Still afloat and going strong: ‘I think my boat will outlive me': Boats predate city's birth

Long before the first vote was cast for incorporation, the fishermen of the sleepy fishing village known as Destin were casting their lines in the Gulf of Mexico.

And today, some of those same charter boats that put Destin on the map are still afloat and bringing in fish on a daily basis.

The Shamrock II, which docks at East Pass Marina, is one of those boats. Captained by Eddie Dykes, the 47-foot boat was built in 1963 and has been in the Dykes family since 1976.

Eddie’s dad, Louis, ran the 20-passenger boat for four years before the two started rotating as captains of the fishing vessel in 1980.

The Shamrock II, a Resmondo hull boat, is a wooden boat.

“You have to baby a wooden boat,” Eddie said. “But I take care of it,” he said, noting he doesn’t take it out when it’s really rough.

As a matter of fact, he said, “The Coast Guard always brags on it when they do inspections.

“She’s in real good shape for her age,” Eddie said.

The Shamrock II, which bears a three-leaf clover on the back, isn’t air-conditioned.

“I’ve never had a boat with air conditioning, so I really don’t know what I’m missing,” Eddie said.

And the folks that come back year after year “like it for the room it has ... for its size,” he said. “And they like the trolling chairs.” The Shamrock II has four trolling chairs on the open deck.

Dykes recalls the biggest fish he ever caught was on the Shamrock II — a 107-pound amberjack in 1978.

“Dad was running it that day and I was the deckhand,” he said. Dykes remembered it right down to the details. He caught it on a 4-aught with a pinfish for bait — and it took 45 minutes.

Eddie said his dad came up with the name for the boat. He liked the idea of “being lucky and the three-leaf clover,” he said. “And oh yeah ... it’s been lucky.”

“We’ve rode out many a storm in the bayou on the boat,” he added.

The Shamrock II has docked at East Pass Marina since 1982. Before that, she was docked at Capt. Carl’s Seafood Market for two years near Harbor Docks and at Marina Pointe from 1969 to 1980.

In addition to the change in venue, the biggest change Dykes has seen in the fishing industry in the past 25 years is “electronics.”

He said when he was growing up, “You’d have to read the bottom and use land ranges ... lining up a tower on a building. Only experienced captains could do it.

“We had a big composition book filled with drawings of the beach.”

Dykes said electronics has “really hurt bottom fishing.”

“The limits have helped, but I think they have gone overboard with them.”

Back in the ’70s, “90-pound amberjack were not uncommon and big loads of copper belly grouper would fill up the box in no time. You’d throw a buoy ... a marker to hold up by when you found a spot, instead of electronics.”

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As for Capt. Dennis Kendricks of the Scamp, a 48-foot Rose Brothers boat built in 1968, he sees the biggest change in the last 25 years as a desire for comfort.

“People used to pick a boat by what they caught,” Kendricks said. “Now they look for the boats that are pretty, nice and air-conditioned.

“It’s not about the fish, but about the comfort. They want to go on a 25-knot boat as compared to my 10 knots.

“I’d love to have something nicer for my customers, that’s faster with air conditioning,” Kendricks said. “But with the economy the way it is, I can’t right now.”

Kendricks has had the wooden-hull boat for the past 12 years and continues to catch fish daily.

He bought the Scamp, which docks at HarborWalk Marina, from Capt. Cliff Cox. Prior to buying the boat, he worked as a mate for 16 years: 10 of that for Capt. Duke’s, three with Olin Marler and three as a mate on the Scamp with Cox.

“I like the fact that it’s a stable boat,” he said. “It’s a lot more maintenance and nowhere near as pretty or fast as some of the fiberglass boats with their air conditioning and outriggers.

“But I still catch fish. Wooden boats still catch fish,” he said, pointing to a full rack of snapper and grouper they brought in recent days.

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Capt. Jim Westbrook of the headboat New Florida Girl remembers incorporation well.

Westbrook said the boat captains were about half and half on incorporation, adding that he carried signs against it.

“We liked the village ... status quo,” he said.

“But looking back it was the biggest boom in this village’s history,” Westbrook said. “Ten years went by and we were hit by Opal. Then we boomed again — that was the biggest.

“And looking back we did need some kind of leadership. But that’s the way of progress. And a lot of decisions are made in the background.”

But before Destin even thought about becoming a city, the New Florida Girl was taking customers out and bringing in nice hauls. The 85-foot, 100-ton vessel was built in 1971 and owned by the Marler family.

Westbrook took over the New Florida Girl in 1991. “I’m in charge of its second 20 years.

“And she’s as comfortable today as the day it was put in the water,” he said.

The New Florida Girl is “within 100 feet of where it was put on the water,” Westbrook said. “It’s still shading a piece of the harbor as it did back then. And the bottom of the harbor is the same as it has always been.”

However, what is changing is a lack of waterfront.

Westbrook said before incorporation, fishing was more about the headboats, and after it went to charters.

“I think it will go back to headboats,” he said. “There is not as much waterfront for the charters. I think it will be solely private boats except for a few at the end of the next 25 years.

“What we need to look for in the next 25 years is a new place for the charter fleet,” Westbrook said. He suggested just west of the Destin Bridge on the other side of the Coast Guard Station.

“We need to see the old-fashioned end of fishing move to public property. That will be the only way to survive.”
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Capt. Harold Staples of the Al-Lin has survived a number of years fishing.

Staples, a 37-year captain, built the Al-Lin with his dad and put in on the water in 1983 a year before incorporation. The 44-foot boat, named after his two kids, Allen and Lindley, is docked at Fishing Fleet Marina.

The Al-Lin “has some unique features,” Staples said.

“My boat doesn’t have the sleeping quarters below,” like some boats do. But it does have a big back deck.

Staples said it also has a rail around the front bridge and a seat on the front where people can sit and watch the fish jump.

“I think I’m the only boat that has seats in the back for folks to sit on,” he said.

“This boat is not real fast, but as long as I can be competitive,  I’m content with it. I think my boat will outlive me,” he said.

“I’ve had a lot of good ones,” Staples said referring to fishing trips. One of the most memorable was a recent commercial trip where he took just his son Allen and Capt. Justin Destin.

He said the two of them caught 1,100 pounds in one day — all grouper.

“We’ve had a lot of good trips. I’m just a regular ol’ fisherman.”

The biggest change Staples has seen in the past 25 years is in “booking trips.”

“You used to sit down on your boat and book a trip, but now they do it over the Internet,” Staples said. “Your reputation and word of mouth was how you booked your trips. But folks are booking over the Internet. That’s the way they shop now.”

Staples is happy with his boat. “I never wanted anything bigger. This is kind of a lifestyle for me.

“There’s an old saying in the fishing business. ‘It’s not how far you go, but where you stop that counts,’ ” Staples said.

And “Destin is still a wonderful fishing place.”