Mike Howe says the “Fun Time” is the biggest, baddest fishing boat on Flathead Lake. And the 30-foot long, 10-foot wide, double-decker fishing boat returned to the water this month after an extensive restoration.
“It was a longtime staple on the lake and it’s back again,” said Howe, who owns A Able Fishing Charters and Tours in Bigfork. “It was unlike anything on the lake. When people saw it, you knew it was Shorty.”
“Shorty” was George “Shorty” Goggins, who started A Able Fishing Charters and Tours in 1987, then known as A-1 Charters. The name “A-1” stems from a time when it was important to be the first listing in the phone book. Goggins took thousands of anglers out on the water and, starting in 1998, ran charters with the “Fun Time.” The boat was custom built in Washington and can comfortably seat 16 to 18 people for a fishing trip. Fishing guide Pat Campanella said it’s unique because of its size, upper deck and bow thruster, which helps push the vessel away from docks. He said Goggins was incredibly proud of his vessel.
Goggins ran the charter business until 2008, when he sold it to Pat and Toby Campanella, longtime customers and friends. Goggins finally retired in 2009, after more than two decades as a fishing guide on Flathead Lake. In early 2011, Mike and Cindy Howe purchased the company.
Howe said when he bought the company, he already had two boats and the “Fun Time,” still owned by Campanella, needed work and was rarely used.
“It had gotten caught in a storm and some damage had been done,” Howe said. “The boat has quite a few (operation) hours on the lake … It was out for 12 years, so it needed a good sprucing up.”
In 2012, Campanella, who also works as one of Howe’s guides, started working on the boat again. Water damage was fixed, the electronics were updated and it was repainted. The boat was fully restored this summer.
“It was time to restore the boat’s presence on the lake,” he said. “When we parked it at the dock at our house, my wife and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes.”
Campanella and Howe said it’s an exciting return because many people in the Bigfork and Lakeside area have fond memories of riding and fishing off the boat.
“Thousands of lake trout have been caught off her,” Howe said. “It was a fixture (on Flathead) and it will be again.”
A Able Fishing Charters and Tours is once again offering trips with the “Fun Time.” For more information about the boat and guided fishing trips on Flathead Lake, visit www.aablefishing.com.