March 15, 2003 is a day I don’t think I will ever forget. I was working the deck for Captain Scott Avanzino on his 32 Albermarle, the “Balancing Act.” The tuna were not on the famous Midnight Lump so we opted to do some trolling. We found a nice weed line close by and began pulling baits on it. The line was covered up with black fin tuna, and we put several in the boat before we saw the fish. It was a Mako shark, we estimated close to 400lbs, and it was hungry. We quickly rigged a piece of tuna on a large hook, with 10 feet of steel leader, and pitched it to the shark. The fish took the bait and the fight was on!
The fight, as with any big Mako, was impressive. It peeled line, jumped and put up quite a battle. Until this fish, I had never used a flying gaff, but I had seen it done. Since I was the deck hand, it was my job to gaff the fish while Captain Scott held the boat steady. The fish finally swam along the side of the boat and gave me a perfect broad side shot with the flying gaff. I waited for my opportunity and nailed the big fish perfectly between the head and dorsal fin. In most cases this would be the end of the story, but it was only just beginning. I thought I had cleated the tag end of the flying gaff properly to the boat, but I did not. As the mako went nutts, I assumed the line was cleated off, and I put all my weight on the fish. The fish lunged and I found myself sailing into the water with a very pissed off man eating shark. The shark pulled me for several yards as I screamed, “I got him, I got him.” Thankfully I let go and was quickly hauled back in the boat. I lost the fish and one of my coveted white shrimp boots. A few seconds, I just kept screaming, “I got him, I got him.” The second I let go of the rope, Captain Scott had the tuna door open as two customers yanked me back into the boat. I did a quick once over my body to determine all my limbs were still attached. Less than 30 seconds later, the mighty fish jumped clear out of the water as if to say, “better luck next time deck hand.”
The deck hand is the best and the worse job to have on the boat. You get to have all the fun of hooking and gaffing the fish, but you certainly get all the blame if something goes wrong. If something breaks, the fish shakes off the gaff, or a fish spits the hook, it is your fault. The things you see and do working the deck of any boat can be unbelievable. From my personal experience, time spent working the deck is the most memorable of any of my fishing adventures. Some of the work done can be funny, often times it is grueling, while other times the work you do can be life threatening. Putting this article together I had to call in some help from other captains and deck hands. I just asked, “What is wildest, funniest, insane, most dangerous or interesting thing you have ever seen someone do while working the deck.” The stories you are about to read are all true, a little out there, but true. Enjoy…
Captain Matt Tusa, Bay St. Louis, MS
“I was working on the Southern Way, a Chandelier boat several years ago, and I saw UFOs out near Freemason. It was slick calm that night and of course there are no other lights anywhere out there. We were inside the boat when someone said they saw some weird lights outside and I went to investigate. Sure enough, there were six lights, equal distance apart, just hovering. I watched them for a few minutes, and they just disappeared. We even tried to make “contact”, we got the Q-beam out to signal our out of space friends. They showed back up, but this time with no lights. It was so clear from the moon you could see them in the distance still hovering but I could not hear them. I know if it were planes or helicopters, we would have heard it from miles and miles away. They eventually moved on, but if it was not UFOs I don’t know what it was.”
Captain Harry Crosby
“One weekend in September back in 2006 I was working the deck on a 42 Cabo and we had 10 strikes from billfish . It was the greatest fishing I have ever been a part of, I even got to reel in my first swordfish! I was the deck hand, Jimmy Gele was the Captain, his wife Gail and their buddy Robert were along too. The weather was perfect all weekend, it was flat calm. The first night we lost two swords at the boat, the second day, Gail caught a nice blue marlin that we tagged. The second night we tagged 4 swordfish and touched the leader on 3 more. The sword fishing the second night was just like amberjack fishing. Capt Jimmy would drop the baits down and we could still see the glow sticks 75 feet down when the fish would hit. We could see the fish even tail walk in the moonlight. It was the coolest thing I think I have ever seen.”
Captain Tommy Pelligren, Cocodrie, LA
“We were on a hot cobia bite one time when my deck hand Mike almost really hurt a customer. We put a big lemon fish in the boat that was going crazy. He got out the fish bat, but the angler was sitting right next to the flopping fish. Luckily for the guy, he kept the rod butt over his, um… sensitive area. Mike let loose with the bat, missed the fish and nailed the guy right between the legs with everything he had. Everyone on the boat, including me just watched in horror. The guy never flinched, the rod butt took the entire blow and he never felt a thing. He simply said, I’m ok, I’m ok. If I would have had that on film, we would have made some money that day.”
Captain Steve Perregin, Ocean Springs, MS
“I don’t normally use deckhands, but when I do, they always seem to get into trouble. I used to use this one guy and he did pretty well with the ladies. One day I had a pretty young lady on the boat that he would not leave alone. He followed her around the boat all day like a lost puppy. I guess she took a liking to him, because after the trip they traded phone numbers. A few weeks went by and they seemed to really hit it off. It all came to screeching halt when the young lady’s BOYFRIEND called my deckhand to ask who in the hell kept calling his girlfriends cell phone. I just rather work alone, its just easier these days.”
Alex McIngvale, Venice, LA
“I have been waterfowl guide most of my life. I Guide for Iron Man Waterfowl in North Mississippi. I have just started decking on an offshore boat the past few months, so every single trip is mind blowing to me. I work for Capt Damon Mcknight and he teaches me something new everyday. I had always heard about how the tuna fishing can be out of this world and I finally to experience it. Not long ago, we were chunking all day and not really catching anything but bonito. We were marking fish but couldn’t get them to bite. Damon told me to scale down the leader from 80lb to 50lb and thats when it turned on. We put 5 big yellow in the boat in about an hour. Hell, it was the time I ever gaffed something that big! Damon was actually filming the entire thing and put it on the website. The action was so fast that the customers let me reel in my first tuna. The fish was about 100lbs and it beat me up. I love it, it hooked me for life on offshore fishing.”
Captain Scott Sullivan
“The first trip I ever harpooned a fish kind of stands out. I was decking for Captain Rimmer Covington and we were on the fish. We had already got like 7 or 8 nice yellow fin tuna in the boat when we hooked a monster. We fought the fish for almost 2 hours when it was finally close enough to stick with the harpoon. We got the fish in boat, the tuna weighed around 180lbs, and it made my day. Minutes after we got the fish in the boat Captain Hunter Cabellero called us on the VHF, he had a huge Mako on the line. Hunter did not have a deck hand so I jumped from our boat to his. We got the shark close enough to stick with the harpoon. I hit him with a perfect shot, but broke the dart on the harpoon. I had to quickly rig up a flying gaff Hunter had, and stick the fish again. It took two tries, but we finally got control of the big mako. The fish weighed over 500lbs, twice the deckhand work but a good day none the less!”
You have to walk before you run is the saying. Nothing could be more true than in the fishing world. Rigging, casting, gaffing, maintenance, and maintenance are all skills that are perfected while working the deck. If you ever do get the chance to do it, enjoy it, it can be some of the most rewarding times spent on the water. Also, if you ever charter a boat, hang out with the deckhand, chances are the most interesting stuff has happened or will happen around that guy. As always, have fun and be safe.
Captain Sonny Schindler
Shore Thing Fishing Charters
Bay St Louis, MS
228-342-2295
www.shorethingcharters.com