Hometown Hero Outdoors
Welcome to the Hometown Hero Outdoors Podcast, where we’re more than just a show—we’re a mission. As a non-profit dedicated to enhancing mental health through life-changing outdoor adventures for military service members, veterans, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel, we bring you stories of resilience, healing, and community.
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- Over 5,000 heroes have experienced the healing power of the outdoors with us—through activities like hunting, fishing, camping, snowmobiling, and more.
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- We share inspiring stories of mental health advocacy and people overcoming the toughest challenges, highlighting the profound impact of reconnecting with nature.
Whether you’re here for thrilling outdoor adventures, meaningful conversations about mental health, or to hear from real people who’ve used the outdoors to heal and grow, this podcast has something for everyone.
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Hometown Hero Outdoors
Healing Waters: How Captain Bob Cook connects veterans with the therapeutic power of the sea
Captain Bob Cook, star of National Geographic's Wicked Tuna, takes us on an extraordinary journey from his childhood fishing trips to becoming one of the Northeast's premier bluefin tuna experts. With heartfelt authenticity, Bob shares how his passion was sparked at age 11 when he boldly approached a lobster boat captain and asked to come aboard – a moment that would shape his entire future.
The conversation reveals Bob's fascinating path to television stardom, including how he was initially rejected for being "too professional" before eventually joining the cast in Season 9. Bob pulls back the curtain on reality TV, describing how producers initially tried to manufacture drama before embracing the natural tension that emerges when competitive fishermen chase the same prize.
Most powerfully, Bob shares a deeply moving story about taking veterans fishing and how one wounded warrior compared the sound of Bob's boat engine to a Blackhawk helicopter mission. This profound connection demonstrates the therapeutic potential of outdoor experiences for those who've served our country – inspiring Bob's commitment to donate annual trips to veterans.
Whether you're fascinated by maritime adventures, curious about reality television's inner workings, or interested in how outdoor experiences can support veterans' wellbeing, this conversation with Captain Bob Cook delivers authentic insights from someone who's truly mastered his craft. As Bob says about fishing bluefin tuna: "I love it more now than I ever have."
Produced by Phil Ewert Productions
Theme Music: Hero's Journey
Joel Loopez Tunepocket.com
Licensed by: Phil Ewert Productions
hometownherooutdoors.org
In the land of 10,000 lakes, a remarkable movement was born. Welcome to Hometown Hero Outdoors. We are dedicated to honoring our military service members, veterans and first responders by providing them with unforgettable outdoor recreational opportunities. We believe those who have served and sacrificed so much for our country and communities deserve a chance to reclaim their spirit and find healing in the great outdoors. This is Hometown Hero Outdoors. Welcome to the Hometown Hero Outdoors.
Speaker 2:Podcast. Here is your host, Chris Tatro. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast. Today we have Bob Cook on from Wicked Tuna. Thank you for being here, Bob. We appreciate you.
Speaker 3:Oh man, I'm so appreciative to be a part of this.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, no, I know, let's chat yeah, you're a busy man. Let me, uh, just give the listeners a quick rundown. I have a bio here for you. Uh, bob cook's a highly skilled fisherman and a fan favorite captain from the popular reality tv show wicked tuna, known for his deep knowledge of fishing, competitive spirit and genuine passion for the sea. Bob captain's fat tuna on the show hailing from I can never pronounce this correctly. Help me out. What's the city called?
Speaker 3:uh, so it's beverly. I I hail from beverly, I live in essex, but, but gloucester is probably the word that you're trying to say gloucester yeah I did that with dave too.
Speaker 2:I was just I can't I my enunciation is horrible. So he spent. Bob spent most of his life mastering the art of tuna fishing in the North Atlantic. Bob's expertise and leadership are evident as he navigates the challenges of catching prize bluefin tuna, often facing tough weather conditions and fierce competition from other captains. His dedication, strategic approach and camaraderie with his crew make him a respected figure of working tuna and within the broader fishing community outside of the show. Bob is deeply committed to sustainable fishing practices, enjoys sharing his love of the ocean with his family and fans alike. How was that for a bio?
Speaker 3:sound pretty accurate that sounds pretty accurate. Yeah, absolutely uh thank you for the fan favorite part, but we're working on it so how did you come about, uh, getting involved with the show?
Speaker 2:I mean that we'll talk about all your history and everything too, but I'm very curious how did you get involved with wicked tuna?
Speaker 3:yeah, so, uh, wicked tuna has been around now for 13 seasons. It's been a long time and, uh, I grew up fishing. I grew up working on lobster boats, working on gillnet boats, then I started chartering about 25 years ago for striped bass and then, probably about 22 years ago, I discovered bluefin tuna and really, I mean, I was always out there amongst all these a lot of these guys that are on the show and they started, like I said, 13 seasons ago filming and I was always out there and they did kind of a casting call season two of the show or something like that, season three and I said what the heck these guys are, you know, making a paycheck doing this and an added paycheck. I said I want to be a part of this and so I kind of put my name in and they interviewed us and at that point they were kind of looking for characters on the show more than people that actually I'm just going to say this actually catch fish. Actually I'm just going to say this actually catch fish. So they had a bunch of people and they had some really good ones and some not so good ones, and so they were looking for others and they sort of said listen, you're a little too clean cut, you're not really a character, you're a little bit too professional. We want some gritty guys and this, that and the other thing. And so, season three, I really didn't make the cut and I just kind of forgot about it for years. And then, uh, you know, they kept saying, hey, we'd like you to interview, like you to interview. And I just said, nah, I'm kind of happy doing what I'm doing.
Speaker 3:And then season nine came around, and from boat to boat out there you've got cameras on one boat and you're always kind of watching the boats around you from the boats that are filming and they were just sort of seeing us do our thing every day Catch him, catch him, catch him. And they said, listen, we are sending our production company to Gloucester Mass and spending all this money to get footage. We're lacking footage, we're lacking catches, some of the captains are not producing. You know none of the captains that are still there, they all produce. But they said we need other captains, we need to get this done, we're risking way too much financially. And so then they said listen, bob, we'd like to have you, you don't have to interview nothing.
