Article by Capt. Franky Pettolina
I recently had the chance to swap some stories over a plate of tater tots with the Grand Poobah of the Coastal Fisherman himself. The one, the only, Larry Jock. I prefer to think of him as Jocko, or as his Luchador alter ego, El Jocko Magnifico.
It was a little past happy hour by the time I met up with El Jocko, so I was well on my way to being talkative. Following our usual banter about what fish had been caught that day, with a few brief interruptions from Coastal Fisherman readers and other autograph seekers, we were able to get down to some serious shooting of the bull.
Much to my surprise, Jocko had never heard the story about the time I caused a minor riot in the best Chinese restaurant in downtown Caraballeda, Venezuela. I love telling the story, and Larry seemed to enjoy the story too. After some deliberation we decided that it would make for a great Fish Story this week, and I was all set to write it. But I have changed my mind. I want to devote this week’s Fish Story to a different topic. A more timely topic. Don’t worry, next week I promise to tell of the Caraballeda Caper at the Hong Kong Chef.
The first Mako Mania Tournament was the brain child of Capt. Steve Harman. For many years the Ocean City Shark Tournament was held at Bahia Marina, but it’s directors eventually moved the event over to the Ocean City Fishing Center. There was an award given away during the Ocean City Shark Tournament in honor of Steve’s dad, William Harman. Mr. Harman was the founder and long time owner of Bahia Marina, and Steve wanted to “keep it in the family”, so to speak. The year following the OCST moving to its new venue, the Mako Mania was born. The W. W. Harman Award was coming home.
During the two summers prior to the first Mako Mania, Steve was running my father’s boat during the week and I was his mate. Steve and my Dad were good buddies. The dates were chosen and the rules were written for that first tournament after we looked through old log books and issues of the Coastal Fisherman to see when the best body of decent sized makos moved through town. Steve wanted to keep it simple. Biggest mako on the dock wins. Throw in an added entry level for the biggest bluefish. BOOM! A tournament was born.
Fast forward to the registration for the inaugural event and things were a little tough going. It was a cold, foggy, rainy and windy spring (much like the one we are currently experiencing). The weather forecast was not the best. What buzz there was about the tournament was doing its best to fizzle out. Dad and I went and signed up the “Last Call” and we got in all of the added entry levels. Then we set about to brow beating any tire kickers that were standing near the tent into signing up as well. One guy even had to go dig change out from the seats in his truck to cover the entry fee. When the fog cleared, literally, there were about ten boats entered in the tournament.
On the first day of the event the weather held true. Cold, rainy and rough. My cousins, Andrew and Bert came down from New Jersey to fish with us. They both love to fish, and as long as there is a cold Budweiser handy, Andrew has a good time. My dad was running the boat and Joey Monticolo and I were working the cockpit. Our first bite of the day was some sort of shark that got away. We never got a good look at it. The seas kept building throughout the day and it was downright nautical by the end. Luckily for us, we managed to hold on to our second bite of the day. Bert was in the chair and after about an hour fight we had a 227 lb. mako on deck. It turned out to be the “Last Call’s” only mako for the two day tournament.
We held onto first place through the first two fishing days. One other decent mako came to the scales and had us sweating while it was getting hoisted up to be weighed. But our luck was holding and that fish checked in at 217 lbs. When the clock was ticking down on the final fishing day it was looking like we were going to take home the big check and the W.W. Harman trophy for the largest mako of the tournament.
I decided I needed to look my best at the awards party so I ran home to take a quick shower when there was about 45 minutes left to weigh-in. Joey decided to stay and keep an eye on the scales as he never worries about showers too much. Upon my return a short while later, Joey met me in the parking lot and was shaking his head. After an outburst of profanity he explained to me that a buddy of ours towed a boat in off of the sandbar that sits in front of Bahia Marina. It turns out that the boat on the sand bar also happened to be entered in the tournament, and they had a mako that was twenty pounds bigger than ours!!!
Now for the real kick in the pants. Remember that guy my dad talked into entering the tournament? The guy that had to dig through his truck and find change to make up the entry fee? Yeah that guy. That’s the guy that had the winning mako! Our push to make the tournament better ended up pushing us out of first and into second place! The only good news (from our point of view) was that the guy didn’t have enough quarters in his ash tray to get in any of the added entry levels. We didn’t get the W.W. Harman trophy but we did get the biggest payout for the weekend!
I want to congratulate all of the winners in this year’s Mako Mania. With the new mako regulations the tournament directors had to make some pretty big changes. It isn’t easy sometimes, but Shawn and Earl kept the late Capt. Steve’s “keep it simple” shark tournament alive and for that I am very thankful. Hard to believe it has been 22 years already. Seems just like yesterday….right about the same time that I caused a ruckus in a Venezuelan chinese restaurant. Stay tuned!
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.
