Article by Capt. Franky Pettolina
I first met Gus in the mid-1980s. He and a group of his buddies had chartered the “Last Call” for a day of canyon fishing. I was barely a teenager, just starting my career of fish harassment working as a mate, with my Dad as the captain. Gus and his crew were high rollers. As a kid I didn’t understand how they had made their money (looking back, I think it was in the stock market or something like that), but they were a great example of the excitement and wealth of the 80s. The food and drink they brought for the trip was spectacular. Gourmet snacks and top shelf drinks. I can’t remember if they lit their cigars with hundred dollar bills, but I am positive that they could have! As much as a 13-year-old and a grown man can hit it off, Gus and I did. If you ask him, Gus will say it was because I already had the start of a beard and the mouth of a sailor. He thought it was hysterical to have a kid shouting profanity at him while he was catching a tuna.
At the end of that first trip one of his buddies caught a white marlin. The fish was really energetic and put on quite a show for the party. It jumped all over the ocean and lit up like a neon sign. Gus got an excited look in his eye and told me he had a son who was 6-years-old. He wanted to know how old I thought his boy needed to be able to catch one of those marlins. I told him 10-years-old. “His birthday is in July. Do you think you can catch him a marlin for his 10th birthday if I charter you that day?” Gus asked me. Being the smart mouthed, cocky kid that I was, I not only told him I thought I could, I guaranteed it!!! In the back of my mind I figured this promise would probably increase my tip for that day, and what are the odds of this guy showing back up in 4 years with his kid?
Well, you guessed it, Gus came back every year and he made sure to remind me of my promise too. When 1990 finally rolled around and his boy was about to turn 10, Gus booked the trip. It was time for me to step up and make good on my guaranteed marlin. I guess I should point out that marlin fishing has been pretty good over the past few years, but back in the late 80s and early 90s, this wasn’t the case. If you caught 10 or more in a season back then, you were having a pretty good year. And there I was with my mouth writing checks that my baits might not be able to cash!
On the morning of the trip, Gus showed up with his boy, Angelo. Ang was a quiet kid, on the small side for a 10-year-old. I remember thinking that I might have bitten off more than I could chew, but Gus was armed with a video camera and an optimistic outlook. I knew I had to give it my best. Thankfully, it was a flat calm day. When we got to the canyon, Dad pulled back the throttles and laid out the outriggers. I put out 6 baits from the cockpit.
Ballyhoos with assorted skirts on the outriggers, swimming mullets on the flat lines. I took little Ang over to the bait cooler and I told him that he could pick out the bait for the bridge pole that I was going to pass up to my Dad. He picked out a ballyhoo with a black and purple Sailure made by the Island Lure Company (the company that makes the famous Hawaiian Eye). I ran it out through the middle of our spread and handed it up to Dad and he ran it up the center rigger.
As we were trolling along the wall of the canyon, I spotted a pallet floating a little ways away from us. I ran up to the fly bridge and pointed it out to Dad. Knowing that dolphin fish hang out around any sort of debris, Dad and I both got excited. A few small dolphin would be the perfect warm-up fish for Angelo, so we trolled over in that direction. As my left side baits trolled past the pallet, I anxiously awaited the first of the green, eating machines to attack. We got attacked alright, but not by dolphins. No sooner had we passed the pallet when a white marlin came charging out behind my left long rigger. It was a textbook white marlin bite. The fish came to the middle of the spread and turned on the skirted ballyhoo. It’s pectoral fins lit up like a Christmas tree. After two slashes at the bait, it engulfed it. I was ready with the reel in free spool and I gave it my customary drop back. When I engaged the drag and cranked the slack out, I held my breath waiting for the line to come tight and the fish to come up jumping…. NO DICE!!!! I MISSED HIM!!! My guaranteed marlin showed up and I MISSED HIM!!! Immediately, panic set in. I pulled the reel back to free spool and prayed that he would come back. What seemed like hours later, but in reality was probably only a minute or two, I heard some satisfied laughter coming from the fly bridge. I looked up and there was Dad smiling with a bowed over fishing rod in his hand. About a hundred yards behind the boat, the marlin came up jumping. Dad handed me the rod and told Gus to come over and help Ang in the chair. I handed the rod to Ang and Gus helped his son start the battle while I cleared the other lines. After the other baits were safely out of the way, Gus had me take over supervising Ang so the videography could begin. The fish behaved well and Angelo cranked like a grown man. Everything went perfect. We slowly backed up to the fish. Ang kept the line tight and pumped the rod for all he was worth. Ten or fifteen minutes later I had a firm grasp of the fish’s bill and Gus took the rod so Ang could come get a close look at his fish. We took some measurements for a release mount to be made.
The deal was closed. I somehow delivered a promised white marlin to a boy on his tenth birthday. The fish ate the bait that the boy chose from the bait cooler. It couldn’t get any better. I am not sure whose smile was the biggest on the boat that day. Gus was one proud papa and Ang was one excited little boy. I was one relieved mate! The rest of the trip was not quite as exciting, but we did catch a few dolphin. When we got back to the slip at Bahia Marina, Dale Timmons was waiting to take a picture for the Coastal Fisherman. To this day I still have the clipping in my scrapbook.
There are many pictures of kids in this issue. The Marlin Club Kids Classic has become an exciting event each year. Some of these kids caught their very first fish, some are seasoned pros at it, having fished the event many times over. It is one of the high points of the summer and I congratulate all those who participated in the tournament. Great job everybody!!!
You may ask how that day ended back in 1990. Did Gus leave me an extra big tip? Did we all go out to dinner to celebrate? Did the video turn out any good? Some of that stuff might have happened, but I remember one thing very clearly. Gus looked at me and said, “My other son, Ari is 3. You have 7 years to get ready to do it again….” But that’s a whole other fish story.
Capt. Franky Pettolina is Co-Captain of the charter boat, “Last Call” and President of the Ocean City Marlin Club.
