said his grandfather loved it down there
because he liked to be isolated.
The guide would come to check on him every
day. They named it Comer Key, after Mr. Comer.
I mean, there’s nothing there but a piece of rock
with a few buttonwood trees on it and cactus all
over the damn thing, but he loved it. And that’s
how I got to Boca Grande in 1969.”
The fi rst person Tater met in Boca Grande was
Sam Whidden, who was standing on the dock
when they pulled in.
“I met Capt. Sam, then I met Tommy
Parkinson,” Tater said. “Then a little bit later, I
went over and met Babe Darna. Those are the
fi rst three people I met in Boca Grande back in
‘69. Babe and I have been lifelong friends ever
since.”
Tater traveled all over, but always came back
to roost in Boca Grande.
“For a few years we spent the whole winter
in Boca Grande,” he said. “Back then there
was very little do around here, but we could
go fi shing. There was also the Pink Elephant,
the Temptation, and the Laff-a-Lot (now
South Beach Bar & Grille). When we went to
those places, usually the next day it had been
renamed “Not-so-Funny,” snickered Tater. “We
had 40 to 50 people there a day for about 12
days, and we had 10 or 12 guide boats. That’s
how I got to meet everybody. I enjoyed Boca
Grande. It was like my little hometown of St.
Andrews in Panama City.”
A fi rsthand witness of life and fi shing on the
Gulf of Mexico, Capt. Spinks is a treasure trove
of history and has a story for almost everything.
Ask him about fi shing for marlin and he’ll say,
“You know, we caught the fi rst white marlin ever
caught out in Panama City back in ‘65. A few
days later when Johnny Garrett was with them
they caught the fi rst blue marlin ever caught in
Panama City.”
If asked about hurricanes he has experienced
he says, “I think it was 1969 when Camille came
through there. I went to Biloxi and the damage
was unbelievable. There were so many shrimp
boats up in the middle of town. There were a
couple of ships down in Biloxi on the beach
and there were these big fuel tanks rolled up
through town. I got to ride around and look at
all that damage and I said, ‘Oh my God! I can’t
66 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • January/February • 2022
believe that a hurricane could do this much
damage.’ From then on, I had a different respect
for them. When I was growing up when we
heard about a hurricane coming, we’d all load
up and go up to the schoolhouse. It was a big,
old, red brick building. My mother and daddy
went to school there, my generation all went to
school there and then my kids went to school
there.”
Capt. Spinks enjoyed his career but is
especially passionate about tarpon fi shing.
“It’s one of the greatest types of fi shing that
I’ve ever done; it is unbelievable,” he said. “I’ve
caught all kinds of stuff – marlin, all kinds of
grouper, as well as big bites of fi sh … 40-50,000
pounds of snapper off one place, even. But
tarpon fi shing with live bait like it used to be
done in Boca Grande, and like they still do it,
you’ve got to get that bait just right to get that
bite. When you fi gure it out, it’s just something.”
According to Tater there are some trade
secrets to tarpon fi shing. He likes to call them
“just little secrets that you just didn’t think about
unless somebody showed you.” Some of Tater’s
tips include the fact that everything changes
from moment to moment.
Tater spent a lot of time in the Keys, where
he met the love of his life, Mary Killian, 40 years
ago. After a whirlwind courtship, they married.
Recently, Tater has started to relax and enjoy
life a bit more. He recently sold his boat, Añejo,
and has offi cially retired. It’s a slow transition
process, though, and he admits, “I don’t think
it’s really sunk in for me yet.”
When asked about future plans, Mary
stepped in and said, “As far as the future goes,
we’re going to make up for a little traveling that
we haven’t been able to do in the last couple of
years.”
The reason for travel delays is a serious one.
Tater has battled and beaten cancer four times.
In 2000, he was diagnosed with lung cancer,
then there was a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease in
2008. Mary said he spent 18 days in the hospital
and had a year of recovery.
Then came the discovery of bladder cancer.
Then they found a spot on his right lung.
He is a true survivor now, though, with a
clean bill of health. Tater and Mary couldn’t
be happier about that, as they have seven