GoneFishinA
Chuck O'Bier (shown with son-in-law Chris Scanlan) says the charter fishing business has allowed him to raise his family while doing something he loves. Son David, who works with his father, has his captain's license and the O'Biers now run charters on two boats.
Chuck O’Bier has been in the charter fishing business since he was fifteen. Cutting an imposing figure on the dock beside his boat, the veteran charter captain explains how he got started in the business. Although born in Richmond, O’Bier moved to Horn’s Point in the Northern Neck when he was five. His father, a supervisor for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, relocated to Lewisetta, a village on the Potomac River, when Chuck was fifteen.
O’Bier says, “At that time, charter fishing was the reason people came to the Northern Neck. Only later did realtors jump on the idea of marketing the region as a mecca for retirees.
“I started out as a mate working for a waterman named Luke Jenkins. When I was twenty, Luke told me he would give me first refusal on buying his boat when he retired. I was just starting to prepare for that when Luke had a heart attack and died on deck. In four months, I had to scramble to get my captain’s license and put together financing.”
The early years were hectic. “I was out every day,” he says. “The good news is that this business has allowed me to raise my family while doing something I love. Still, going eighty to ninety days without a day off can burn you out.”
Living in the same house for more than four decades, O’Bier and his wife, Darlene, raised three children, daughters Ashley and Sonya, and son, David, who now works with his father. “David got his captain’s license ten years ago when he was twenty-one,” Chuck says. The O’Biers now run charters on two boats. The Sea Fox is licensed for thirty customers, the Sonya B for twenty-eight.
A decade ago, father and son began a new business venture together, C&D Marine Construction. “I thought David would appreciate the relatively good life he had as a charter captain when we got into the really tough business of building docks and putting in pilings. But he seems to really enjoy this new line of work.” The diversification has paid off in one sense. “We’re still working seven days a week, but not at the same job,” O’Bier says with a chuckle.
From his dock near the mouth of the Potomac, O’Bier is able to get clients into the Chesapeake Bay, where nearly three hundred species of fish provide a paradise for anglers. “In the spring you can find large stripers that can run anywhere from fifteen to fifty pounds,” he explains. These striped bass, or rockfish, are a prized catch for anglers all year round, although the limit of two is strictly enforced. “In the summer, red drum are plentiful—and getting more plentiful each year—and you can pull in cobia, trout, and Spanish mackerel. In fall you can also catch some nice bluefish, and the limit is ten.”
As one might expect, though, the fish don’t remain in the same spot all year, and it isn’t just the fish that migrate, either. O’Bier runs charters from Lewisetta from mid-April through November. In December he packs up and heads for Virginia Beach, where he rents a slip at the fishermen’s wharf in Rudee Inlet and takes charters out into the Atlantic.
Reminiscing a bit, he points out, “When I first started taking winter charters out of Virginia Beach, the place was a ghost town. Over the years, though, the place became as busy in winter as it was in the summer. Our industry was putting smiles on the faces of merchants and hotel owners. Unfortunately, business has dropped off some, lately.”
Although O’Bier continues to relocate his operation to Virginia Beach each winter, he says the fishing has not been good there in recent years. “We’re not allowed to take our charters out beyond three miles, so we have to hope that the fish will stay fairly close to shore,” he explains with a wry smile. A federal law prohibits fisherman from catching rockfish beyond this point.
O’Bier says the going rate for charters in the Northern Neck is $600 for the first six passengers, and an additional $60 for each additional one. Rates are higher for charters out of Virginia Beach. “Of course, today some captains are running sales to attract business. I can’t blame the younger guys. They have significant investments and they need to run charters frequently to make ends meet.”
Most of O’Bier’s advertising is by word of mouth. Satisfied customers send new anglers his way. He has a website now, www.chuckscharterfishing.net, and an e-mail account, chuckscharterfishing@yahoo.net. “Today people looking for charters often start on the Internet, so I felt I had to have a presence there,” he admits.
Some may be surprised to learn that it is not the rich and famous who make up the bulk of the charter fishing clientele. “Most of the people who fish with me are blue-collar folks, and a lot of them are tied to the construction business,” he says. “That’s probably why there’s been a drop-off in business in the past several years. But it looks like things are picking up again.” One clear sign of renewed interest is that ProBuild, a national building materials corporation, is bringing down three boatloads of anglers to fish with him.
People from around the world have been aboard O’Bier’s boats, but the bulk of his business comes from Richmond, Northern Virginia, Charlottesville, and the Shenandoah Valley. Over the years, he has escorted his share of celebrities from the business and entertainment world. The late R&B and rock star Wilson Pickett was a repeat customer.
“The best part of this business is that you get to meet a lot of great people, and many of them become friends,” he says. O’Bier has done six shows with Roland Martin, host of Fishing with Roland Martin, a television show on NBCSN. Recently, he completed a segment for a show with Scott Layseth, the “sporting chef,” whose show airs regularly on the Sportsman Channel. “I love doing these pieces because it’s a great way to promote this region,” he explains.
Although Chuck has cut back on charters somewhat—for the past four years he’s taken weekends off—he has no plans of retiring. “I plan to hang on for as long as I can,” he insists. “After all, I enjoy what I’m doing, and there’s nothing else I’d rather do. I know I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
What continues to draw men and women, young and old, to charter cruises such as those run by O’Bier? Perhaps, deep down, they realize the truth in an observation made nearly a century ago by writer and former governor-general of Canada John Buchan: “The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.”
Chuck O’Bier, Chuck’s Charters, 804-529-6450
108 Island Lane, Lottsburg, Virginia 22511, chuckscharterfishing.net
This article appeared in the Summer 2015 issue of The Local Scoop Magazine, pgs. 11-15.
