BlueWater Boats & Sportsfishing - June 01, 2018

Above left:Bart Miller in Bavaria, Germany in 1968.

Above right:Bart was always competitive, and always excelled

at whatever he did – as in his wrestling team in 1957.

MY LIFE

AS A

GAME

FISHING

ADDICT

• BY CAPT BART MILLER

AUTHOR:CAPT BART MILLER

PHOTOGRAPHY:COURTESY OF BART MILLER; JIM RIZZUTO

UntilhispassingonMarch6

this year, Capt Bart Miller’s life

wasdrivenbyanunrelenting

passion for excellence. Obsessed

bymarlin–especiallyhugemarlin

–Bartcarvedacareeratthetop

ofthegamefishingworld,firstas

a marlin charter captain in Hawaii,

laterasalure-makerbasedin

Florida. This article, written by

Bart himself, describes his lifelong

addiction to big game fishing.

M

y name is Captain Bart Miller. I am a fishing

addict and I always will be addicted to this

lifestyle. My addiction started while I was

quite young and so very innocent. Near

where I lived was a creek and wildlife abounded there,

including freshwater eels and small brook trout. I

would walk for miles alone in this nature wonderland,

observing the perfection of life’s creations: feathers, fur,

scales, wood, rocks, dirt and insects. These creatures

were more like toys, better than what I had at home.

My focus was more pronounced when it came to fish.

I even asked friends and neighbours how to catch

these swimming tempters. I was smitten, like a cat

engaging in play with a mouse. I could not acquire the

tools prescribed for catching fish, so I relied on primal

instinct to catch one of these stealthy beauties. I just

had to have one, I could see them looking back up at

me through the crystal-clear moving water. I found a

place where often I would see the trout swim ever so

close to the dry edge, so close that you could almost

reach out and touch one. I remained motionless and

silent; I even let a couple swim by me before I struck

out with my hand claw-like. I felt the slippery sides of

my scaly friend, then to my great surprise my trout

Bart in Kona, Hawaii

in the mid-1980s

with one of his early

hand-made trolling

lures.

“I was only

four years old

and already

fully addicted

for the rest of

my life.”

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