My best advice to those of you who are still in high school is to take Spanish as long as you can and learn to speak Spanish fluently! I wish I took more years of Spanish and had paid more attention in the few years that I did take it. I would never have thought that this Yankee boy from Connecticut would be fishing the high seas of the Caribbean and visiting countries and islands with a Spanish influence. I also should have taken more business classes. I never would have thought back then that I would have my own business. As you are sitting in classes wondering why you are there, I thought the same thing when I took Spanish and business class. Now I wish that I’d paid more attention.
A gentleman I used to work for would always say, “Eliminate the shoulda, coulda, wouldas in life”. If you have the chance to do something - do it. Taking chances is a very real part of life. If you try and fail, at least you will not carry regret for the rest of your life because of what “could have been”.
I was fortunate as a novice to have friends in the sportfishing charter business for many years to guide and direct me. I rigged baits, washed boats, drove boats and spent many long hours learning alongside friends and “old salts” in South Florida. This mentoring system was essential for me. Because I was learning from those “in the know”, I was able to avoid making major mistakes down the road and was able to learn much more as my questions were patiently answered. I am grateful that these people took the time to teach me. I hope that in turn I am able to share what I have learned with others so that they too can carry on the traditions to the next generation of sport fishing professionals.
As the private sector in fishing has increased, the need for competent and responsible captains and mates has increased. Unfortunately, there continues to be a negative stereotype of mates and captains. The description of the typical captain and mate no longer apply. Not all captains and mates are high school dropouts, pot smoking, beer brawling, lazy individuals. Surprisingly enough, there are more and more captains and mates with high school and college diplomas who are operating and managing multimillion dollar fishing machines. One of my personal goals is to educate owners about this changing stereotype regarding captains and mates. We are a group that wears many hats and we should never stop learning and growing in this ever changing industry. We are a fraternity that needs more unity both on and off the job.
