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Hi.
My name is Dan Huska. I was born on February 18, 1963 in Hyde Park, PA. I currently reside in Natrona Heights, PA. I am recently retired from a well known stainless steel producer, Allegheny Technologies Incorporated in Vandergrift, PA. I am a member of USWA local 1138. Now that I am retired from my day job, I will now be concentrating my efforts to being a full time charter captain on Lake Erie. I am a member of the EPACBA- Erie PA Charter Boat Association. I am Christian. I believe that God created us and also made this beautiful earth and everything on it for us, including the fish! At 57 years of age, I have learned that things are earned through hard work and dedication. And I believe that I have earned everything that I have accomplished in life, including my charter captains license. I am active in the outdoors. I enjoy hunting, fishing, camping, etc. This is my brief personal introduction. Now, let's talk FISHING!!!! I can't remember exactly when I picked up my first fishing rod or took my first boat ride, but I do remember my first fishing pole. The famous Zebco bait caster rod/reel combo got me started approximately 50 years ago, and literally got me "hooked" on fishing. My First real fishing trip in a boat was from when my parents, my brother and I would go on our family vacation to Ontario, Canada. That little 14 foot wooden tiller rental boat caught everything. Muskies, pickerel, northern pike, bass, blue gill, perch, etc. Little did I know then that a fisherman was born and I would be fish crazy ever since. |
Through my younger school age years, fishing was mainly a weekend or summer time hobby. I would go with Dad in his boat to some of the local lakes to wet a line or I would go with friends and camp along a mountain trout stream for a few days. It was all fun and good. I can say that I fooled many a fish. Trout couldn't resist that live minnow presentation. I always filled my creel. At the end of the day when it was time to clean fish, my fillet knife cut through those fish fillets like a hot knife through soft butter as they ended up in the frying pan.
Trout fishing became my number one hobby. That was what I looked forward to in the spring on my days off from the steel mill. Occasionally, I would get a chance to go on a Lake Erie charter in the summer. Those charter trips with Dad put ideas into my head and I knew that someday I would be living that dream of having my own big boat and fishing the Great Lake of Erie.
Trout fishing became my number one hobby. That was what I looked forward to in the spring on my days off from the steel mill. Occasionally, I would get a chance to go on a Lake Erie charter in the summer. Those charter trips with Dad put ideas into my head and I knew that someday I would be living that dream of having my own big boat and fishing the Great Lake of Erie.
The first boat that I could call mine, was an 18 foot 2008 Alumacraft Dominator powered by a Mercury 115 Optimax with a Mercury 20 hp kicker. That first year in my Alumacraft, in 2008, I started out fishing smaller lakes and rivers in order to get warmed up for the big lake. Then one day in June of 2008, I launched from Shades Beach with 2 buddies and a bucket of minnows and my maiden voyage on Lake Erie in search of jumbo perch was underway. We didn't catch many perch that day, but the experience was beyond anything that I could imagine and I knew that I needed to do that again. Well again I did! And again! And again! And again. That first year I learned how to go perching. I didn't have any walleye equipment that year, but I knew that I would be ready the next year.
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Well the next year came quick and I had already purchased the necessary equipment to start walleye fishing. Dipsy rods and dipsy divers with crawler harnesses and Renosky stick baits was all that I needed. It didn't take me long to figure out how to catch fish with this system and I started filling the boat up with big walleye. I couldn't get enough of this feeling. Every chance that I got, I was pulling the boat to the big lake. I would go with friends, my nephew, and my dad. My dad and I fished the most together and we were were having a blast. He told me that it was the best fishing that he has ever done in his life. Just check out this mid June Fathers Day Special catch of perch and walleye that we pulled off in 2010. (photo upper left)
On one of my first trips of 2009, I teamed up with my buddy Dave(upper right) in my boat and another friend Joe, who also had a boat, for a day of walleye fishing. Before we launched from Walnut Marina, Joe wanted to know my handle on the marine radio for communications. I didn't have one yet. So to make it simple, we decided on answering to "Double D" (Dan and Dave) for the day. Well that name stuck for the Alumacraft and it was just the beginning for bigger and better things yet to come. |
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In the middle of all of this new found fishing excitement of 2009, I was going through a rather painful divorce. It was during this difficult time that I made a decision that would, in time, make me who I am today. My divorce counselor helped me to get through the divorce and he had asked me what I had planned for my future. My answer to him was "I want to be a charter captain someday!". Well, "someday" is here and I recently completed the USCG approved course, I have obtained all of the necessary credentials, and my OUPV captains license was finally issued in June of 2015.
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In 2011, in the 4th year of fishing in my Alumacraft, I knew that I had to upgrade my fishing style in order to satisfy my growing fishing addiction. Numerous trips(in the 100's) to smaller lakes and rivers were adding up along with the approximately 50 trips on the big pond in Erie. My tackle box was growing in leaps and bounds. Every time that I would be in Erie, my mouth would water at the sight of all the bigger fiberglass fishing boats glistening with all the latest and greatest fishing equipment. It was time to upgrade. So now I was in the market for a bigger boat. As luck may have it, I found that perfect match for me the following spring(2012). More about that later.