Speaker 3:And you know season nine I came in I didn't really like the way they went about it the us against them, the tourists, the outsiders and all that stuff. And I didn't realize they were going to do that until it aired, to be quite honest, yeah. And then, once it aired, I said, well, I did that. I don't think I want to be a part of that again because, uh, they tried a little too hard to produce it and there's enough drama that happens out there that you don't have to contrive it or produce it.
Speaker 3:So they kind of went back to their drawing board and said Bob, we'd like to have you back season 10. I said, guys, I really don't want to do it that way. I just can you just show us how we really are? And they said we made a mistake. We had a great show. We tried too hard season nine to change it. Would you come back season 10 if we promise not to do that again? And I said we'll see.
Speaker 3:And then I got back to him and I said, yeah, you know what? I trust you, because they kept calling and saying listen, we won't do that again. We'll keep it authentic from here on in. We made a mistake, we didn't have to do that. And here we are, five seasons later. I'm still with it. And they were true to their word. I mean, they let the organic drama that happens every day out there just happen unfold. And it wasn't. It's as contentious as it could possibly be, because we're in a competition and we always want to catch more than the next guy. And again, like I said, that's organic fun, that's organic competition and there's so much stuff that happens day in and day out. They don't have to force it and I tell you, it took a real turnaround there and we gained a whole lot of fans by letting it be. Just let it be, do its thing.
Speaker 2:Show the real, you Show the real everyone.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure they've got to try and keep everything a little interesting, so they try to kind of make their own storylines in there in between. But, like you said, they don't necessarily need to do that because there's enough things going on.
Speaker 3:I totally agree, necessarily need to do that because there's enough things going on. I totally agree, they do have to sort of to stay relevant. They have to tweak it here and there with new ideas and just don't go overboard, and I kind of feel like that's what they did yeah even nine, but they are a great crew to work with.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you, pilgrim productions they're the ones who film it and then they sell it to uh, nat geo and uh, they were just awesome. I made some of my best friends. One of my best friends to this day is my camera guy and I've had him for five years and we just, you know, we became good buddies. He's out there in San Diego. My wife and I go out there and visit him and it's cool man.
Speaker 2:Is he too keepership when you go out that way?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I actually go on the Dave and I go, marciano and I go out there and we do fishing for Rallo Rallo's kids out there. So it's we do the long-range boats, so people kind of pay to fish with us and we also do it as a kind of a competition setting out there too. We call it tuna wars and it's kind of, yeah, they, they pay to be on the liberty, which is the boat I'm on, or the tomahawk, which is the one that dave's on, and yeah, it's, it's long range bluefin tuna fishing actually it's. It's cool. We go from the east coast to the west coast to fish for the same thing, but they're a lot smaller out there, but it's cool yeah, well, and for the listeners too, if you're actually watching the podcast right now on our youtube channel.
Speaker 2:Bob's actually on his boat, yeah talk about your boat a bit, which is it's a gorgeous boat. I know when, um, our new england state director, uh, david gray, told us that he went out there and got to fish with you and dave marciano and got to take a look at your boat and said it's absolutely gorgeous, both boats. So I want to talk about your boat a bit, and how did you come about acquiring such a beautiful masterpiece of the water?
Speaker 3:oh, thank you so much for that. I'll tell you it was a labor of love and a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of stress building it, but it took about two and a half years to build. I think I started the process in 2019, bought a hull, brought the hull to a finisher up in Maine. The hull's a 46 muscle ridge. It's a down east boat and that's the type of boats we run around here for, mostly for stability and efficiency. So it's got a single engine, single 900 horse Scania and, yeah, I mean for years and years, you upgrade, you invest as the business gets bigger, and by business I mean the charter business. That's mostly how we that's our income really is chartering.
Speaker 3:The Bluefin tuna sale is certainly that's a big part of it as well, but mostly it's our chartering. So I took all the ideas from the vessels I had and said, okay, my dream is to have this, my dream is to have this here. Lay it out this way. I need this to be here to kind of, you know, lay it all out perfectly. What's up, david?
Speaker 2:How are you? We had a late addition to our podcast yeah, david gray, our new england, uh, our state director up there. He's actually helping on the board right now and he's just getting home from work what's up? Buddy. He just jumped on, say hi, buddy how's it going?
Speaker 4:Good to see you again.
Speaker 2:You too.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Thanks for coming, man.
Speaker 3:I was just talking about the building of the new Fat Tuna. So, yeah, you take ideas from an old build or an old boat and again you sort of dream up a plan, you put it on paper and to actually see it the end of the process and just know that you've done everything exactly the way you wanted and have no regrets like, oh, I should have done this, should have done that, and the finished product is exactly what I wanted. And every single day we do a charter. Now, nobody's ever in my way. That was a big part of designing it the way we designed it. You know, people have places that they can sit out on the back deck. We have the live wells way back so people aren't close to falling into them and they've got a little bit of a seating area there back there. So it's just all these things I wished I had, I now have, and it's just every single person that comes for a charter now wants to return the next year, whether we catch or not.
Speaker 2:And that's, you know, hopefully because of our professionalism, but mostly it's because of this boat and, uh, I'm glad, I really am so happy we did it no, a good, a good, comfortable boat makes the experience everything you know oh god yeah you know I used to uh, well, I still do I'll go up to lake michigan and we'll, we'll hop on some boats to go chase some salmon and if that boat's tight and you got a lot of people on there, it can be really uncomfortable, real quick, especially when you get a little bit of weather. And it definitely makes a huge difference when you have some space to spread out and can at least respect each other's distance a little bit.
Speaker 3:For sure, for sure. Yeah, on the old boats I would play tetris around bodies, you know. Oh, excuse me, pardon me, sorry, sorry, you know, put a piece in here, take a piece out here, and it was just, it was too much, I was so tired with our fish houses.
