My First Time Fishing

By Steve Jones

I can honestly say that fishing has never been on my top-ten list of things to do before I move on to the afterlife. That changed when, almost a year ago, my friend Kris told me an engrossing story about sitting in a boat, bobbing in the middle of Lake Erie, holding a pole in his hands and anticipating a nibble. Quite intriguing, I thought. So intriguing that I decided to partake in his next venture.

I had been angling only once before, in my early teens. I had received a fishing rod and accessories as a birthday gift, and so I went out to stand on a bridge and await my first bite. Then, unexpectedly, a miniature fish found himself (accidentally, I’d guess) connected to my hook. Not having the guts to remove it, I kept it in the water—dragging it back and forth. Then, in the blink of an eye, a nice-sized pike decided to dart out from the reeves, engulf the mini fish in his mouth and disappear into the murky depths of the river, stripping my nice new shiny pole from my hands in the process. So, my fishing experience consisted of a single brief, distant and inauspicious memory.

Despite that, I found myself driving toward a charter boat in Lake Erie and my second fishing attempt. As we approached the small fishing town of Portage, Ohio, Kris decided to tell me about the mayfly, an insect that plays a big part in the walleye’s booming population. Then, what I thought was rain began hitting the windscreen. But instead of being precipitation, the thuds against the glass were this infamous insect.

The mayfly lays its eggs on the water’s surface, and they gently sink to the depths before returning to the surface when they are ready to hatch. As the newly christened flies take flight for the first time, they instantly begin the egg-laying cycle again. It is this process that provides the walleye with plentiful provisions.

While I bobbed and weaved my way through their crazy flight patterns to pick up our fishing licenses at a local store, it was explained to me that the mayfly has a life span of 24 hours and only rear their heads for a couple of weeks during the summer season. I was also informed that they are TOTALLY harmless.

When we arrived at our cabin, which was conveniently positioned within walking distance of a pub, I exited the car cringing from all the mayflies. We made the short walk to the drinking hole, where we met up with the other men in our chartering group. When I saw people sitting outside and ignoring the swarming insects, I realized I should try to forget about the mayflies.

With the next few hours devoted to drinking and talking, I learned that Jimmy, Mike and Tyler were actually a nice group of people. The next morning, I was removed from my bed as the sun started to rise. Dazed and confused from only a couple of hours of shuteye, I found myself at Brands’ Dry Dock Marina, looking out at an awful display of dark clouds, choppy water and Captain Dave wielding a leaf blower in an attempt to remove as many mayflies as possible from his 30-foot Sportcraft, The Fin.

We boarded the boat and set out for a predetermined fishing spot. Avoiding an ominous cloud, Dave trekked us out about 30 miles with a small posse of skippers in our wake—all of them trailing Dave due to his years of experience and lofty reputation amongst local fishermen.

Then the engine stopped: we had arrived at our fishing spot. My companions grabbed for worms and baited lines, positioned themselves in various areas of the boat and began to fish. Before I had a chance to reach for my rod, Dave had baited the hook and was handing it to me with instructions on how to bait and cast and how best to catch a fish. Confident that I had a great understanding of the process, I whipped my worm out in to the lake. When I heard the plopping sound of my bait hitting the water, I began to count to 12 before slowly reeling in my worm. This process was repeated a number of times, with Captain Dave magically appearing when I needed help or advice.

Everything was quiet and peaceful on The Fin until I heard some excited cheers behind me: Mike, a 17-year-veteran on Captain Dave’s boat, had hooked his first walleye, and Dave was there to guide it into a waiting net. The excitement continued as the others kept reeling in walleye, as well as the occasional sheepshead. Eventually I landed my own fish, and that only made me itch for more. Many seemed to escape my clutches, as I found myself reacting to nibbles and disappearing worms in an almost frantic attempt to be crowned the “kingfisher.”

Moving around the lake in search of better fishing holes, Captain Dave ensured that there were always ample fish to catch. He took us 20 miles further out from the marina and constantly gave advice to other captains about other fishing spots. The son of a fisherman, Dave was brought up on the lake, purchased his first boat in 1981 and has since become his own captain, gaining the respect of many of his Lake Erie colleagues.

