A family with a history of owning 24-foot
Morgans is the Joiners. The Contrary Mary was
originally a Key West crab boat and was brought
to the island by the late Capt. Donald Joiner for
his son Wayne to run as a tarpon boat. The boat
had a distinctive fly bridge that kept the captain
forward above the spray. After a couple of
seasons Wayne renamed the boat Lil Effie after
his daughter, Effie, who was named after her
Grandma Joiner. Wayne’s cousin, Capt. Willie
Mills, a former professional baseball player in the
Chicago White Sox organization, bought the
boat from Wayne, removed the original fly
bridge and re-fitted the interior. Once again the
name changed, this time to the Tracy Lynn, in his
wife’s honor.
Wayne now operates another 24-foot
Morgan that has become a familiar sight in Boca
Grande Pass, Hey, Moma!
“The name sort of came from Donald,” said
Isabelle Joiner, Wayne’s mom. “When Wayne
would take his daughters down to the Keys to
visit their grandfather, he would always take the
girls downtown for some ice cream. To entertain
them, whenever he saw a pretty girl walking
down the street, he’d shout out, ‘Hey, Moma!’ My
daughters would then squeal in delight and go
back and tattle on grandpa.”
Among other 24-foot Morgans are Had’em,
once operated by the late Capt. Buster Herzog,
infamous for his refusal to wear shoes except on
the most formal of occasions. It is no longer in
the Pass, but we hope she’s still running tarpon
somewhere in the state.
The Sally J, owned by Capt. Cappy Joiner and
named after his wife Sally, is still seen around
occasionally. Other Morgans include Capt. Waylon
Mills’ Blaze, (a boat and captain that just took first
place in the World’s Richest Tarpon Tournament),
Capt. Blake Cheske’s boat Outta Line (a boat and
captain that took second place in the 2018 World’s
Richest and was once owned by Capt. Jackie Bylaska
and called Spellbound), and Capt. Shane Sovan and his
Morgan, Haywire, are still out in the Pass as well.
Capt. Nat Italiano, known far and wide as the host
of the past end-of-season Tarpon Gone Bad parties,
as well as his finely-tuned ability to eat chicken and
talk on the radio while fighting a fish, operates a 31-
foot Morgan named Spook. The original Spook was a
36-foot wooden Chris Craft named after the oldtime
wooden fishing lure, the Zara Spook. Spook
begat Little Spook, a 24-foot Morgan operated by
Nat’s son Nelson (and for many years by Capt. Rocky
Russ). Now there is Spooked Again, another 24-foot
Morgan, owned by Capt. Steve Ahlers.
The late Peggy Denby and her long-time friend and
captain Timmy Smith were common sights in the Pass
on the 31-foot Morgan called Sundown. The original
was a 28-foot Enterprise named by Capt. Smith after
the Gordan Lightfoot 70’s song of the same name,
and it fished the Pass for two decades. In 1990 Capt.
Smith sold the original Sundown to islander Bob
Melvin. The name was kept and Capt. Sandy Melvin
operated the boat for several years before he