IN LOVING MEMORY - CHUCK DARNER

from Coastal Angler Magazine | June 2023 | Northeast Florida Edition

NORTH CAROLINIAN SMASHES U.S. SURF CASTING RECORD

Reading can impact one’s life in an unexpected direction and so it was with my father. Charles R Darner was born in Zanesville, Ohio where he grew up reading Zane Grey novels. Not the Zane Grey dime store cowboy novels Zane Grey is so famous for but for his other works, Tales of Tahitian Waters and Tales of Swordfish and Tunas. These books sparked a passion in my father which would have him move from Zanesville, Ohio to Miami, Florida to live out his dreams of deep-sea fishing. He remained living his Miami dream until his career relocated to Jacksonville, FL in 1984.

One of his most frequent fishing memories was in the Summer of 1984 shortly after the move to Jacksonville. He loaded his 21 ft Angler and took his family out of Mayport to fish. A summer school of Spanish Mackerel were surrounding the north jetties and we fished them for a few hours by casting jigs. At this time, he thought there was nothing to fishing out of Mayport. This was the last fish we caught for nearly two years until he discovered the Jacksonville Offshore Sports Fishing Club. It was here where he learned to how to fish the waters off of NE Florida. King fishing was exceptionally different from the ballyhoo trolling he was accustomed to in south Florida.

1989 was his first entry into the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament, it was from here that he was hooked. Our first tournament, he took the 21 ft Mako center and fished both rainy days out of the St Maryís inlet. At the time, one could weigh-in three fish per day and fish for either the large fish or aggregate category. Of the 25 places prizes in each category, he finished 26th in aggregate. This led to him joining the SKA or Southern King Fish Tournament trail. He was a member for several years and qualified for SKA Nationals in Biloxi and at Ft. Pierce. During his time on the trail, Chuck and his crew earned a 5th place spot in the Kingbuster, placing 12th at the GJKT on 2 separate occasions and won the single engine division at the Fernandina tournament. However, his proudest win of all was the winning the 2016 Small Boat Division for the GJKT. Chuck retired at the age of 59 Ω. He planned his future adventures well and retired as well as anyone could ever want. He planned to travel around the country and globe. He did not spend his life sleeping and milling about rather, he gave of himself to the fishing community. He was elected in 2 separate occasions for President of the JOSFC for two-year terms as well as serving on their board of directors. Even after he finished with serving with the JOSFC, he began a part of the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament. He was working with several of his fishing peers whom he idealized for their accomplishments: Rodger Walker, Rick Ryles, Bob Gibson, Jim Suber, and Steve Thompson to name a few. While at the GJKT, Chuck found his niche with marketing and sales just has he did in his professional career. If you have a marine oriented business, you likely meet him as he sold advertisements for the GJKT program. In 2014, he became the GJKTís tournament chairman and a fixture on the board of directors until his passing. Chuck fished the tournament till his end. His last tournament was in 2022 where he fished the beach in hopes... as well all do. He competed in thirty-two Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournaments and loved each and every one of them.

He had other accomplishments which have gone unspoken as he did not seek public recognition. These were fishing stories to tell his friends. Over his lifetime, he rescued and saved eight individuals from a scary and uncertain fate at the hands of the sea. As fishing was such a large part of his life, so was his running. If he wasnít fishing, then he was running. He ran/ raced distances from the 5K t the marathon. He completed so many marathons during his time on the roads. He ran such races as the Orange Bowl, the Disney and Jacksonville marathons.

As a small child, eventually, you will be asked who is your hero? As a small child, I answered Bill Rogers as I wanted to be a renowned marathoner. However, as an adult one has a much keener perspective and years ago, I realized my hero is my father. There is no better man I could ever emulate than him.

Thank you, Dad and Tight Lines Forever, Your son