Due to the unfortunate weather, the fishing was slower than expected. That meant we never reached the legal quota for the boat and remained out on the water for longer than anticipated. When we embarked on the long voyage back to the harbor, I found the cushioned engine casing a comfortable place to “rest my eyes.”

Back at the cabin, I had surely caught the fishing bug and was looking forward to day two. We grilled a bit, and then fatigue took over. We passed out early, woke in the evening for a brief excursion to the local bar and returned to the cabin for some adequate shuteye before a second day of angling.

The next morning, we awoke alert and chirpy. Unfortunately, we were rewarded with an absolute scorcher of a day. Even with the sun just peering over the horizon, the sky displayed a brilliant cloudless blue aura and the heat instantly had me sweating. In addition to being uncomfortable, these weren’t ideal fishing conditions.

Arriving back at the marina’s edge, we mounted The Fin and headed back out to the middle of Lake Erie under the subdued guidance of Captain Dave. The weather gave me time to speak with Dave about many humorous boating experiences. But as Dave pointed out in a gentle manner, he is meticulous about running a tight ship where there’s little room for error. His main focus is the safety of those in his care. Anyone not adhering to boat rules won’t last on The Fin: Dave will pack up the equipment and return to the marina.

In our case, Dave’s professional manner and dry sense of humor definitely made for a more enjoyable time out on the lake. We always seemed to be where the fish were, and Dave was always there with the advice and equipment we needed. Despite my inexperience and constant errors, he helped me without ever belittling me. At one point, thinking that I had a bite, I was reeling in the last few feet of my line when excitement took over: I whipped back my rod, causing the hook to fly behind me and catch itself on Dave’s sleeve. He handled my carelessness kindly, removing the hook and helping me get back to fishing.

At the end of that second day, we returned to the marina, offloaded our walleye catch, carried them the short distance to the cleaning and filleting station and then distributed them equally—an act of generosity by my fishing companions. I may not have caught as many as them, but I’d say I had as much fun. A lot of the credit for that goes to Captain Dave.

A U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain, he provides services throughout the year, though the best walleye fishing is from April through the middle of August. He also offers smallmouth bass and perch fishing, which is best from August thru October. Captain Dave’s service caters to groups of up to six and his boat is fully loaded with the latest equipment.

The Fin and Captain Dave Vargo make a great team to go sportfishing with. I know he turned me, for one, into a new fishing enthusiast: before turning our backs on Dave, we all booked a return trip for next year.

The IPS Experience

By Thomas Ludens

When Volvo-Penta launched their Inboard Performance System (IPS) in 2005, there were big expectations—as well as a certain amount of reservation from boaters. Boating is nothing if not a pastime, and for as long as most of us could remember, captaining had remained consistent. There was the throttle and the helm, a number of procedures to follow and a certain amount of intangible skill that came with experience. Then, all of a sudden, IPS changed everything. The props were literally turned around. The throttle and helm were replaced by, of all things, a joystick.

This was a sea change, a whole new approach to propulsion, to captaining, to boating. It may have come as something of a shock, but it was also a longtime coming. Slowly but surely, boat builders bought into the system and started integrating it into the design of their vessels. This was something of a gamble: no one quite knew if boaters would come aboard and give the IPS a chance. Boaters didn’t know if the unproven IPS would stand up to the time-tested systems they knew.

So now, three years later, how has IPS fared? To answer that question, it’s best to ask users themselves.
Mr. Mundy was one of the IPS pioneers. He bought one of the first boats equipped with the system, a Cruisers 400. In fact, he bought his so soon after IPS’s release that the joystick wasn’t yet available.

“We picked it up in December ’05,” he says, “and it was one of the first with IPS. So, I had it a year before they had the joystick. Volvo gave all the original owners a coupon for the joystick. We test drove one with a joystick at the Miami Boat Show, and it was absolutely phenomenal. I think that’s the future of boating. I can literally move the boat sideways down a channel. . . . Even not having the joystick, the boat was a great pleasure to drive. You put the joystick on and it’s unbelievable.”

