Captain Jim Stasko has had his passion for the water from an early age. As a young child growing up in Alaska and Cape Cod his parents and grandparents would often take him to the docks to watch the fishing boats. The first fish he remembers catching was a sunfish off the coast of Cape Cod, MA. using kite string tied to a wrench and a nut for weight and a shiny hook without any bait, at that moment, as a way to keep a child occupied – which it did as he landed a sunfish. A short time later Jim moved to Pennsylvania. His father had a run-a-bout and they fished the rivers south of Pittsburgh. It was on these local rivers and lakes that he learned a lot about basic fishing techniques. In his teen years, he picked up his fathers fly rod and learned to flyfish. 30 years later he is still flyfishing as well as fishing the lakes and rivers of his youth and has moved into Lake Erie and its tributaries.
After high school, he landed a job on the inland river systems as a deckhand on the “barges”, as most call them, riverboats pushing product from the Gulf to St. Paul and to Pittsburgh. Having worked his way up in rank since he started working the river 1997, in 2007, he applied for a USGC license. Once he received the license he began operating these boats and became a Pilot and in time the Captain. Captain Jim operates a 710GRT (gross ton) vessel pushing 15 to 20 barges along the narrow rivers. The boat and tow combined is 1168 feet long and 110 feet wide. In 2018 he applied for a Masters OUPV 100GRT near coastal license. As per date, 11+ years operating a boat/vessel with a USCG license he has zero incidents on his record. During that time, he also owned his own personal pleasure and fishing boat. As of spring of 2019, Captain Jim has applied for the additional license and permits to get fisherman out on the water doing what he really loves to do… fishing. Thank you for visiting the site, we look forward to getting you on the water and into fish!
Captain Jim is a Pro Staff Member of the Following Companies:
https://www.yellowbirdproducts.com