Speaker 2:Out here we do a lot of custom ice houses where we go ice fishing and, uh, one thing I've noticed is, over time you get a few of these different fish houses and you're like I wish it was like this, I wish it was like this, and then you keep buying new ones and upgrading and changing. That eventually is build your own, and then absolutely. Absolutely. You know what works and what doesn't.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to lie to the reason I did it when I did. It was because we had some leverage from the show. I could have never afforded to build a new boat without help from sponsors. You know companies want to put a sticker on the window in the view of the camera. It's great marketing for them. Every charter we do, we talk about all the products we have on board. You know Raymarine, gemlux, you know Seahawk paints, fleur cameras, things like that, stid helm chairs, stuff like this. I mean, whenever we bring charters out, a lot of times it's actual boat owners and people just want to learn the way we do it and they want to kind of mimic sort of the way we do it so they buy all the same products. So these companies aren't dumb. They're going to say, well, hey, you're going to help us sell this product, why don't we put it on your boat? So I begged borrowed and stole when I was building this boat and I'm happy I did because, again, I could never have afforded it otherwise.
Speaker 2:Nothing wrong with that, though. I mean, if people want to help get their name out there, you might as well use it, if you can.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely man name out there.
Speaker 2:You might as well use it if you can. Yeah, absolutely, man. Going back to your, your youth, growing up, you said that you did a lot of stuff with lobster boats and getting out in the water and doing different diverse types of angling. Can you explain a little bit about how you got into that? Is it a family passion that you got into with everyone else got to share that with?
Speaker 3:it's funny, I just, I just went over this, uh, this morning there's a guy doing a wicked tuna book, uh, about the captains. His name is andrew joyce. He's, he's a, uh, an author from around here and, and I just said this this morning, my and it's the first time I've talked about it in years but my, um, my grandfather, his name was Sylvester White and, uh, when we were younger, my God, five, six, seven years old, I'm one of seven, I'm the youngest of seven kids, nice, and, uh, I, there's five girls, two boys, my brother has down syndrome and, uh, my brother and I would go and, uh, fish was still Gampy, we call them Gampy is was, he was my granddad, and we would take a row boat, we call them a Dory You'd have to kind of look up what a Dory is, d O R Y and we take it out of Salem mass and row out, throw an anchor and just ground fish when I was five, six, seven years old. Well, and, we used to do that, my God, three, four days a week and just forget about time, and it was all hand lines on this little spool and it was just awesome. And my mother, his Syl's daughter, gampy's daughter, was the best fisherman on the boat. She was incredible and I pretty much learned a lot of skills from my mom and really it was the tenacity more than anything. Ma, we're not catching Two hours, three hours, just wait. There's a tide coming, the bait's stacking up. I can tell, I can see the water surface, I can do this, and I just know they're coming. Just patience, that's what fishing is all about. I'll always remember that. Uh, she was right man and she was a badass.
Speaker 3:And um, yeah, from there I used to go down to the dock in Beverly, right by where the lobster boats would depart every morning, and I'd fish off the bridge right there really wasn't that high of a bridge um, probably, I don't know 27 feet off the water. It never really opened. It was a stationary bridge and I used to fish for mackerel right there and watch them come and go, the lobster boats. And one day and I always said, I want to be on one of those boats, I want to work on one of those boats Well, when I was 11, my mother dropped me off to go macro fishing off that bridge and I walked, I she watched me too.
Speaker 3:When she was leaving she stopped. I didn't realize. I walked right down the dock where the lobster boats were departing and there was one guy that was late to leave. It was probably eight in the morning, they leave at five, six.
Speaker 3:Well, his back man was late. His back man's, his helper, his first mate, I guess. His name was Jay Fenniff and his name was the captain's name, was Lyle Smith. He's still to this day, is like a second father to me. But I said, hey, can I come out with you? He kind of looks at me like no, I can't, you can't come out. What are you talking about? And he said I'd really have to ask your parents. I said, well, I just saw my mom stop the car right up here. You could go ask her. He's like all right. So he goes up and he asks my mom and she goes yes, all right, if you're okay with spending the day with this kid, go ahead, take him.
Speaker 3:And from there and from there, it's just that's where that passion just all started, right there, because I used to band lobsters. You know lobsters here in the North Atlantic. They've got a crusher and a shredder claw and you've got to. As soon as they come on the boat, you put bands on them and then you put them in the tank and that was my job is banding the lobsters all day long. And geez, from there it's just. I started to around 13, 14, 15, be the first mate, and then inshore lobstering became offshore lobstering where we go out for 11 days at a time. That was insane. It was the hardest work I ever did. The only thing I could ever compare that to is kind of deadliest catch type stuff without the weather, right, nothing like that. But the work, the work was pretty much the same. It was incredibly hard 18, 19, 20 hours on deck, like I said, 180 miles out, 11 days.
Speaker 2:So some long days that was crazy.
Speaker 3:That was crazy.
Speaker 2:But anyways, like I'm sorry I'm over talking, but that's kind of the history of yeah this is what we're here for, right? Everyone's learning who you are. Yep, no, that's fantastic, that's crazy. So lobster I know Dave and I were just talking about this on the last show was the availability of up there. You know, and I think last time we're talking about that at sometimes the uh, the price of beef is more expensive here than it is for lobster, enough where you're at, which is pretty cool. So now that you're on the lobster boats and you're engaged in all of this activity and harvesting, were you able to bring some of those back and help feed that large family a little bit every now and then?
Speaker 3:I gotta be honest, yes, I was, and I never liked lobster and it was like maybe half of the kids in the family. Mostly that was the ground fishing that we did in the harbor that fed the family. That was, yeah, that was haddock. That was, um, actually my mother used to take skate wings, which is really it's a trash fish, and flounder and pollock. And there was there was a few of the kids in the family two of my sisters, as a matter of fact who did not like fish, so she breaded up, put it in the oven and say it was chicken to them.
Speaker 3:Oh wow, and they were fooled by it completely. Wow, this is the best chicken I ever had. Ma meanwhile it was flounder, you know.
Speaker 2:so it's just yeah, sounds like what I do to my wife with venison meat. She hates venison, so that's my favorite.
Speaker 3:I know we'll put it in every now and then.
Speaker 2:I know it's so good. I don't know. There's something in her youth when she was young where I get it probably had some bad venison that was made by a family member that just didn't go right, but who knows. But you know that's. That's pretty hilarious, though I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean it worked right it worked, it worked, yeah, yeah so when you guys got to go fishing with some hho members.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the things that we talked about was, you know, our members and their service and the appreciation that you guys have had for those who have served, what got you into taking some of our our military service members and first responders on the water.
