[Goliath]

Besides actually fishing on party boats, I also get a kick out of the history of party boat fishing in the LI/Tri-State area. Last night I was flipping through a copy of "Fishing with Matt Ahern" and it got me thinking about party boat fishing in the past. Has any of our older members ever met or fished with him? Also, what ever happened to the Super Squirrel out of RI? I used to see that boat out at Coxes Ledge while fishing out of Montauk years ago. What can you tell me about that boat? Ever fished it? Finally, do you remember the Viking Starlite? The big steel version (the old Ranger, I think). That boat wasn't around long but I remember it as being real big, somewhere between the Star and the Starship in size. I like hearing about the coming and goings in the party bout biz. Thanks.

Goliath

 

[rodprof]

Goliath,

You are bringing back lots of memories. The Viking Starlite was a 65 foot wooden boat that made the Coxes run until 1970 when the Viking Star came in. The other Montauk boats that made the Coxes run in those days were the Peconic Queen (1,2&3), Victory, Helen and Hel-Cat, and the Marlin.

Then there were the Sea Squirrel and Super Squirrel from Pt. Judith, RI. I believe the Super Squirrel was sold and became a ferry or a whale watch boat further north. Great boats and crew.

Al G.

 

[sam843]

The old days

 

[sam843]

The old days

 

[sam843]

the old days

 

[meandtheboyz]

The old Days

I rember all the old tampas and rangers.
Any of you guys remeber the Mary(Later named the CAPT DOM) out of Sheepshead, we were behind the Pilot. Al Coley on the Betty W, he was quite a fisherman.
The Apache

The Good Old Days - Starting to sound like my old man

 

[619627]

Sam843...i do not know where you got those pics of the Tampa VI but they sure bring back memories, when they brought that beautiful boat into the bay in 1977. Those tile trips were something else, but if i remember correctly the Tampa only made a handful of these trips.

The Super Squirrel was another big 120 foot plus, beautiful boat, and i heard that it was seized by the marshalls and sold at auction. I do remember that the Viking crew always would make fun of the Super Squirrel whenever they would see them out on Georges. They were not as good fish catchers as the Viking people were, but it was a very quick and good sea boat.

The Viking Starlite you mention was the old Ranger, aka Nautican, and was not a good head sea boat as i remember. It was the Ranger IV and it did not last too long down the bay. When the Viking people had the boat, they would sometimes use that boat on Nomans Porgy trips as a spill over boat when the starship/star used to fill up.

Keep posting those pics.....thats when Sheepshead Bay was at its best!

EC NEWELL MAN*

 

[skatemaster]

Al Coley, aka Capt Midnight was one of the greats. He was running the Brooklyn a couple days a week up until a few years ago.


Sailed on the Apache many times. Gotta love an 11am boat. Did canyon tuna (crew trips) with them. 12 hrs each way

 

[Goliath]

I knew that someone would remember the Ranger IV turning into the Viking Starlite. That's why I always check this board everyday. I always learn something interesting. Does anyone remember when the Hel-Cat was a big ol' weird looking catamaran? The first time I ever saw that boat was when it pulled up to us on a fluke trip asking if they could borrow some bait from us. We were on a half day party boat whose name escapes me. Since you guys are practically Sheepshead Bay historians, do you remember these boats: Glory, Evelyn, Sachem, Au Revoir, Giralda, Dora, R.C. Lundy, America, Elmar, Sea Pidgeon, Sunshine, Carrie D and the MJR III. These were way before my time but I've read about them and the men who sailed them.

Goliath

 

[Gamakatsu]

It doesn't seem that long ago that the HelCat was a catamaran. They used to fish the Point sometimes for fluke. Did anybody every fish with Buddy Dorman after he sold the Viking Skipper and got the Waxed? We used to anchor with all the pinhookers off Great Eastern and just about every porgy I caught left me thinking that it was the biggest porgy that I ever saw. It was wild fishing and he stayed anchored, even at the peak of the tide...

Gamakatsu

 

[sam843]

EC
I got the Tampa pics from
Gene Beckers web site at tampavii.com/historicphotos.htm
He has a complete photo gallery
from the Tampa 1 1945 to the Tampa VII which he owns and runs presently from Point Pleassant NJ.

Going back to the other threads about reels especially the penn 500 when Rocky first made the Tile fish trips he told Me Steeplchase we going Tiling I didn't know what the **** a Tile fish was or how to fish for them
all I knew was they were deep and far.
I showed up with my trusty Jig master
filled with 25 Ande on my do everthing 9ft Harnell
I caught a bunch of them suckers
Never felt a bite my pole would just start to bend And I reel for dear life
The tile fish's air bladders would swell and they pop up 75yds from the boat like balloons and you reel and drag them along the top of the water and hope you got it to the gaff before the sharks got it.

 

[PaddleOn]

Matt Ahern.................loved reading all his story's!!!!
Did any of you know him? Seemed like a great guy and I was soooo sad when he passed away!

