Humility was a very special boat which had a great influence on my life. Humility was a flat bottomed 21 foot skiff. I began taking Humility out in the ocean in 1990. By 1991, I was going beyond sight of land in search of Spanish mackerel, false albacore, king mackerel, and cobia. In 1992, I added LORAN and could now go even farther.
I began fishing 12 then 15 miles off for king mackerel, dolphinfish, and even skippys (skipjack tuna). I often fished solo, trolling 7 lines at a time. This was a very lonely time for me.
At the dock, I was considered reckless for going so far out by myself in a flat bottomed craft. Nevertheless, I stuck with it as the scream of the reel and each new fish caught became more and more exciting.
I laid awake at night and dreamed of one day catching a tuna. Several people said that if I kept at it, sooner or later I would catch one. I doubted such a thing.
One day a strange feeling came over me and I decided to pull my lines and head farther off to a wreck over 20 miles from the beach. I was terrified to be so far off, alone in a small boat. I set 7 lines and trolled towards the bass pots.
Then it happened…. I had finally hooked up on a bluefin! I managed to get all the lines in, fight the tuna and bring it to gaff. It was over quicker and less eventful than I had expected. I had finally met my goal. Now it was time to move up.
I continued my trips and caught tuna, skippys, dolphin, and kings. I began chunking for tuna and the results were very good. Sometimes I had guests on the boat but often I fished alone. The charterboat captains continued to urge me to find a crew.
On July 2 1994, a local fishing club member fished with me. We sailed and had an uneventful day but the lone bull dolphin we caught and the mystery of the fishing got Aiden’s attention. The next week we rode out a few miles, stopped the boat, threw a half a dozen chunks of butterfish, and Aiden had the first bait grabbed from his hand as he was setting it. We both landed 65 pound bluefin and he was forever hooked on offshore fishing. Aiden has been with me ever since and has logged hundreds of hours on Humility and Daybreak.
In 1996 a young man joined Aiden and myself aboard Humility. Dean brought a new enthusiasm to the boat and a willingness to work hard while on board. Sometimes he brought a guest along and my crew always hustled. For the first time Humility was complete.
The summer of 1996 was unusually productive. We caught tuna on every trip except one and even that trip was very productive with dolphin everywhere. Often that year we found ourselves in the thick of the action with boats all around us. We often headed in with our limit as the bigger boats were just arriving. They gawked at us all decked out in slickers and we snickered at their tardiness. I was proud as a peacock of my little boat and crackpot crew. This was the best period of my life.