Speaker 3:Well, for me it really began sort of the passion for doing this. Um, I think it was season 10. We did it, uh, the wounded warriors project with, uh, with Nat Geo, with Pilgrim, we did an episode and, um, I just really enjoyed it. I was, um man, we were steaming out at night um being filmed, uh, the whole time, and you know the old boat had a couch behind me and that's the boat that it was filmed on on and, uh, this was kind of I we were, I was headed from point a to point b, right, so gloucester to. At that point I think we were going to stellwagen bank, um, and we were headed out there to harvest, right, we're out there filming.
Speaker 3:And the the warrior, his name was tim aponte. He was sitting right behind me here and they put a warrior with everybody to, with actually five out of the eight captains. I was lucky to be one of the five that they filmed that day, or actually it was three days and he was sitting there and he kind of I could see sweat pouring down his face. You know, I kind of look back. It's Timmy, all right, you getting seasick. He said Bob, you know he was, he was shaken and he says, bob, uh, this is so much like a mission you don't even know, because my screens were all red here so that I had night sort of vision on. We were going out in the dark. He said, bob, it's like I'm on a Blackhawk right now. It's exactly the hum, it's the engine. And to this day, right now, my hair is standing up on end because when he explained that all to me and I sort of got a feel of it all and he said, bob, we're going out on a mission now. The mission is to harvest the bluefin tuna. We've got the hum of the engine, it's a blackhawk, it's this, it's that.
Speaker 3:And I was just, I was glued to what he was saying. I said you know what I'm doing, this and I want to be a part of this in any way, shape or form. I can be every single year. We donate two trips a year and they have to be veterans, it has to be, and we all always get approached to donate trips. You know, for certain raffles here and there, but really they don't have the same impact and I don't really feel like I'm giving back to. I mean, you guys. You guys are all selfless, you're incredible human beings and for us to just give back that little bit. It's the very least we could do, and I'm so happy to be a part of it. I'm honored really.
Speaker 2:You know. That's very interesting that you bring that up, because I wouldn't have thought about that until you mentioned that you know just the feel or the vibe of you guys getting up early, being out there or going out late, whatever it may be early being out there or going out late, whatever it may be, but really all of the dynamics revolving around you guys getting out preparing to do that harvest man. That's an interesting correlation. I never thought about that it was unbelievable, really.
Speaker 3:And, um, I don't quite know how to say this, but, um, I'm just going to come out and say it. I mean, I know that there's so many things involved, right, there's PTSD, there's mental, there's lot of times because I knew, you know, certain things would affect him. And finally he just grabbed me and said, bob, can you please just do things the way you normally do them? I may be affected. I may, you know, I may run out of the way sometimes, here and there, but allow me to do this. And this was all just a learning process for me how to, how to handle it all. And by the end of it again, we've, we've just become real good buddies. I haven't talked to him in a while, but I I gotta reach out to him. But uh, it was. It was a learning experience, and one that was that I'm so grateful for. I really am.
Speaker 2:No, and thank you for doing that. That's fantastic. You know, I think people have a lot of valuable resources that you are individually good at and the things that you do and enjoy, and you can share that with others and definitely is a part of the impact on the healing process for people who have served. You know, one of the things the organization I tell everyone you don't have to be an expert at anything you do, you just got to be able to share that information with others, be able to help them have the resources that are available to them and share maybe some knowledge with them, because a lot of it's creating new healthy habits and that's what we need.
Speaker 3:So well put. Thank you for putting that that way, because that's that's perfect yeah.
Speaker 2:It's the new healthy habits. You know, david, you know you made the connection with uh, jake and uh got to take some people out and whatnot. So do you want to talk a little bit about what that looked like and the trip did? And I know we're on half an hour here, dave, and I don't know how much time. I'm sorry, bob, how much time do we have left for it with you?
Speaker 3:Oh God, no problem, man, you have half hour hour. However long it takes, man.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure. I just want to make sure that we're respectful of your time and being here. So, David, want to talk about the connection that you made and being able to go out on this trip with them.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I want to actually touch back on something that Bob was saying about when they were steaming out and stuff.
Speaker 4:You know, I think a lot of people don't realize they think of PTSD. You know, watch out for fireworks during 4th of July and all these other things. But, bob, you got to experience the fact that PTSD has many different faces and different triggers and you probably would have never thought, and a lot of people wouldn't think, just going out on a fishing trip, the sound and the lights and of the of the, of your like dashboard type situation, could cause that, and that's what a lot of people don't understand. You think that it has to be in a situation that you know loud noises or whatnot, and it doesn't always have to be that way. It can be very subtle things in certain situations that can cause memories to come up in someone and if you haven't experienced it, you kind of step back and go. Well, I'm not making a connection and I'm glad that happened because I'm assuming that you know it made you more aware of how the little things in life can affect certain people that have been in certain situations.
Speaker 3:No doubt about it. Yep, again, as I explained, it was such a learning process and, man, it puts a lump in my throat, but it just the way you guys explain it is just so much more precise than the way I could put it into words. Precise, and the way I could put it into words Um, yeah, uh, so, in order, you know to, to be able to do that with you guys, uh, I, I am all in every single year, until the day I die. So I love it.
Speaker 4:So it was a great trip that we had. The weather could have been a little, a little bit better. Um insane if you've ever got out fishing, you know, out in the salt water, um, you've got to be prepared for just about everything um and once you get a good thing, it wasn't cold out, that's right.
Speaker 4:So the guys that get to get wet, at least you weren't cold. Um, waves are a little bit um, but again you just had to anchor yourself in the corner of the boat and hold on. But no, it was a very, very good time. And a lot of people don't, I think, don't realize how far in New England you think about going out fishing with a charter. You're thinking we're going to do. You know, a half an hour drive out You're going out. We go to jeffrey's ledge. Is that where we were?
Speaker 3:uh, we're actually. Uh, before style wagon, we were at tilly's.
