Article by Capt. Franky Pettolina
Here we go again folks. Welcome to another season of the Coastal Fisherman. It has been a breezy and pretty rainy spring so far, but as I look out my office window today the sun is shining and I am thinking about heading down to the Ocean City Fishing Center and taking the “Last Call” out for a little shakedown cruise. The ol’ girl has been in the water for a couple of weeks now. Dad has done all of the springtime maintenance and hopefully he has scared any lingering boatyard gremlins out of the boat. Boatyard gremlins are nasty little critters. Mischievous and malevolent. Destructive and dastardly. But that father of mine is an expert at eradicating them so I am feeling pretty confident that the shakedown cruise will go off without a hitch.
Our first charter is just a few days away. I haven’t fished since Christmas time down in Islamorada, Florida and the only time I have touched a fishing rod since then was to load all of our equipment onto the “Last Call” last week. I am pretty sure that I will remember what to do with them on the day of the charter. What I still don’t know is what we will be fishing for. The guy that booked the trip said he just wants to get out on the water with his buddies and have a few laughs and maybe catch a couple fish. The tog have been biting and I am just starting to hear about some little rockfish and some bluefish being caught. The first good looking patch of water is still well east of the canyons so I know that the deep water species won’t be on the menu. There will be plenty of time for them later.
Since the last time I wrote one of my columns for this paper there have been some significant events in my life. Some good, some not so much. Each one of them will play into my future and I thought I would share some of them here.
Back in February, I attended a fraternity reunion. There were Alpha Phi Epsilon brothers from the class of 1977 all the way through guys currently attending Ursinus College (my Alma Mater). As I was talking with some of the guys, the topic of marlin fishing came up (gee, I wonder who brought that up…). A guy from the class of 1987 pulled out his phone and showed me pictures of his first blue marlin that was caught out of Cape May, New Jersey last summer. I asked him who he was fishing with, and it turns out that he was with Capt. Steve Castellini who just so happens to be a friend of mine. We quickly took a selfie and sent it to Steve. Laughing about how small the world can be, the guy went on to tell me that his son was currently going to Chapman’s School of Seamanship down in Stuart, Florida. His son plans to get his Captain’s License and wants to work in the boating industry. For those of you that don’t know, I too am a Chapman’s grad. I took the Professional Mariner Training Program Course, Yacht and Small Craft Surveying Course and the Fundamentals of Damage and Claims Course there. Now, this man and I were already brothers in a fraternity sense, but we had that much more in common because of fishing and boating. My takeaway from this is to always bring up fishing and don’t be afraid to show a fish picture to a stranger. You might have more in common than you think.
Unfortunately, my February was not all positives. My good friend Steve Trattner passed away after a long battle with cancer at the end of the month. Steve worked as a yacht broker for Tournament Yacht Sales so he and I had a professional relationship as brokers and surveyors are both a part of the boat sale/purchase process. But Steve and I knew each other for much longer than he had been selling boats and long before I started surveying them. I have many fond memories of Steve but for the purposes of writing about things that have impacted my life recently I am going to borrow one of his favorite mottos. Steve had a batch of stickers made that said FISH in big letters in the middle of an oval. In smaller letters around the edge of the oval the stickers say “Forget It Stuff Happens”. Well, actually it has different words for “Forget” and “Stuff” but the general principle is the same and the Coastal Fisherman is a family friendly paper… Whenever the world throws some junk at you, don’t sweat it. Just think FISH!
The more I think about it, I guess it turns out I had some pretty crappy stuff happen this spring. The Patriarch and Vice President of Everything at the Coastal Fisherman, Larry Jock Sr., passed away in March and my beloved cat Annie crossed the rainbow bridge last week. Mr. Jock always had a warm smile and was the type of guy you couldn’t help but stop and talk to whenever you would see him. I will forever remember our talks in the office, on the docks or wherever we ran into each other. You felt good being around Mr. Jock and left in a better mood just by seeing him.
My Annie was a bit aloof as cats tend to be, but she was part of my daily routine and very much a social animal. She never passed up a treat or a chance to lay in the sun (or across my desk when I was typing). As people we should strive to make days brighter for those around us like Mr. Jock did, and never pass up a chance to enjoy the warmth of the sun or to indulge in a treat.
If you have been reading my columns over the past couple of years you will remember that I often talk about each summer going quicker than the one before it, and a few more marbles leaving my jar. Hopefully this one doesn’t fly by too quickly. I definitely will take the time to show fish pictures to new friends, think FISH when the junky stuff happens, leave people with a smile, and enjoy my time in the sun. I look forward to sharing a few more fish stories with you all this season. Here’s to a summer of good health and fishing for all!
Capt Franky Pettolina is Co-Captain of the charter boat, “Last Call” which is docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center, owner of Pettolina Marine Surveying, Inc. and multi-term President of the Ocean City Marlin Club.
