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| The Captain: |
Captain Rico with a nice Red. |
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| Captain Ron "Rico" Rincones acquired his love for fishing as a youngster growing up on the docks of Miami, Florida. Day after day, he would make his way down to the docks to watch the boats unload their impressive catches. It wasn't long before he was noticed by one of the local captains, the late Eddy Elrod, who took Ron under his wing and taught him all of his secrets. Standard gear for bottom fishing in those days was a wire handline wrapped around a wooden spool that was lowered down with chunks of squid and fish for bait. The boats would make their way out to the nearby reefs which were located by aligning certain landmarks on the shore. With very little pressure from recreational boats and without the sophisticated electronics available today, fish populations thrived and enormous catches were the norm. Ron enjoyed many years of incredible fishing in the Miami area until shortly after his graduation from high school, when he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and left the Miami area for good. |
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| During his stint with the Air Force, Ron traveled extensively throughout the world gaining experience chasing after many different species of fish. One of his longer assignments placed him in the Azores. Due to the islands' remote location and close proximity to very deep water, the boats in the area had very short runs to engage in some of the most pristine fishing available. Yellowfin Tuna, Marlin and Wahoo were the prime targets. There was also an incredible fishery for giant Wreckfish and Ron spent many days plumbing depths as great as 3000 feet chasing after these deep water bottom dwellers. With wire lines mounted on giant spools, the boats would lower as many as 6 circle hooks per line with up to 10 lbs of weight attached to hold bottom in the tremendous depths. It wasn't uncommon to raise a giant Wreckfish, many scaling in excess of 100 lbs, on each hook. The big trick was keeping these fish away from the local Shark population. As the fish were raised and the water pressure decreased, the gases in their air bladders would expand causing them to race to the top like corks. Often, the fish would pop up several hundred feet from the boat and the race was on to collect the catch before the Sharks got an easy meal |
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| Towards the end of his tour in the Air Force, Ron was assigned to Patrick Air Force Base in Cocoa Beach, Florida where he remained until his retirement. In 1968, Ron joined the Florida Sport Fishing Association as one of the founding members and quickly became the first angler in the organization to achieve the rank of Grand Master. Ron has adapted his world-wide knowledge to the local fishing scene, becoming one of the premier captains in the region. His articles have been published in Florida Sportsman, Saltwater Sportsman and Sport Fishing magazines and many local newspapers such as Florida Today and the Orlando Sentinel. Captain Ron has served as a guest panelist for the Saltwater Sportsman Seminar Series and is currently a board member for the South Atlantic Marine Fisheries marine reserves committee. |
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