Speaker 4:Uh, we were right right in in and around tilly's so people don't realize how far you've got to go out to get some of these fish and you know the time period that you have to sit there and you know talk to people and relax before you get into the action and stuff like that.
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Speaker 3:It's a program. Yeah, I'll tell you, you really got to kind of sharpen your communication skills and we try really hard to make sure that it's all about safety and you know, we tell all the guests just where all the equipment is, and then there's the normal sort of questions about the show and questions about this, that and the other things. So you know, I had a really good charter captain, probably about 25 years ago, say to me. He said, bob, being a charter captain is about two things. That is about being a charter captain is about two things.
Speaker 3:Um, that is about being a good human being and catching fish. And he said the good human being is about 90% of it, 10% is catching fish. And so, yeah, and and that's always stuck with me and um, yeah, it it's. There's so much more to it. As far as personality, you've got to. You've got to be right on and give them a good experience and make them feel at home all day long. So when you have weather like that, like you guys had, the weather kind of takes over and you just got to, you just got to make sure that people are as comfortable as they can possibly be and you got to try to get the job done and get the heck home safely, and that's what we did that day, yeah I remember seeing videos of you out there, though.
Speaker 2:You were laughing, smiling, having a good time. Everyone was chatting relaxing yeah, I know people weren't feeling the best when it came to wanting to throw up over the edge a little bit, but you're making the best out of it and having a good time.
Speaker 3:They were, uh, they were troopers. Man, they were yeah, they, they didn't mind one bit. I don't even remember if we had any pukers on our boat.
Speaker 5:Oh, that's good then. Yeah, I don't remember.
Speaker 3:It only happens every trip.
Speaker 2:Well, people don't realize how much you know. If you're a flatlander in the middle of nowhere, like me, you know how much that water motion can affect them. And one of the things that I've been telling a lot of people who go plan to do big water stuff is now you're taking that drama mean prepare for the days before, just not the day of start taking that days before, because it doesn't absolutely right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah no, it's very cool. I do have a couple questions for you. So you remember going back to your very first bluefin tuna, what that felt like. Was that like just a complete incredible rush or like what? Was it intentional, was it unintentional? Just curious with that memory yeah.
Speaker 3:So the memory is this I I was on a striped bass charter. I had clients on board and this is probably let me see 2024, probably 99. All growing up I saw people come into the marinas with bluefin tuna. I had no idea where the heck they were getting those bluefin tuna and I always wanted to know. But I was always working on lobster boats and we really weren't doing all that much rod and reel stuff. But when I started guiding which was, like I said, in and around 99 for striped bass, there's an area of islands outside of Beverly, there's Inner Harbor, beverly, salem, marblehead, then there's an area of islands outside of Beverly, there's Inner Harbor, beverly, Salem, marblehead, and then there's islands. So there's Misery Island, there's Baker's Island and we were fishing the 180 line, which is 180 feet of water, deep water, which we didn't normally do for striped bass. We always fished inside amongst the rocks.
Speaker 3:We were outside of the islands and I kept seeing these vertical splashes off in the distance, probably three miles away. We had tons of visibility that day and I kept looking. I kept saying that looks legit Like somebody is dropping stuff out of a plane and these big vertical splashes. And I said guys, I asked my clients. I said do you want to go out there and see what that is? We got to see what that is. And I said, guys, I asked my clients. I said do you want to go out there and see what that is? We got to see what that is. They said, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do that. Now. I had mackerel in the live.
Speaker 3:Well, we were catching striped bass with that and I was only using 30, 40, 50 pound test line. I go out there and I start to see it, and I start to see these things, their whole body, come out of the water and I said, oh my god, what is that? I've only ever heard about? This is could this possibly be bluefin tuna? And it was. I throw out a bait.
Speaker 3:I said, guys, this will be about three seconds of fun if we I couldn't even get the words out of my mouth just just takes it out of my hands. And this is on, I don't know a 4,500 bait runner, shimano, uh, which, again, like I said, 30 pound test. So, and so I, I loosened up the drag, cause I knew it would just pop if I didn't. And uh, so we fought that thing for about 10 or 12 minutes Right, and ever since that day I had to go. Of course we didn't land it Right. So then we hooked up about five more times, didn't land them, and then it was my goal to land one of these fish out there, and I didn't see him again for the rest of the freaking year.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, so we're going out there. I'm like my charter is, yeah, that the striped bass are in the deep waters outside here, outside here, whether they were or not. So I was going out there and trying to find these things and, uh, it wasn't until 2000, the next year, where I I took the boat out to the northwest corner of Stellwagen and I ended up landing like a 60, 65 inch bluefin tuna, which I don't know. 130 pounds, 140 pounds, and but really the funny thing is, with bluefin tuna you only ever remember like you only ever remember the losses. It's like a gambler's mentality you celebrate when you get one on deck, but then all you can think about is that next one, that next one, that next one man, and then, 60-incher is you want 100-incher, 100-incher, you want 120-incher.
Speaker 3:But the most memorable part of bluefin tuna fishing for me is the chase, and it was that chase that every day I got to get one of these things. I got to get one of these things and I just had a charter. I had one last week when we were supposed to be on here, but my last one was Sunday and the guys asked me. They said do you still love this? And I said, guys, it's this time of year when you really realize just how much you love it and how much you love the chase, because you're not doing a whole lot of fishing this time of year. This is the end of our season. So and I looked at him, I said, guys, I love it more now than I ever have, and it is. It's that chase, and I, just I, I couldn't love it more. So once I discovered bluefin tuna, that was the only fish in the ocean that really existed. For me, that was it, that was it, that's all I ever want to catch it's nuts.
Speaker 2:So what's the biggest that you have taken in?
Speaker 3:920 pounds. I can't even believe it. I've probably caught a thousand of these things and sold a thousand. I've never caught a grander ever. I've never caught one over a thousand pounds. Every other person I know that is in this game has caught a thousand pounder. I haven't. It just pisses me off, but 920.
Speaker 3:You said though 920, 920 that was 126 inches, and he was skinny, skinny, skinny really and everybody says well, how long did that take to land? That thing was 40 minutes, it was nothing, it was easy. Sometimes when they're big, big, big like that, they get real lazy and he's come right to the boat.
