Fishing Legends
Fishing Legends Are Honored At The Old
Harbor
By Debbie Tuma
As old fishing photos flashed on the screens, eight Montauk
captains arrived at the Old Harbor House Restaurant with their families and
other guests. A crowd of close to 200 people showed up to honor these men who
have spent most of their lives at sea.
As part of the 5th Annual Harbor Festival, the Montauk Chamber
of Commerce chose to honor the long and productive fishing careers of great
Montauk fishermen. Those men are Carl Darenberg, Jr., Fred E. Bird, Bob Tuma,
Frank Tuma, Jr., Vinnie Grimes, Dave McMahon, Wally Drobecker, and Bill
Holzman. When they arrived at this Montauk restaurant, they saw old photos of
their boats, customers, and the giant swordfish and tunas that they used to
catch back then when they were plentiful.
"Back in those days, we would go out and fill up our
boats in an hour with fish," said Dave McMahon, in a video that was shown on
another screen. "There were acres of fish out there back then." Many
of the old vintage photos, which were collected by Carl Darenberg, Jr. of the
Chamber's Board of Directors, showed boatloads of fish that were also large in
size.
"Look at that 970-pound tuna," said Wally Drobecker,
who brought his winning fish photo and was among the eight captains honored at
the event. He was at the dinner with his wife Joan, and other family and
friends. Drobecker showed old pictures of his boat, "Skip II," on the
large screens.
All the honorary captains sat in a special room with their
guests. Near Drobecker was Captain Frank Tuma, Jr., with his wife, Marion, his
daughter, Lexa, and his son-in-law Jimmy DiSpirito. There was also his
grandson, David Tuma, who follows in his footsteps as a fisherman on the
commercial dragger "Kimberly." There were also his daughter-in-law
Diane Tuma and friends.
Fred E. Bird, Captain of the "Flying Cloud" for the
past 47 years, showed up with his granddaughter who came all the way from Baltimore
for this special event.
"I think it's a big honor, so I wanted to be here,"
she said.
Vinnie Grimes was on hand with his sons Keith and Jimmy and
their families, as well as his partner, Betty Cobb. Bill Holzman and his wife
were smiling and enjoying the camaraderie of the Montauk fishermen.
When asked how he felt about commuting all the way from
Hampton Bays to go fishing in Montauk throughout his career, Holzman said,
"My whole life, I was on the road driving every day around 4 a.m. and the only thing I had to watch out for
were the drunks on the road." In the video, Holzman talked about how he
saw the need to see into the water and how he created the design for the first
tuna tower.
I came to this dinner with my father, Captain Bob Tuma, who was
honored at this event for his 65 years fishing the Montauk waters on his boat,
the "Dawn." There was also my sister, Wendy Barnes of Asheville,
N.C., my cousin, Steve Tuma, of North Haven, and my Dad's mate, Richie
Pellitone, of Montauk, who won first prize, a jean jacket, in the Chamber's
raffle drawing that night.
At this event, several of the younger captains came to honor
the older captains, who were their mentors.
"These guys really taught us a lot and we looked up to
them, " said Captain Dave Kohlus, of the "Adah," who was there
with his wife, Adah, his brother, Captain Barry Kohlus, and his wife, Janet.
Rick Etzel, of the "Breakaway," said he felt the same way.
"I've been fishing since I'm 16, and I grew up admiring
all these old time captains and I wanted to be just like them," he said.
Carl Darenberg, Jr., was running around working the projector
for the old photos, and was also there with his father, Carl Darenberg, Sr. and
his brother Gary Darenberg, of Montauk. Along with Carl, Jr., Laraine Creegan,
Executive Director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, introduced the program
and welcomed all the captains and their guests. Paul Monte, also of the
Chamber's board, also talked about the captains and the Harborfest Weekend.
They presented each of the eight captains with a beautiful
plaque and a copy of a video produced by this reporter, which will be shown
again at another venue in Montauk in the near future. Due to technical
problems, it was hard for everyone to see and hear this video at the event.
Called, "2008 Montauk Fishing Legends," this 40-minute documentary
film will be seen at another location to be announced.
Thanks go to Mary Persand and the Sweeney family, owners of
the Old Harbor House Restaurant, for a wonderful cocktail hour and dinner that
everyone enjoyed.
