Chesapeake Bay By Way Of Iceland

Chris Harte discovered his passion for boating early in life and has fished the world over. But he still can’t forget the taste of that first fresh caught, campfire-cooked trout.

What happens when you take a pinch of New Jersey, a dash of the Marshall Islands, a smidge of Iceland, and a heaping helping of Chesapeake Bay? Shake ’em all up and you might just end up with a nautical nomad like Chris Harte.

“I was born in New Jersey, but my first memories of life are walking along the quay of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, a tiny coral atoll 2 miles long and a half-mile wide,” he says. “The family was there because my dad worked on antimissile installations and there was a military base there, but I have no doubt that growing up on an island barely above water and surrounded by boats started my love for boating and the island life.”

It was after his family moved back to the States, however, that Harte became hooked on boating, especially fishing. “It’s rare to pinpoint a single event that changes your life, but I can tell you the day,” explains Harte, 56. During a family trip to Yellowstone National Park in the 1970s, Harte’s father rented a boat to fish for cutthroat trout on Yellowstone Lake. “He put a Mepps spinner on my line, and within minutes, bam, I caught one. Then another, followed by a third. I couldn’t believe how it felt. I was outperforming Dad, so he cleverly swapped rigs with me. But I caught two more and still outfished him,” Harte recalls. When his father suggested they cook their catch over a fire and eat them, the reluctant youngster finally gave in and tried some fresh campfire trout. “To this day I can taste that amazing flavor. Then it hit me. I can get on a boat, have a blast catching fish, and then have the best dinner in the world. That’s the day that sparked my lifelong pursuit of boating and fishing.”

Boats & Fish

That passion led to an impressive Harte fleet through the years. The family regularly kicked around on a small runabout and a 13-foot aluminum skiff during summer vacations at Assateague Island off Maryland’s Atlantic coast. The first boat Harte bought on his own was a 21-foot Bayliner Trophy. As his father grew older, he needed a larger boat that wasn’t so hard on dad’s back. A 27-foot Albemarle proved ideal, and for his father’s 75th birthday they took a weeklong fishing tour of Chesapeake Bay, casting in the waters off Reedville, Cape Charles, Crisfield, and other ports of the lower bay.

During that tour, they visited Smith Island, the lone inhabited island in Maryland that’s accessible only by water. “Ironically, it reminded me of Kwajalein,” Harte says, “being barely out of the water, surrounded by great fishing, and even having some old warships around it.” The visit to Smith Island would have a lasting impact. But not yet. Because at this point, Harte shrink-wrapped the Albie and moved to New Delhi, India, pursuing his career in the IT world.

“That didn’t stop my fishing,” he says. “I chartered fishing trips in India, the Maldives, Australia, and other South Asia locations. My two favorite locations are Goa, India, and the Maldives, where I caught my first dog tooth tuna. I fished Goa a few times and brought the fish to a local restaurant where they’d make Goa-style kingfish curry. It’s hard to describe their ­mastery of cooking a fish curry.”

Eventually moving back to the U.S. – now for the fourth time, after additional career stops in Lithuania and Denmark – Harte doubled down on fishing. “I upgraded the Albemarle to a 32-foot twin diesel version, bought a house with a dock on Smith Island so I could fish whenever possible, acquired a Pathfinder 2200 for shallow-water fishing, and also have Dad’s old 13-foot skiff on the Island so I’m never without a boat.”

Still, there weren’t enough hulls to scratch every angling itch. So, he decided to add one more to the fleet: a 44-foot Willis custom Carolina sportfisherman. “You’ve heard the often-told adage that a boater’s two best days are the day they buy a boat and the day they sell it. That was clearly coined by a nonboater,” he says. “Doing anything on a boat is wonderful, good or bad. When I’m not on a boat, I’m thinking about the last trip or planning the next one. Of course I’ve had my share of boat problems, all boats have problems. But when you love boats, you just pound through them because when they’re solved, you get to go boating.”

Iceland & Skin Grafts

Having a boat for every fishing occasion is great, but being able to work fishing into your professional life is even better. So when an entrepreneur friend invited Chris to come to Iceland and join a biotech startup involving cod, he jumped at the chance. His friend, Icelandic biotech engineer Fertram Sigurjonsson, started the medical manufacturing company Kerecis after inventing a way to process fish skin into a skin graft substitute for treating burns, chronic wounds, and soft tissue repair.

With its headquarters in an Icelandic fishing port, trawlers arrive daily at Kerecis with cod skins from the local fish factory. When processed through patented methods, the product is homologous to human skin. Applied to a burn or wound, the body accepts Kerecis fish skin as indigenous and uses it for rapid cell migration and tissue repair. “In the past, the fish skins were just thrown away after the fillets were shipped to market, so it’s a great waste-to-value story, too,” Harte adds.

Fortunately, through work, Harte also gets to gather some of that fish skin. Harte says when in Iceland he typically jigs 40 to 100 feet down on the underwater slopes of the fjords. “My favorite species to catch is Steinbítur, translated as “rock biter,” Atlantic wolf fish in English, or seawolf in German,” he says. “This prehistoric-looking monster with dangerous teeth is tough as nails but perhaps my favorite eating fish.”

Smith Island & More Boats

He’s fished the world from Iceland to Australia, but Harte says his favorite place to cast a line is Smith Island. That’s why he bought an historic waterman’s house there along with a Mako 19 Pro Skiff (then later the Pathfinder 2200 TRS) for fishing the shallows in pursuit of stripers, speckled sea trout, and redfish.

Harte ingratiated himself into the tight-knit Smith Island community and played a key role in establishing the Smith Island Fishing Tournament four years ago. “During our third tournament, we had 58 teams and handed out thousands of dollars to the winners while raising money for the Smith Island Fire Departments,” he says

Being involved in that community is part of what boating and fishing mean to Harte. “Born in 1969, I’m arguably the last generation to grow up in an analog world, then adapt to the modern digital world,” he says.

“Fishing and boating are a boundless analog world on the water. You’ll never master everything, but you’ll learn something new on every trip. Boating and fishing engage a different part of the brain as you try to tackle Mother Nature and every challenge she throws at you, including weather and figuring out where the heck the fish are. I encourage everyone to step away from devices and engage and experience the water.”