Speaker 2:It wasn't hard at all you know you said 40 minutes. You know that's crazy because you know us from the midwest. That is not something that you hear about. How long would take you to land that fish? 40 minutes, well, what was it not here? That does not happen here. So what is a normal like length to reel one of those intake? Usually I said 40 minutes is not that bad. So what's a? What is the average?
Speaker 3:that's the average, if you're with a crew that knows what they're doing, it's 30 minutes to an hour. So we bring charters out there and our coaching kind of, and the fact that we use the boat quite a bit, um, to kind of chase after that fish in reverse and gain line back, and then our coaching kind of what to do, assist the line onto the reel and things like that. But without kind of coaching and without I guess you would call us the experts kind of watching a fight I've heard a ton of them this year it could be three to five hours If you don't run that drag at the right setting, if you're not using the boat, if you're not doing all the things kind of required to, I guess, lessen the time that it takes to get that fish in our. Our longest fight we ever had was five and a half hours. We lost that fish oh no that's.
Speaker 3:That was terrible. Again it's it's only ever the ones that you lose that, like I can't remember the ones that we landed this year, but I can remember the ones we lost absolutely yeah so go ahead david.
Speaker 4:So so a fish like that you know 120 inch fish how old does it take to get a fish that big? How did you say how old? Yeah, how old is a fish like that?
Speaker 3:you know, I had a chart that I always refer to. I'm gonna I'm gonna guess that that one's about 23 years old and I could be four or five years off, but it's in and around there. It's in and around there.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 4:Your size is what? 60, 65? Is that what it is for commercial?
Speaker 3:73. 73 and above Yep, yep.
Speaker 4:A fish like that is 10, 15 plus years old.
Speaker 3:Around that? Yep, I'd say eight to 12 years old, I think so. Yeah, I'm going to have to refer to my chart. I'm terrible at this type of stuff but I've got a chart. When clients ask that I pull up and I'm like, well, here it is. I'm just terrible at kind of knowing, but I can give you a sort of ballpark.
Speaker 4:So you see on a show a lot of times you guys are out there looking for whales because you know with whales there's more food and everything else you ever accidentally whale, ever hook on hook up only ever.
Speaker 3:Yes, um, and that happens probably once every couple of years, and that's only when they're meandering through the same bait that the tuna are fishing on. In. Uh, we've got two floaters out there lines and they'll just meander through and kind of go on their side and a peck, you know, on on the humpback whale, let's say, or a minke or something like that may catch the line and that's it, but they never actually eat a bait. They never do that. They'll never, ever do that. It's very, very seldom that we'll even get like they're too smart. Um, whales are too smart, and um, and, and so are dolphins as well.
Speaker 3:I've I've I've hooked one dolphin in my whole entire fishing career and, um, for some reason he bit the bait, but it was dusk, uh, it was low light. He just made a bad mistake and I brought, I brought that dolphin all the way to the boat. You should have seen it. All of his family, I guess you would call it came in. The whole school came in and tried to save him. There was sort of came all the way to the boat and there was sort of jumping inside the line trying to unhook him and they couldn't do it and they were right there by the side of the boat.
Speaker 3:It's just amazing how they stick together and sort of protect each other. That's the only time I really saw just how they get and I loved seeing it. That's a true family right there. But I was able to get the hook right out of him real quick. But no, with whales. If it happens it's by mistake and it's it's on their tail or their peck or something like that wow, that's incredible chris, you have a question, yeah, keep go keep going when the show started and as it went along.
Speaker 4:Um, how did that affect? You know the gloucester area and you know all that. Did it bring a lot more people into the area? Um, have a positive impact, or maybe it could have been opposite. Maybe it was a negative impact to the community. What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3:well, I'm gonna say, by and large, for business, it was extremely good and it continues to be really good to this day. We have there's probably fans hanging right over right there right now, kind of waiting for me to be done, but a ton of tourists come into town and their sole mission is to look and see where the Andrea Gale was, perfect Storm and Wicatuna, and it has had a very positive impact on the area. We were able to kind of showcase Gloucester in all its glory. Gloucester is incredible America's oldest seaport and I will say the negative impact is that we've created a lot of fishermen. We've created a lot of bluefin tuna fishermen. They think they can come here and get rich.
Speaker 3:And I'm going to let you in on a little secret here that $18, $20 a pound that you see on TV, by the time it gets to us it's a lot less. There's a lot that comes out of that $18, $20 a pound. So by the time it gets to us it's more like $8, $10. You're talking about a broker fee, a box fee, an ice fee, a broker fee in Japan, a flight fee that we have to pay for the 11% commission that a broker here would take. We're not making a ton of money. But I guess that the show kind of glorifies it a little bit. But we're just trying to kind of entertain people with this. So the negative effect has been our fellow fishermen. A lot of times they say geez, you know, you guys are putting the spotlight on this, you're creating a lot of fishermen, you're bringing a lot of fishermen into the fleet. And it's actually only somewhat true the fact that bluefin tuna fishing has become so sustainable and that's because of all the restrictions and regulations. I've never seen more bluefin tuna in my 25 years of chasing these things. The stock is so healthy and pretty much anyone can go out there and hook up to one of these things. Whether they can land it or not is another story, but I mean we get blamed for a lot, but really it's because the fishing is so good.
Speaker 3:And social media is really the biggest part of putting the spotlight on the industry and teaching people how to go out there and fish. We're pretty vague on the show. It's sort of you see the lines go in the water. You see us hook up. You see us there and fish. We're pretty vague on the show. It's sort of you see the lines go in the water. You see us hook up, you see us catch a fish. There's so much more that goes into that, but social media has taken that and said A, b, c, d, e, f, g, this is how you catch a bluefin tuna. People have been able to do that go out there and apply it and actually catch fish. But they could have never done that unless we were as good as we are with protecting this species that we love.
