By: Capt. Bruce Andersen
This past summer Captain Chuck Schimmelman from the charter boat Dee Cee took out his last charter and headed into retirement. For anyone that doesn’t know Chuck all you need to know is that for the last 30 plus years he’s been one of the best fishermen in the Keys and probably one of the best charter boat captains of all time. Captain Chuck has run the Dee Cee out of Holiday Isle marina since 1983. Before running the boat as Captain, he was the mate for 10 years. That’s almost 50 years in the Islamorada charter boat business.
I first came to the Keys in the early 90s. By the mid 90s I started mating on boats at Holiday Isle. Anybody working on the boats at that marina at the time knew who the best fisherman on the dock was and it wasn’t even close. Chuck was the best at every kind of fishing we did! He was by far the best dolphin fisherman around. On tough days where most guys struggled to put a catch together for their clients, Chuck would come back to the dock with a box full of slammers and gaffers and make everyone else look bad. He wasn’t just good at dolphin fishing either. He was the best bottom fisherman as well and could catch grouper and snapper as good as anyone in town. Sailfish, wahoo, tuna, blue marlin, african pompano; If it swims offshore of the Florida Keys he could catch it.
The Dee Cee was a classic charter boat built in 1959 by Miami Beach Yachts. It had a unique forward leaning tuna tower and an old time look to it. I think it was one of the coolest looking boats in the fleet. It only did about 10 knots, but that didn’t keep Chuck from out fishing guys with the newest, fastest and most expensive boats in town. Chuck was still one of the Keys best fishermen up until the day he retired.
One of the things that makes the charter boat industry in places like Islamorada so great is the wealth of knowledge passed down from captain to captain through the years. We’ve got so many different types of fishing available to us and we use so many techniques throughout the year that it takes a long time to master it all. The best way to learn is from working for and alongside someone that’s successfully done it for years. Captain Chuck kept most of his mates for very long periods of time. His average mate probably lasted well over 5 years. He must have been a great teacher because almost all of those guys went on to be great fishermen afterwards. Many of them ran other boats for years and trained even more mates who became captains. Similar to an NFL football coach with a coaching tree, Captain Chuck has a Captain’s tree that stretches far and wide.
Sometime around 2006 I had been running the Capt. Easy for about 5 or 6 years and I wound up moving into the slip next to Chuck at Holiday Isle. That turned out to be one of the best moves I ever made in my charter boat career. Chuck has a sense of humor that only someone that has dealt with thousands of different charter customers can acquire. I learned an amazing amount of stuff and had a ton of laughs being docked next to that guy.
Enjoy your retirement Capt. Chuck! All of the great fishermen you helped train over the years will keep passing on the traditions and knowledge and hopefully we can get you back down here for some guest appearances!
— www.captaineasycharters.com
You can reach Captain Bruce Andersen at Capt. Easy Charters,
MM 85, call 305.360.2120 or email at: captbrucekey@comcast.net