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We saved our money, bought a bigger boat and named her the Bucktail.  Now with this boat, we set it up with a Sitex CVS 106 color fish finder and a Sitex Easy 97 Loran.  Between the two machines, our abilities to find rock structure and wrecks was improved.

We couldn't believe all the structure sitting on the bottom of Raritan Bay.  Every time we found a spot on the machine, we would punch it in and go back and try fishing it, and every spot held fish. 

Once we started wreck fishing, it was a total addiction.  Every piece usually meant instant life. Then we started searching for more bottom from Sandy Hook on down the coast. The amount of bottom that we collected over 25 years, and the pieces we learned from our friends and party boat crews that we shared numbers with, was amazing. It was just totally beautiful how every piece could hold fish, and lots of them. 

After 25 years of fishing, my brother Joe and I asked each other, “Wouldn't it be great to take our experience, put it into a charter business, and pass on our knowledge to others?”   

So we decided to go out and buy a 36-foot, custom-built, down-east-style boat, exclusively rigged for bottom fishing and all other local fishing.  Her name became the Outcast.

We started our charter business, and now we’re passing our experience on to all our customers who fish with us today. 

Year after year, my brother and I teach more and more kids and their families about our fishing techniques. Each year, our business keeps growing, and it's great to see our customers come back annually with their kids to share more fishing stories. 

It’s a total rush when we see our customers reeling in a fish, and it always brings back memories from the party-boat days. 

Dad passed away when we were young, and if it wasn't for him taking us down to Great Kills to see the head boats come in loaded with fish, we wouldn't be passing on our knowledge and experience to our customers and their kids with our charter boat business that grows each year. 

So Dad, thanks for taking us down to Great Kills to see the boats. We loved you very much, and you’ll always be in our hearts.  And thank you for the time we shared together.