A week ago, the Chesapeake lost one of its best friends and finest charter-fishing skippers. For an amazing 62 seasons, beginning in 1960, Capt. Edwin M. Darwin “carried fishing parties” out of his boatyard on Mill Creek, near Annapolis.
Over his long career, Darwin taught thousands of people to fish and to love the Chesapeake aboard his 39-foot charter boat, Becky-D, which he named for his beloved wife and launched at the beginning of the 1968 fishing season. He retired only three years ago, at the age of 90.
As he demonstrated in his 31-year career with the Baltimore City Schools, Ed Darwin was a skillful teacher. He carried his skills to Becky-D’s helm and cockpit with an ability to relate to all sorts and ages of people, helping his clients develop new skills with techniques that encourage maximum participation. He carefully learned all he could about the features of Chesapeake within an hour’s run of his dock, blending study of charts and even engineering drawings of the Bay Bridge’s pilings with careful on-the-water observation.
As his knowledge grew to encyclopedic proportions, he remained generous without bragging or giving away his most hard-won fishing secrets. His reputation grew as a skillful skipper, and he soon gained the respect of his fellow captains.
During the 1970s and ‘80s, Darwin took on a leadership role as an Area Director in the Maryland Charterboat Association and an officer of the Upper Bay Charterboat Association. He also served on several striped bass management advisory committees at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources during those difficult times. He was never afraid to voice his opinion as a strong advocate for both the charter fishing industry and sustainable fishery management.
Because of his knowledge and skills, he was able to catch rockfish even when they were scarce, so during Maryland’s striped bass moratorium in the late ‘80s, he developed fish-respectful release tools and techniques. He even filmed a video with fishing expert Lefty Kreh and some of his regular clients during the moratorium, entitled Keeping Score, to demonstrate those release techniques in action to other Chesapeake Bay anglers.
During that time, he and his clients also explored other species, taking delight especially in panfish but also in unusual visitors like black sea bass that Ed found by meticulous search of his home waters. Once the rockfish stock rebounded and the seasons reopened, he was always careful to abide by existing limits, while continuing to target other species as well.
In 1992, he worked with fisheries scientists at MD DNR studying mature, spring-run female rockfish and using his careful release techniques. The day after one of those trips, he and one of his regular parties hooked, landed, and happily released a massive, pregnant 56.5” striper later estimated to weigh 80 pounds.
Ed Darwin’s use of boats and tackle reflect ingenuity mixed with energy, thrift, and smart investment. He built his rods, Becky D’s stainless steel tackle center/icebox, and many of his lures, especially his signature Schoolteacher bucktails and feather jigs. He learned to tie his landing nets (“I went to the library and took out a book”) and rebuilt Becky D’s engine one winter (“I bought a shop manual”).
He repaired his reels and learned to fine-tune his electronics, accumulating spare parts from other skippers’ scrap piles to keep the units he favored running for years. He learned old-school techniques like “taking marks” (lining up visual ranges) on specific spots and bouncing trolling sinkers to get a feel for bottom composition, integrating what he and his clients learned through those practices with what his modern sonar and GPS electronics told him.
Always, though, Capt. Ed Darwin’s emphasis aboard Becky D was on fun: fishing, food, and jokes with client friends. Always, he gave his clients memorable Chesapeake Bay experiences and good value for their money. Ed Darwin exemplified the best of Maryland charter boat fishing.
Becky D continues to fish under the skillful hand of Capt. Jim Stickney, who served for years as Ed’s mate. Visit Becky-D Fishing Charters and book a trip to carry on the traditions Ed established. At Ed’s request, contributions in his memory should go to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for efforts to restore the health of Bay ecosystem.
Editor’s note: Author John Page Williams and photographer Jay Fleming will donate their earnings from this tribute to Capt. Ed Darwin to CBF, with gratitude for all they learned from Capt. Ed over many years.
Click here for another appreciative remembrance by Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodericks.
