Mel is short for mellifluous...

http://owaa.org/ou/2010/04/memoir-captain-mel-berman/

By Jim Junttila, Michigan's Northernmost Outdoors Writer

Egrets, herons and ibis stealthily waded the shadowy shoreline shallows, pelicans perched on pilings, and cormorants skimmed the surface like fish-seeking missiles in the dawn's early light, all looking for breakfast, searching for their morning sushi fix. The water and air temperatures were tied at 62 degrees.

"What does it take to make an Amish woman happy?" Captain Mel asked as we sidled out of the Seminole Boat Ramp in downtown Clearwater. "Two Mennonite," he grinned. Mel was full of one-liners that could make you spit out your coffee laughing on the boat first thing in the morning.

My relationship with Mel Berman goes back about forty years, long enough to know that Mel is short for mellifluous. mellow and melliferous. He was more than a friend, he was a mentor, a conversationist and a conservationist. We were kindred spirits. Anybody who knew Captain Mel knew he had a sense of humor. His website has had a daily chuckle for years and still does.

We were working the same water as the avian predators who make a good living on the Intercoastal Waterway, especially the fish flats off Dunedin, Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands, and Hulk Hogan's seawall.

What I like best about fishing with Jim Plastic and Captain Mel is I'm the youngest guy on the boat by a long shot. At 63, it's nice to be called kid. When I first met Jim Plastic, I thought it was a nickname because all he pitched was plastic, as in no live bait allowed. Like Captain Mel, he knows how to twitch a tail and manipulate a Mirrolure.

The specks were snapping at sunrise. So were a few pompano, ladyfish and blues. Life is good when a full moon gives way to a mango dawn, both reflecting in the tranquil mirror surface of the Intercoastal.

"Bars and beds are two of my favorite places," Mel said, slipping an electric chicken Old Bayside split tail shadlyn onto his 1/4 oz jig just so. "Look for the intersection of grass flats, oyster beds and a sand bar," he coached, "It's the best place to find fish."

It turned out to be an understatement; We caught and released 40-some specks in 3 to 10-foot shallows by 11:30 and were off the water by noon. 50-fish mornings are natural and normal with these guys. This is skinny water, the kind of water Captain Mel loved enough to write a book about, which I highly recommend. "Skinny: A Guide to Shallow Saltwater Fishing," co-authored with Gary Poyssick. You can read a sample chapter free and order it at capmel.com.

We talked about favorite foods of Florida sportfish, how bay anchovies, glass minnows and shrimp are the dominant forage, how a Mirrodine (mirrolure.com) most accurately imitates a sardine, and why girl blue crabs have red pinchers. Sports, politics, radio, writing and sex crept into the conversation once in awhile; and how men of a certain age like fishing better than sex because it lasts longer.

Standing between Captain Mel and Jim Plastic when they're hooking up right and left on every cast and I'm not is a lesson for the learning, proof that I can sleep through the bite with the best of 'em.

Captain Mel is just a fish magnet and the specks couldn't resist his touch. He's a jiggin' fool with those Old Bayside shadlyns (lindyfishingtackle.com). Occasionally he'd miss one, barely lip-hooked for an easy Palm Beach release. He'd check the hook and change tails if there was even the slightest ding in it.

Captain Mel had the touch in deep water, too. "He had a remarkable ability to find grouper, and once he did they followed him wherever he went," said Tedd Webb, veteran 970 WFLA radio host who knew Mel way back when. "He could find grouper up the Hillsborough River," Tedd added, "and they're a saltwater fish."

"He's second to none, a broadcast pioneer and fisherman who loved what he was doing."

On the air, he was an audience magnet, but first this message from our sponsor, and an historical retrospective on Captain Mel.

Mel was born in Philadelphia, began his broadcast career in 1952, and did time in New York, Pittsburgh and Kansas City before settling in Tampa in 1969. He won a Freedoms Foundation George Washington Medal and was part of a broadcast team that won a Peabody Award for coverage of the United Nations. He interviewed John F. Kennedy before he was president, Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, former Ambassador to the United Nations; Jawaharial Nehru, Prime Minister of India, and other luminaries. Captain Mel had street cred and media traction. He was a senior active member of OWAA, Outdoor Writers Association of America.