Speaker 3:And we're at the point now where we can only fish three days a week. We can only harvest three days a week. Monday, wednesday and Thursday is the only time we can sell fish now, and it only one fish a day. So at the very best we can only harvest three fish a week. So I know I'm going way off subject, but there is, yeah, but there's. There's all these things that come into play. So, by and large, 70 of what we've done on film has really put a positive spotlight on the area and injected a whole lot of income to local businesses, which we're very proud of. The other 30% there's nothing much we can do about it. We'll always be blamed for something or other and I guess we just got to take the abuse you know from fellow fishermen Hmm.
Speaker 2:All of those.
Speaker 3:All of those guys would want to do what we're doing, though, whether they say they would or wouldn't, they all want to be on the show. I'll tell you that right now.
Speaker 2:Well, to your point. You know the amount of work that goes in behind the scenes. It's not just an over the night type of success and understanding of all this stuff. You look at any major outdoors person you knowy titus, melissa bachman, any of the meat eater people you know they're putting in the work in the back end to figure out, yeah, the. You know how these animals move um, how to harvest them, you know and and the countless hours of pursuing that you'll never see on tv. And's just, you can't just figure it out overnight.
Speaker 3:That's right and they can see all that they want on TV. But to take it out there and apply it, that's another thing altogether and one of the negative impacts. It's been incredibly positive for our charter businesses. Excuse me, but one of the negatives is people see it on TV and they think we're going to catch every day and to your point, the work that goes in, the hours that we don't get bites. They never really show that on TV. It's like catch fish, catch fish, catch fish. And when you take a trotter out there like, well, why haven't we got bit yet? It's like, oh, now you're going to explain that away. I'm an aquarium.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like oh man, now you're going to explain that away.
Speaker 3:I'm not in the aquarium. Yep yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, and to the other part that you're speaking about too, when you do bring in the fish and they do get weighed and there is a payout and you have all the fees. But also people also don't think about the amount of money that goes into your maintenance and everything that you do with your equipment. You know your fuel.
Speaker 3:You know, especially with fuel costs being higher, that stuff really contributes to the amount of overhead that it comes to what you're doing. I have a 46 foot boat and, um, I have to make every single year 51 000 before I make a dime. It costs me about 51 grand a year to run this boat. It's insane, absolutely insane. Yeah, and as we all know, that's not going down, that's only going up.
Speaker 2:So yeah right, no, it's. You think about that perspective wise, you know. I mean, obviously you do some charters and other stuff, but how many fish, you know, would that really be over time, you know, especially when you started taking off the fees? I mean, that adds up fast, you can't you can't.
Speaker 3:You can't do it just harvesting bluefin anymore. You have to do the charters, you have to do other fisheries. Yeah, yeah, you have to. And um, yeah, that's, that's one thing that we really didn't showcase on the show. Uh, too, too much and kind of wish they did. You know, uh, this is what they do as well. They run charters. We do this, we run fish markets, we run pizza joints, it's.
Speaker 3:We live in the Northeast. This here is probably the second most expensive state to live in in the country, probably Massachusetts, new York, california. I don't know what order they're in, but I mean the mean home price now around here is around $900,000. I don't know what order they're in, but I mean the mean home price now around here is around $900,000. It's insane. So we can't. We have to have so many side hustles now and it's. It's a shame, because all we want to do is go out there and catch, harvest, sell, you know, make our sole source of income on bluefin tuna, but we really can't anymore. But we're so happy to bring people out, so and and run charters for bluefin so that they can go out there and experience what we experienced, cause it's pretty damn cool.
Speaker 4:That is cool. Well, I know just the trip that you did with us on three boats, with you and Dave Marciano's two boats, regardless of the conditions. The guys coming off the boat when we were packing up and everything, guys were like that is the best experience they ever had in their life, regardless of the weather. They didn't even really pay attention to the fact it was raining. Yeah, it might be soaked, but it was just the best experience they had.
Speaker 3:That's very cool, I tell you. I love to hear that because you just never know. You're so focused on the task at hand. And then, it's funny, two or three days after the charter, a lot of times, that's when you start to get pictures and you start to get the thank yous from guests and this, that and the other thing, and this, that and the other thing, and we're so busy that we can't really fathom just how much of a great time they're having and we take it for granted. Maybe that's a good thing, because it makes us work as hard as any other day, because we're focused on them having a good time.
Speaker 4:Well, it was the next day and the next couple of days all we were getting because everyone's in a big group chat with all those people from the three boats was everyone showing them with the prepared food, you know, the fresh paddock and all of that and everything else. And, yeah, they were loving it. They absolutely loved it and we can't thank you enough for that.
Speaker 3:Oh, of course. Again, it's like I said before, and perhaps you know a lot of times I don't explain it as well, but honestly, what you guys do for us is a heck of a oh my God. Anyways, it's the very least we could do and we're so happy to do it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's cool. I get asked all the time what kind of things do you guys get to go do, or what do you put on for your members and whatnot. And we talk about all the various trips and outdoor stuff we have and I'm like, oh yeah, and I said, david gray up in new england, uh, recently did a trip with the wicked tuna guys and everyone's like what it's so funny? Their mouth just that's very cool, no, they're just.
Speaker 2:The amount of appreciation that we have for you and helping our members is off the charts and I'm excited for doing it in the future. Again, if we have that ability and I appreciate everything you've done for us and it does make a difference in people's lives, like we talked about new healthy habits and experiences and showing that people do care, I think that goes a very, very long way.
Speaker 3:Very cool, very cool guys.
Speaker 2:Well, we are coming up in an hour here, you know, and I just wanted to take a few minutes here to see if there's anything you want to talk about. Or, david, do you have any additional questions or things they'd like to say?
Speaker 4:No, I just, I just want to thank you again for the experience and everything. Um, it was, you know, for the for some of our trips has had a lot of people across the country that put in for the trips. Um, why, a lot of people don't realize I mean, I'm just up here in New Hampshire so I'm, you know, stone's throw away from you guys. We see this stuff and we do this stuff all the time. But to offer this to other people where it becomes a bucket list item you know, someone flying in from someplace just to get on the boat to go out there means the world to these individuals. And again, again, can't thank you guys enough for offering us and hopefully we can do something like this in the future and being able to have that connection.
Speaker 3:It goes both ways. This is also a once in a lifetime opportunity for myself and my mate to spend time with you guys is really it's it incredible for us too. Experience-wise, I don't know, I wouldn't change it for the world. It's great, it really is, and so anything we can do is still not enough and, yeah, anything you guys need.
