i am glad this didn't end with the three saved jersey city fisherman beating the man wolfpack style.

Angler's favorite spot brings luck to sinking trio
Annadale captain plucks Jersey fishermen from the roof of their swamped vessel

Saturday, June 23, 2007
By MAURA YATES
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Annadale fishing boat Capt. Darrin LaMantia was looking for fluke last night in the waters near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, but his catch of the day turned into the biggest fluke of all when he plucked three desperate fishermen to safety from their sinking boat.

As LaMantia's 35-foot vessel, the "Kayla Rose," approached his fishing spot, he noticed "an orange flash" up ahead.

He thought the boat in the distance was broken down, he said, "but as I got closer, I realized there was no boat."

Instead, the men, swamped when their 18-foot boat was hit by a wave, were up to their knees in water, standing on the roof of "The Pija" and waving orange life vests to flag down help.

LaMantia threw the men a line and pulled the two vessels close enough together for them to climb aboard.

"We got rolled over by a couple of waves," said Mike Pellegrino, who was aboard the Pija with his brother, Mark, and friend Billy Marer. The Bayonne and Jersey City men were also fluke fishing when Thursday's severe thunderstorm churned up the surf.

"We were dead in the water," Pellegrino said.

As luck would have it, LaMantia was steering in the same direction -- toward his lucky fishing spot.

"He scooped us up," Pellegrino said. "We appreciate it."

"They were pretty scared," LaMantia said.

"I told them, that's what you get for fishing in my hole," joked LaMantia, who runs Kayla Rose Charters out of Mansion Marina in Great Kills.

Soon afterward, the Coast Guard, FDNY and NYPD responded to the Pija's emergency call, and the boat was towed to the Coast Guard station in Fort Wadsworth, where its malfunctioning dewatering pump was repaired.

The water the boat had taken on was drained, and after a quick tune-up and complete vessel check, the men were able to head back to the 16th Street boat launch in Bayonne where their adventure began.

And after the harrowing experience, they had an even happier ending.

On the way back, Pellegrino said, "the boat never ran better."

Maura Yates covers transportation issues for the Advance. She may be reached at myates@siadvance.com.