Party Boat

Field& Stream editor in chief Colin Kearns talks about adventures on a Florida party boat. Some fishermen call them head boats but especially in the Northeast and also down south around Florida what a party boat or a head boat is... It's a big fishing boat where everyday anglers can pay a pretty modest fee to get on the boat. Some are around 20 to 50 bucks and these really big fishing boats can fit upwards of 50 anglers and essentially what you do is a captain takes you out and you go fishing for whatever, whether it's striped bass or blue fish or snapper or grouper down in the Gulf. And it's a great way to enjoy some saltwater fishing especially if you don't have a boat. But what's been known to happen on a party boat...they do live up to their names and they can be a pretty rowdy fishing location for some anglers who may be more interested in the party gang than the actual fishing. They've been known to be a decent amount of beer and alcohol drunk on these boats and things have gotten heated on some of these boats. Anglers fighting over fish or spots on the boat and so what we did with these stories, we just interviewed four party boat captains and asked them to tell us some of the wildest, craziest things that have ever happened on their boats. And they had some pretty funny stories. They also had some pretty endearing stories: young kids catching their first fish or even old anglers catching the fish of a lifetime. Remember on the fun side what goes on the boat stays on the boat but not in this article.