A long career fishing from head boats

I have been fishing from head boats for a very long time.

I began my long career back in the 1950s in Atlantic City, N.J., long before the place became a gambling center. In those days, the Shrine, to which my grandfather was a charter member of the Delaware Nur Temple, held a regional convention in Atlantic City each summer. I went along with my grandparents and entertained myself swimming in the ocean and watching the diving horse go off the Steel Pier.

One evening, we went to Captain Starn’s for dinner, and I noticed he had a head boat operation right next door. The next morning, my grandfather drove me down in time to catch the boat, and I was off on my first head boat fishing trip. I wish I could tell you what I caught, but I have no idea.

I do remember that my high school buddy, Al Cartwright Jr., and I went out of Indian River Inlet on Capt. Nichols’ Tripple Nickels from the Northside Fishing Pier back in the late 1950s, and we caught Boston mackerel. I went on that boat a few times after I got out of the Navy in 1965, and I don’t want to say it was slow, but it took almost as long to get from the Bell Buoy to B Buoy as it took the USS Saratoga to get from New York to Florida. 

All my head boat fishing in those days was for Boston mackerel. We used a mackerel tree with at least four hooks, and often all hooks brought up a mackerel. In 1986, I had back surgery for a ruptured disc, and my first fishing trip after the operation was on a head boat. We were picking away at the mackerel when I hooked a monkfish. I called for the mate, and when he saw the fish, he said, “I ain’t netting that thing.” I said, “Either you net it or you’re going to join it.” He netted the fish.

Some of my greatest head boat fishing trips were from Virginia Beach when my son Roger was working on the head boats from Lynnhaven Inlet. This was while he was in school at Old Dominion University.

Every Friday after Thanksgiving, my son Ric and I, along with what seemed to be the same crew, would get on Roger’s boat with Capt. Joe Wool, and off we would go. I don’t remember a trip when we didn’t get our two-fish limit of striped bass.  

One of the first to arrive was a gentleman with severe arthritis. He would park his car, work his way around to the trunk, get out his wheelchair, his fishing gear and lunch, then make his way down the ramp to the boat. Once there, we would lift him and his stuff aboard and get him set up at his favorite fishing spot, and then settle him in the cabin. Some mornings when I just don’t feel like getting up, I think of him, and I get my sorry butt out of bed.

If you are going to fish on a head boat, you have to be prepared. First, call ahead and ask what you will be fishing for, does the boat supply rigs and sinkers, and, if not, what do they recommend you get? Most boats rent rods and reels. If you don’t have a rod and reel suitable for fishing in 100 feet of water with a 9- or 10-ounce sinker, either buy one or rent one. You will not make any friends or catch many fish if you try to use some lightweight spinning outfit best found on some small creek or pond.

It is critical that everyone on the boat use the same weight sinker. If you try to use something lighter, your rig or lure will drift into the folks fishing alongside you and make a mess. This costs everyone fishing time, and it is your fault.

I have fished on head boats in North Carolina, New England, California, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware. I can’t say they are all the same, because some are much better than others. In my humble opinion, the attitude of the captain and the mates is what makes the trip great or a total bust. If you feel the captain did everything he could to put you on fish and the mates gave you as much help as you needed, then that’s all you can ask.

It is very important to tip your mates, but only if they do a good job. I fished on a boat where the mates disappeared from the time we started fishing until we were leaving the boat. Then they stood on the gangplank with their hands out. Sorry, Charlie!