Interview with Capt. Rick Trussell - Vulcan Charters
Y&SFG – HI CAPT. RICK. THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER A FEW QUESTIONS. LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING. WHERE DID YOU START OUT FISHING? Capt. Rick – I was under 14 years old when I got my first boat. I fished up in Maryland in the Susquehanna River, the Conowingo Dam, and where the Susquehanna River dumps into the Bay. I caught hybrid bass, walleye, and muskie. Years later I got a 25’ Mako with twin Johnsons. We had to go 72 miles off Ocean City to get to where the wahoo and tuna are. We caught only a few Blue Marlin but lots of White Marlin and Sharks. I’m 71 years old now.
Y&SFG – HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME A CHARTER FISHING CAPTAIN? Capt. Rick – So I am one of the owners of Phoenix East Aviation Flight School in Daytona Beach, and we had lots of extremely wealthy kids who came over from Greece, Norway, we even had a Saudi Prince. I had a 21’ center console Wellcraft and I’d take them out fishing on weekends. They would send photos to their families back home, and the next thing I knew their uncles and relatives would be heading over. I had a Greek millionaire give me a $1000 tip once. So I decided to have a bigger boat. In ’04 I got my USCG six pack charter license and in “06 I incorporated as Vulcan Charters. I went from a hobby to a legal business. Named after Vulcan, the Roman God of Fire. Lucky for me I was befriended by the oldest living captain, John Ellis of the Rainbow III. This year I caught the #1 bull dolphin and a lot of it is due to my experience. We made a good run of it!
Y&SFG – WHAT IS THE BIGGEST FISH YOU’VE CAUGHT? Capt. Rick – It was a 275 lb. Blue Marlin in the U.S. Virgin Islands off St. John off the Puerto Rico Trench. I didn’t catch any Marlin in Costa Rica. Only big pacific sailfish, but I did catch a few smaller blue marlin off of Ocean city. The sharks we caught up there were 90 % Mako sharks. (continued on page 33)
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