Blog for Vin Sparano
Friday, April 9, 2010 at 12:10PM I've been chartering boats for nearly 50 years and many captains have become close friends and fishing buddies. But, alas, I've also fished with some captains who would have been better suited for raising chickens. These are captains who never leave the bridge, yell at their mates and complain when you share a few fish with a curious tourist at the dock. "If they want fish, let them charter a boat," bellowed one Northeast captain. However, all is not lost.
I live in the Florida Keys for the winter months where my goal is to fish, eat oysters and never wear socks. For the past several years, some friends and I have been chartering a boat out of Bud N' Mary's Marina in Islamorada. We got lucky when we began chartering Captain Glen Miller. His boat Gon Fishin V, a 48-footer, is nothing fancy. It doesn't have an air-conditioned salon, well-lacquered $4,000 fighting chairs or the smell of teak. It's just a big comfortable boat with a friendly cockpit, which brings us to Glen and his mate Captain Sam Worden, a young man who never seems to get tired. Sam also runs a charter boat out of Traverse City, Michigan. If you're out that way and want to fish Grand Traverse Bay, call Sam at 231-218-1494.
Glen's creed is simple: entertain, teach and catch fish....and he does all of it extremely well. Glen spends more time in the cockpit than on the bridge and he and Sammy have now become our fishing buddies. They take tangled lines and pulled hooks in stride. On our last trip we presented Glen with a custom-built fishing rod and reel complete with his name inscribed on it. The gift was a tribute to a captain whose gracious behavior on the water should set the standard for all charter captains.
If you are ever in Islamorada, you can always find Glen at Bud N' Mary's Marina. Look for the green boat or you can call him at 305-852-2011. Tell Glen the gang from the Palms sent you.
Finally, I must confess I'm borrowing Walt Whitman's title for this blog, "O Captain My Captain." It's from the classic poem Whitman wrote in 1865. The words are a fitting label for all great captains.
Photo: Captain Glen Miller (center, holding fishing rod) and his fishing buddies. Captain Sam, Glen's mate, is 6th from left.