fond of showing everyone his backside) and Ensign Eel (the rank and file mate who rigged a pretty mean double hooked eel) all came to mind right away.
It was that train of thought that started me thinking about the “The Fleet Commander”. Most of the current fishing folks here in Ocean City don’t remember the Fleet Commander. He has been gone from the town since the mid 90s and, unfortunately, gone from this life since 2004. The Fleet Commander’s real name was Warren Sauers and he was the owner and captain of a boat called the “Sea Warrior”. He was a big man with a big personality. My earliest memories of him are from when I was a little kid on the docks at the White Marlin Marina and he seemed unapproachable. In my mind’s eye he was kind of like a heavier version of Judge Smails from the movie Caddyshack. Overdressed for the job with collared shirts and fancy pants, and he had an air about him of being better than those around him. Of course those were just a little kid’s impressions and the truth was Warren was a snappy dresser and he was just a natural leader. He told you where the fishing was going to be good, he told you how to catch whatever was there and he told you how he was going to do it. A little intimidating? Maybe. But he could definitely back it up.
As I got a little older I learned to truly appreciate the man. When I was in my mid-teens I spent many mornings talking to Warren before getting the “Last Call” ready to go fishing. I would purposely get to the marina an hour or more before I needed to because I knew Warren would be sitting behind the “Sea Warrior” drinking a six pack of Diet Coke. He didn’t sleep much, and like another more current Commander, Diet Coke was his drink of choice. Warren helped me through my teenage years. We talked about fishing, weightlifting, girls, football and life. When I was second guessing my relationship with my father, as teenage boys who think they are smarter than they really are often do, Warren would listen and give me fatherly advice. In a non-fatherly way. I was learning and not even realizing it. At times when I would have probably made stupid moves and strained my bond with my Dad, Warren would nudge me in the right direction and make me think that I came up with the idea on my own. Like I said, he was a natural leader.
But that isn’t how he got the nickname of Fleet Commander. Warren was not afraid of the VHF radio when he was out fishing. Quite the opposite. Warren made sure you knew where he was, where the bite was, where the bite wasn’t, who caught what and who didn’t. At times it seemed like Warren was talking on three different channels at once, all while backing down on a marlin. Another captain in the fleet, whose nickname was Smut by the way, commissioned a caricature painting up on the boardwalk that depicted Warren at the helm of the “Sea Warrior” with all of his charter holding microphones up to him like a press conference. The painting was titled, “The Fleet Commander.”
Warren embraced the nickname. It fit him.
The VHF radio got strangely quiet after Warren stopped fishing in Ocean City. In the years since then it has gotten even more quiet. Maybe I am being a bit old fashioned in the era of satellite communications, but just maybe it is time for a new generation to follow the example of the old Fleet Commander. Put your bites on the air. Let people know what is working and where it is working. Sharing information will come back to you tenfold. Who knows, you might even see a cartoon picture of yourself with a whole bunch of microphones held up to you on Instagram.
Good luck in the White Marlin Open everybody! Be safe out there and talk to one another!
Capt Franky Pettolina is Co-Captain of the charter boat, “Last Call”, owner of Pettolina Marine Surveying, Inc. and multi-term President of the Ocean City Marlin Club. To book a trip on the “Last Call”, call 443-783-3699.