who took over the family when Perry's father died. Phalo was a guide at Useppa at the fisherman's hotel. He took clients out in a one cylinder motorboat, and Perry remembers that some clients were movie stars and there were many wealthy people who came to catch the tarpon. Phalo introduced Perry to fishing, taught him about boats and helped him get parties to take out. Phalo also did commercial fishing when not guiding, because the tarpon are not around all year. The fishermen went after mullet when the tarpon weren't around. Phalo told a story about a big fish he caught. He was with some clients; they had a line out the stern and discovered they had something enormous on the line. They were having difficulty bringing in. They wanted to cut it loose, but Phalo wouldn't allow it. They finally got it in. It was a great big sawfish, probably about 13-feet-long with teeth along both sides of the bill, which was about a third of the length of the fish. They were around in great numbers at one time, but this one was probably one of the last to be caught. Alfonso Darna was born on Cayo Costa. He was always a commercial mullet fisherman and was one of the last to fish commercially on Boca Grande. He fished for bait during tarpon season. His son, Babe Darna, remembers fishing with his father after he got out of high school, until the time he entered the service in 1961. They fished for mullet, for pompano and Spanish mackerel, but it was primarily for mullet. Up to the time of his death a couple of years ago, Mr. Dama could be seen sitting in the sun outside his house on Tarpon Street, mending nets as he chatted with his friend and neighbor, Raymond Lowe Sr.. During an interview with the author, Arthur “Bo” Smith described how he got his boat the “Timbo” He first started guiding when he was 18 years old with a 24-foot Daniels, which he got after a day of fishing with a man by the name of Tom Bird. It had been a rough day in an open boat, and Mr. Bird wanted a drink of Early Times. He was crawling up there to get it, and, boy it was so rough! When they got to the dock, Mr. Bird asked him to come by his cottage, as he wanted to talk to him. Bo thought he was going to get fired or something. He was asked to stop by the Pink Elephant and get a bottle of E a r l y T i m e s bourbonand bring it to the cottage at The Gasparilla Inn & Club. When we got to Mr. Bird's room, Mr. Bird asked how much money it would cost to get a cabin boat Bo said he had not ever really thought of it. Mr. Bird wrote him a check for $5,000 and told him to go put it down on a cabin boat, as he was tired of that open boat. That's how he got that boat, which he bought for about $16,000. He helped him buy it. When Bo was guiding you could still catch whatever you wanted for fish for, be it grouper, trout, or whatever. Captain Billy Wheeler is remembered by Mark Futch, who served as his mate, as one of the finest guides that Boca Grande has ever produced, not only for his ability to catch fish, but because he was such a gentleman and understood what it was to entertain people. “Since that time, in 1975, the fish habits have changed considerably due to the traffic in the Pass,” Mark said. “There are just as many fish because of a real conservation effort. People aren't killing the tarpon anymore. They're also getting bigger. The tarpon tag legislation that was passed about ten years ago has really helped. Alfonso Darna Bo Smith
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