A lot of water has been over the bridge since I met Mel. Back in the early 70s, I was a copywriter at Louis Benito Advertising and Taliaferro & Associates, hiring Mel as voice talent for radio spots and TV voice-overs, as well as other Tampa radio legends Jack Harris, Tedd Webb, Hamilton Beecher Martin, Scott Farrell and Salty Sol Fleishman.

I don't want to mention his employer's name, so I'll just use initials; WDAE. If you've ever wondered where radio and TV stations get their call letters from, this is one of my favorites. WDAE stood for "We Don't Always Eat" during the lean years.

The radio roller coaster enabled Mel to go fishing a lot and he became a charter captain, getting his Coast Guard license and running offshore charters for about ten years.

Tedd Webb worked with Captain Mel at WDAE in those days. "We'd go fishing all the time, out at the Middle Grounds in the Gulf and dig grouper. I called him the Master of the Middle Grounds."

Captain Mel started the original 970 WFLA fishing show in 1984 and did it for 25 years. It evolved into a town hall talk show format that gave fishermen and boaters a voice in fisheries conservation and environmental matters.

"I let the callers pretty much set the tone and topics of the show," Mel said. "Sometimes it was like herding cats, but it worked."

"I never did beat him in the ratings back then," said Jack Harris. another radio legend still on the air in Tampa after all these years. "All the girls loved his voice, he always had the lion's share of the female radio audience."

"While the closest I ever get to fishing is beer and grouper at Crabby Bill's," Harris added, "I loved to listen to Captain Mel's show, just for the joy of hearing his
handling of the two crafts he loved and mastered...fishing and radio."

" I met Mel in 1985 shortly after I moved to St. Pete," said Bill AuCoin." I was delighted to be a guest on his radio program and felt privileged to fish with him a couple of times, too. Mel was a terrific radio host who seemed to speak directly to each one of his listeners. I always imagined that every one them considered Mel their fishing buddy even if most never got the chance to actually fish with him in person."

Mel was mellifluous to the end. At 81, those golden pipes and velvet tonsils were still going strong, as immediately recognizable and a pleasure to listen to as ever.

He was a fishing and broadcast icon on Tampa Bay and beyond, reaching thousands of loyal listeners and fishermen through his radio show, website, newspaper columns, fishing shows, seminars, and on the water. You couldn't put the boat in or take it out anywhere on the Gulf Coast without somebody recognizing Captain Mel's voice in the dark.

Gary Poyssick, who fished with Captain Mel for 18 years, is part of Team CapMel.com, a group that carries on Mel's work on the website, Florida's No. 1 Online Fishing Magazine, including operationstillwaters.com, a volunteer organization of the Florida West Coast sportfishing community, dedicated to taking disabled military and law enforcement personnel fishing.

Michael "SnookMook" Wilson, forshorefishing.theledger.com, considered him a mentor "He supported me and was a valuable resource in my coverage of saltwater fishing," he said. "Being a guest and co-host on the Captain Mel Show was always a learning experience. I've met many good friends and fishing buddies from the CapMel Internet Fishing Forum."

Captain Mel passed away from complications of heart surgery on February 5, 2010. He leaves behind his wife of 61 years, Ginny, son, Ron, daughter Debbie Arkin, and three grandchildren, Melissa, Matthew and Emily.

"Mel was a deep thinker and active to the end," Ginny said. "He loved to fish, write and do his show and website. His ashes will be scattered at sea," she added, "We think that's appropriate."

On February 13, they threw a Captain Mel Memorial Celebration at Hooter's Channelside, Tampa. Others are planned, visit capmel.com for dates, times and venues. A memorial thread is posted at his forum and may be viewed at forums.capmel.com.

I hear fishing is big in Heaven and Captain Mellifluous already has the No. 1 outdoor radio show in the market.