 

[gebby]

from say 1970-1975 i used to fish with grandpa on the shinne**** canal. they retired out there from flatbush avenue, im spending vacations out there fishing ponquogue, shin. inlet, national golf links and of course the canal. we would run into matt ahearn at the canal every day/night. gramps was old school; ie fluking was 2 hooks two live killies, rod in holder and wait. well matty showed me bucktailing for fluke, i had a 10lb cheap modells spinner and one day caught maybe 35-40 16-22 inch fluke to grandpa's 5-10. "ah, mikey, that guy ahearn is just a blowhard". havent thought about that in 25 yrs. matty was a nice guy who would help anybody out and i have many fond memories. g.

 

[MakoMike]

TogPro,
Those pics of the tampa IV really brought back some memories, I also had never heard of a tile fish until we started catching them. compared to today's tilefish a lot of the ones we caught on those trips were monsters!

 

[togmaster]

Flash from the past!

Man that picture looks like a trip I may have been on . My buddy Capt. Larry H used to run the tampa Vl on the offshore trips. It looks like him in the picture on the bow Man That was the best party boat ever made! I remeber going out in 20 footers and making breakfast in the gally like you were in your living room. Funny I was with the Tampa on her last trip before she went south. Those MTU's were great but lot of problems. Dam I miss that boat. Tell you if I could build a boat like that today you have one of the best riding boats in the business. but to build a boat like that today you need in the sum of like 2 to 3 mil.
Thanks for the flash back Sam

 

[sam843]

Yea I remember all the trouble with the Mercedes
Those were the hey days of the big boat races between Rocky Becker and
Mike Scarpati
I remember Rocky telling about a 200
foot 35 knot boat he had in his head.
But I am partial the to the IV the steel dinosaur.
We got caught in a storm coming back from a tile trip so bad that
we thought we weren't going make it back alive,
I don't think any other boat would not have made it.
During the time at the Canyon it was bright sun shine flat seas bailed the tiles
On the the way back I was asleep in Pilot house bunk when the boat rolled
and I rolled off the bunk.
Dennis was at the wheel and told us go down and tell the passenger to hold on it's going to get bad.
I got back to the pilot house and looked to the horizon and saw a sight that I'll never forget.
All I saw was a huge boiling jet black cloud that looked like a living
seething monster.
Below the cloud was a black line that that looked the horizon which turned out to be a huge storm surg wave in front of the storm in the direction of home.
The wave hit over the bow hit the pilot house broke windows on the
passenger cabin.
After that the boat would roll and the cabin windows would touch the water.
People had to tie themselfs to any
thing.
Everything in the galley was on the floor
There was a river of coffee on the cabin floor flowing back and forth over the people laying on the galley
deck preying.
Up in the pilot house the windows were cracked
The boat would go up a mountain of green water towering over the pilot house and slide down bow first and roll down the other side burying the bow in the next wave water hitting the pilot house windows all we saw was green.
Than the hydrolics to the rudders went and it took two to man to handle the wheel and hold her on course bow into the seas.
Dennis looked at me and said steeplchase I don't think we are goining to make it.
It took us 24rs to get back to the bay.
When we docked the people came out and kissed the groud.
I am a live today because of Tampa IV was the great heavy steel sea boat that she was and Dennis's capt skills.
I don't think a ligther aluminum boat
would not have come out of the rolls that the IV went through-any other boat would have rolled over and gone down

 

[619627]

Yep, those were the days of the big tilefish! Today, you see the small 'kittens' being caught, and maybe a 20-30lb being brought up. Now you have to run to Block Canyon area to see any amount of tile fish.

Goliath many of those boats you mentioned, are from the 20s to the 60s, with the original America being the first super crusier brought into Sheepshead Bay. I have pics of many of these boats on my living room wall, and luckily i knew Harry Ostrow, the photographer, who had snapshots of all the boats in the bay over the years.

Boy Sam, thats some story! That Tampa IV was a beast of a boat, no doubt.

And Togmaster, you could not build a Tampa VI like that today! That was a extra heavy duty Gulf Craft aluminum hull (Unlike what you see with the Brooklyn or old Super Ranger). Originally the TAMPA VI was designed to be 140 feet long with 3 MTU engines. But the dock department would not allow a party boat that long in Sheepshead Bay. They were forced to make the boat 120 plus feet long with twin MTU engines, and thats why they had the problems with those engines...it was a lot of boat for those engines to push! The Starship had the same engines but never had the problems that the Tampa VI had with their engines smoking so much. And as fast as you think the Tampa was, the Blue Sea IV (a converted crew boat now a party boat in California) was a faster boat. But no party boat had a nicer wheelhouse then the old Tampa VI.

EC NEWELL MAN*

 

[MIKE TUNA]

Can anyone cofirm this an old timer once told me before those boats you guys metioned there used to be open wooden skiffs . They would go out fishing for the day and also many times would meet up with a larger boat and unload barrells . In the barrel was a drink that was illegal at that time .

 

[Joe]

Isn't the Big Jamaica the same hull as the Tampa?

 

[Capt.XXX]

How about this one.

The 10th Tampa vessel will be known as the TAMPAX...lol