As the owner of four new Cruisers yachts over the years, Mr. Mundy is an experienced helmsman. Regarding his new set up, he says, “It’s so much easier to control and handle and the fuel economy is so much better than any other system.”

And it’s not only he, the captain, who likes the system. “My wife, who doesn’t like to drive a boat, can drive this boat,” he says. “The older boats, it takes time to get used to that. This boat, the IPS system makes it much easier for her to drive it. . . . I think the things the IPS system does is give you the confidence that you can back up the boat easily, whether you’re in a current or a wind.”

“I think this is the future of boating,” Mr. Mundy continues. “Not just for the control, but also the fuel economy. We probably get 25 percent better fuel economy on this boat. For instance, I came back across the lake last year from Charlevoix [to Sturgeon Bay], and I used maybe a quarter tank of fuel.”

Though Mr. Mundy is clearly a big proponent of the IPS, he’s one of thousands of boaters who have tried the system. When you consider that more than 100 manufacturers throughout the world are incorporating IPS into new models, that older vessels have been retrofitted to incorporate it and that so many people have tried it, you would expect there to be a wide diversity of opinions about how well this innovative new system works. In fact, however, the assessments are surprisingly consistent.

Peter Sears has been boating for 50 years. His current boat is a Tiara 3500 Sovran. It’s his eighth Tiara, and his first with IPS, which he admits caused him some initial apprehension.

“I spent 50 years learning how to drive with a standard drive and everything else,” he says of his new IPS-equipped boat, “and now I’m on a new learning curve.” Fortunately, that curve has been pretty smooth. “I have had the boat now about two months and I find myself coming in with the conventional wheel and then when I get into the harbor I’m switching over right away to the IPS. . . . I feel totally comfortable with it now.”

As with Mr. Mundy, the ease of use has allowed his wife to get involved at the helm, though that has had one unexpected drawback. “My wife stepped in and drove it perfectly with the IPS, and then she told me to go out and get the lines. I said that’s not the agenda.”

He may have to spend some time away from the helm of his fire-engine-red Sovran, but he’s enjoying the time he does have at the controls. “Once you get the feel,” he says, “it’s easy.”

Mr. Boyce, owner of a Cruisers 390 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also likes the IPS’s ease of operation, as do his passengers. A friend of his “docked it the first time he ever touched the joystick, with no experience at all on it.”

When IPS was first unveiled, expectations were big. The boating industry has been flagging for the past few years, and many saw this new system as a potential boost for everyone. It was hoped that if IPS could make captaining—and docking, in particular—easier, then more people might be tempted to try boating. In the case of Mr. Wiener, it seems to have worked.

“Frankly,” he says, “the first time I owned a boat was last July. I’m a relatively new boater, and [the barrier to boating before] was for me the docking. It’s not so much parallel docking as backing into the slips. The marina where I keep the boat has a strong current, and it’s very difficult to dock there. The IPS system makes it very easy to get into the slip.”

The ease of handling was planned to be a big selling point, and it’s proving to be one. “First of all,” says Mr. Wiener, the owner of a Cruisers 390, “the big issue was the joystick control. It’s phenomenal. The IPS system of course comes with the control, and that made me a believer. It was the second boat I bought in a year, and I bought it for that system.”

Mr. Rothstein, the owner of a Cruisers 420 Express and a self-described tech guy, said that when he first looked at the IPS, he was “a little concerned about the newness of it.” But he was pleased with the speed and efficiency numbers. What ultimately tipped him toward IPS was the handling.

“I boat on the Chesapeake,” he says, “where it’s pretty tight quarters. . . . So it was maneuverability and fitting into tight creeks and things like that, where you can move around effectively. . . . The drawback is that I draw a little more water than I would otherwise. But it’s not a huge deal. The benefit is what I anticipated—even in crowded July 4 surroundings, I could fit into small settings.”

IPS may have introduced a revolutionarily new way of propelling a boat, but there’s nothing newfangled about handling, efficiency, power, comfort and performance. Whether they have a Lazzara or a Tiara, a Cruisers or Chris-Craft, whether they’re on Lake Michigan or off the Florida coast, whether they’ve been boating for 50 years or five months, boaters are flocking to all that IPS offers. Even if that means they sometimes have to get the lines.

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