Boat Captain

• Responsibility for continuously assessing the conditions to make sure my passengers were both safe and comfortable

• Small boat handling in a variety of condition

• A deep appreciation of fish movements and behaviors

• Interacting with customers teaching them how to fish and ensuring they had an enjoyable experience.

For two summers I worked for Schooney Charters taking people out on charter fishing trips.  My responsibilities involved getting the boat ready for the season including maintenance and upgrades and then all the customer interactions after my boss Eric booked them on a trip.  I really enjoyed being out on the water so often and getting to go fishing for work.  I found the first summer, I was much more concerned about catching as many fish as possible as the trips only lasted five hours and with the 45mins or so it took to get to the fishing grounds, there wasn't much time to actually fish!  This stress was mostly self imposed as Eric was such a good fisherman and pretty much always caught more fish then I did.  The second season, I realized that most of the customers were more interested in spending a morning out on the water and just wanted to enjoy themselves.  This changed my mentality and I focused more on talking to people and getting to know them and their life experiences.  One notable individual I took out was a nuclear submarine commander and I got to hear all about what it is like navigating under the arctic ice!  Overall, I am very glad I was able to put my USCG OUPV captains license to use, and taking people out charter fishing was a great summer job.