In that 4th year, I also needed to get closer to Erie to make my boat trailoring a little easier. I found a camp in Erie that I liked and I purchased it. In the meantime, I had camp in Tionesta, PA which I needed to sell. I sold it. Everything started to play out perfectly. God was treating me good. Life was good, but it wasn't perfect. I was still missing something. Well, later in the year I found what I was missing when I met the love of my life, Dana. Erie has provided me with, not only my passion for fishing, but also that is where I met my soul mate. And fellows, she knows how to fish! Check out the 6 lb May brown trout, lower right. And at that time with Dana in my life, the boat name for the Alumacraft of"Double D" really made sense. Dan and Dana! |
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In the spring of 2012, I was ready to upgrade my boat and the search was on for a good deal on a nice used well taken care of fiberglass fishing boat. It didn't take me long to find one. As luck may have it, a charter friend of mine, who also lived only a few miles from my home, was selling his boat so he could upgrade his current fishing situation as well. We made a deal and that June I became the proud owner of a 1989 Sportcraft 250 Fisherman. Although the boat had a few years under its belt, it was a fishing machine and it was just what I wanted and needed. The boat was clean and well maintained. And since it belonged to an auto mechanic, I knew that I couldn't pass up this boat. Thank you Captain Joe Mellish of Gypsy Lyn Charters! Joe called his boat a hoover. And it still is. It sucks the fish right out of the lake!
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Now that I had a bigger boat, I had to fill it with equipment. For electronics, Lowrance and Sitex fishfinders and chartplotters, Standard Horizon marine radios, Sitex auto pilot, and Walker downriggers, etc. Daiwa rods with Okuma reels filled with all the different line types imaginable including monofilament, lead core, braided Dacron and all the super braids on the market. I needed to buy different lures to compliment the versatility of my new boat. Buying lures became a fetish, and it still is. I got Reef Runners, Reef Raiders,Thundersticks, Bagleys, Bandits, Renoskys, Bombers, Bay Rats, various spoons, etc. to go with what was already in my tackle box. And then I got a set of planer boards to spread out my lure presentation. Now my fishing machine was complete. There was one problem though. How do I use these things to catch fish? Well thanks to an experienced friend, he taught me the basics of planer board fishing. I caught on quickly and now the boards are my most effective fish catching tool.
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Now that I had my fully equipped Lake Erie fishing boat, I started fishing with it in June of 2012. Besides Dana, I had no trouble finding fishing buddies for any given day. Using all the equipment, which was new to me, was a team effort. It didn't take long before I was mastering the art of planer board fishing. The boards teamed up with dipsy divers made for a deadly combination that had the walleyes starting to roll over the back of the boat and into my ice filled cooler. An occasional fish off the down rigger was a bonus. Before long, limiting out was not a matter of "if I would catch my limit", but "when" that last fish to tag out was put on ice.
As the summer rolled on, I was steadily improving my technique and getting my personal system together as the walleye continued to fill the cooler. I was soon getting a reputation around the campground that I was not only catching walleye, but I was catching them in large numbers. I was doing something right and it showed with the results. Occasionally though, a perch trip was needed. And since I still had the Alumacraft waiting in the wings, I had a choice of boats to take. With all this fishing going on, I still had no name for the Sportcraft. It was time to get one. I wanted to have a name with a reference to Dana and I as well as fishing theme. So I took the "Double D" from the Alumacraft and followed that up with "Rod Father". Hence the birth of the "D.D. Rod Father". It's perfect. In the movie The Godfather, one of Don' Corleone's famous quotes is "I'm gonna make him an offer that he can't refuse". Well, that is what the D.D. Rod Father says in its own way--"Gonna give those fish an offer that they can't refuse". Well they don't refuse too often!
As the summer rolled on, I was steadily improving my technique and getting my personal system together as the walleye continued to fill the cooler. I was soon getting a reputation around the campground that I was not only catching walleye, but I was catching them in large numbers. I was doing something right and it showed with the results. Occasionally though, a perch trip was needed. And since I still had the Alumacraft waiting in the wings, I had a choice of boats to take. With all this fishing going on, I still had no name for the Sportcraft. It was time to get one. I wanted to have a name with a reference to Dana and I as well as fishing theme. So I took the "Double D" from the Alumacraft and followed that up with "Rod Father". Hence the birth of the "D.D. Rod Father". It's perfect. In the movie The Godfather, one of Don' Corleone's famous quotes is "I'm gonna make him an offer that he can't refuse". Well, that is what the D.D. Rod Father says in its own way--"Gonna give those fish an offer that they can't refuse". Well they don't refuse too often!
I've been fishing since my early childhood years. I started out as an innocent little boy with a Zebco rod and reel and I have evolved into a grown man with a big boat that glistens with all the latest and greatest equipment that money can buy. I'm now going into my 14th year of fishing Lake Erie. I've learned a lot and I know that I have a lot more to learn. I have been taught the tricks of the trade by some of the best fishermen that I know and I have taught myself through the fishing experience itself. Mistakes have been made and lessons have been learned. I am always willing to try some thing new. I have been a successful fisherman all of my life. There is an old saying that says that "10 percent of the fishermen catch 90 percent of the fish". I put myself in that category. Besides my lifelong success, in the last 14 years I have become a very successful Lake Erie fisherman. I've worked hard and I've fished hard and I have done what it takes to finally earn my captain's license. I may be a rookie in the eyes of some of the longer tenured charter captains, but I can compete with the best of them when it comes to putting fish in the boat. The proof is in the pudding. My passion for fishing and the challenge that Lake Erie has to offer is my driving force. I may not be perfect, but I am very productive. I am gonna close with a short video clip. This is just a taste of what "D.D. Rod Father" has to offer. Don't forget to check out my trophy gallery. Fish on!