Anthony Reyes began his life’s work fishing the waters around New York City as a kid, when his dad would take him to the Bronx River to round up small goldfish near the rocks, grabbing them by hand. He was bit in that same river by a snapping turtle, which almost took off a piece of his thumb.
He’s now the captain of the Marilyn Jean IV, one of a shrinking number of charter boats that set sail from the piers in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
A few times a day, he steers his 70-foot party fishing boat to open waters around New York and New Jersey, escorting fishers eager to catch striped bass, porgies or croakers swimming somewhere below…