Speaker 5:This one's scary 66% of Americans would struggle to pay for a $1,000 emergency. We don't keep any money in the savings accounts, right? The scary part about that is that 8 out of 10 of us watching this right now are going to experience a $5,000 whoopsie every 10 years. Something's going to happen. Kid's going to break a leg and there's going to be out-of-pocket max medical that year. Right, there's going to be a hell storm or a fire or some kind of a natural disaster that causes us to have to write a big old check for our deductible for the roof replacement or the car. Right, Something's going to happen. And I want you to think back to the last time you had a financial emergency.
Speaker 3:Was it the event that caused the stress, or was it trying to figure out how to pay for the event that caused the stress? There's one thing I wanted to touch on too. For any fans of the show that are out there Nat Geo I'll just say it. They did not pick up season 14. So Wicked Tuna did not film season 14. But we are on the phone with the agents every single day, and Wicked Tuna is still the highest rated show Nat Geo has ever had, and even season 13 was one of the highest ratings it's ever had in 13 seasons. So there are people lining up to get this show, and so right now it's well above my pay grade. But stay tuned. There's big things that I think are going to happen here, so your favorite captains will be back.
Speaker 2:Good, that's crazy. I mean that's a bummer, though at the same time, If you guys have ratings that great, that's kind of a weird move. But yeah, higher powers, bigger paychecks, bigger decision makers, I hear you.
Speaker 3:So what happened there is they're owned by Disney, nat Geo, the TV world and live TV especially is non-streaming networks. I don't fully understand what goes into it. I know they made plenty of money off the show. There was a lot of really good marketing that went on. So I'm still not sure to this day, no matter how many times people explain it, why they wouldn't pick it up if it was their highest rated show. And what it was explaining to me was a production company which is Pilgrim, sells it to Nat Geo.
Speaker 3:Nat Geo actually has to fork out the money to buy it and they no longer really want to do that. They want to do their own original programming, no matter how successful the show is. So now we have to pivot away from that, not knowing that that was the landscape now and the future of TV. And so we have to kind of pick up and say and our agents and streaming platforms and other networks have to say, okay, this is what we've got now, how do we move forward with this? Are you guys out of contract, which right now we are. And so right now there's a lot of stuff happening and we're hoping to be filming next season. I think we will.
Speaker 2:Good, no, it's pivot.
Speaker 3:That's all, that's it.
Speaker 2:Yes, no. Thank you very much for coming on the podcast today. If people want to reach out or learn more about yourself or your, your charters that you have, how would people do that want to?
Speaker 3:reach out or learn more about yourself or your, your charters that you have, how people do that. Yeah, thanks for asking. So it's uh, fat tuna charterscom. It's uh, as simple as that. And, um, yeah, uh, all all of what we offer is on there.
Speaker 3:We do early season ground fish trips, which is what we did, um, and so that's haddock and you know you can keep 15 per person and so if you have six people on the trip, that's 90 fish hopefully going home with you. Yeah, and the coolers. So we do that May 1st to June 15th and we have a lot of fun with that. I mean a lot of fun with the guys and girls that come out to do it and kids, and it's just so cool. And then from June 15th on, we pivot, which is a word we keep using here. We pivot over to bluefin tuna and we do bluefin from about June 15th until like right now. So right now we're going to be done. We do have a little bit of quota, like I said for December, but we stopped doing charters around this time of year because the northeast wind starts blowing and it's pretty messy and it's too volatile and too cold to bring clients out.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, Family time right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, so, yeah, so yeah, fattunacharterscom Groundfish, and then we go right into Bluefin Tuna so you can go right on there and book anytime you want with a small deposit, and that secures your spot.
Speaker 2:And you're on any major social media platform Facebook, instagram all that good stuff.
Speaker 3:Instagram I'm Captain Bob Cook and Facebook I'm just Bob Cook on there, and then there's Captain Bob Cook as well. I might be under Fat Tuna on Facebook, but Instagram's the one that I pay attention to most, and that's Captain Bob Cook on there.
Speaker 2:Well and people can reach out to you on there, or, do you prefer, through your website?
Speaker 3:Anytime, reach out on there, private message on Instagram, and I'll get back to you, probably within that day.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for coming on. Do you have any last things you want to share with the audience?
Speaker 3:No, just uh, I guess, our love and appreciation for what you guys do and what you've done for us. Um, thank you so much and uh, again, stay tuned, uh, for the show, because we'll be back, we'll be back and uh, we're coming up to holiday season here, so everybody just hug your loved ones and yeah, family is everything as we know and yeah, that's the most important thing. So, have fun through the holidays, guys, and best wishes to you all.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you very much. I appreciate you coming on. Mr David Gray, do you have any last words you'd like?
Speaker 4:to share. Nope, he summed it up right there. Thank you, paul.
Speaker 3:All right, no problem, thanks, guys. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, and for our listeners too. I just want to remind you all that you know, as an organization, we're here to help with your mental health, you know, through outdoor activities, creating new healthy habits, but there are times when some of us can't come back for some of that stuff. Just want to remind you all that our listeners here are to. Our listeners that are field staff are trained in applied suicide intervention skills training, which is also known as assist. It's a crisis intervention that we do as a tool to help get people off that ledge and get them some help.
Speaker 2:We are not mental health professionals, but we are here to help you and be a someone to lean on, and we are always here to listen. And you can reach out to us on our Facebook, our Instagram, our website. Our phone numbers are out there, so please reach out. If you are in immediate need, 911 is always an option, but also 988 is the crisis line. You can call or text that, but please do reach out. We are here, we want you here tomorrow and we are here to help. So, with that, listeners, thank you for being here and we're here to help. So, with that, listeners, thank you for being here and we will see you on the next Hometown Hero.
Speaker 1:Outdoors podcast. Thank you. The Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast is made possible by the following sponsors O'Neill Electric Contractors. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. Relentless Defender, apparel and Financial Cop Financial Advisors. Thank you for listening to the Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast. For more information, visit our website at hometownherooutdoorsorg.
