Captain Jaime Boyle stands at the helm of Boylermaker Charters like a man forged by the same restless Atlantic that shapes these Vineyard shores with thirty years of salt in his veins and an instinct for the water that borders on the uncanny.
It began in the early nineties, under the tutelage of Cooper Gilkes at Coop's Bait and Tackle in Edgartown, where a young Boyle learned to read the tides the way others read faces. By 1993 he'd earned his captain's license, turning what started as a way to bankroll competitive sailing into a life's calling. Since then, he's guided thousands—from hardened fly rodders chasing ghosts on the flats to wide-eyed families discovering the pull of a bent rod—through the island's labyrinth of rips, boulder fields, and gin-clear shallows, always finding fish where others see only empty water.
A master of fly and light tackle, Boyle has claimed more than a dozen first-place trophies in the Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, including three Fly Rod Grand Slams that still echo in the weigh-station lore. His own 16.38-pound false albacore from 1990 remains the fly rod record; in 2001 he put client Mike Henry on a 9.81-pound albie that locked in a Grand Leader title. Stripers, bluefish, bonito, false albacore—he knows their moods and migrations intimately, from the rocky ledges of the Elizabeth Islands to the luminous flats off Chappaquiddick.
Innovation runs deep in him. The Bonito Bunny, tied in the dim light of necessity, has become a global standard for fooling Atlantic bonito with its undulating rabbit-strip pulse. The Red Can Squid, a sly riff on Popovics' Hollow fly, created for durability and castability when fishing the squid run.
"Jaime Boyle is a fisherman's fisherman.
— The Late, Bob Popovics
From his Oak Bluffs base, Boyle runs two vessels tuned to the task: the 24-foot Silverhawk center console Boylermaker, a steadfast offshore companion built for the swell south of the island, and the 18-foot Chittum Mangrove skiff, a whisper-light carbon fiber phantom that glides over inches of water for sight-fishing the flats. Whether stalking trophy stripers in the half-light of dawn, tangling with bluefin beyond the horizon, or handing a rod to a child for their first bluefish run, his patience and quiet fire prove contagious.
Off the water, Boyle serves on the board of the American Saltwater Guides Association, advocating for the striped bass stocks and sustainable practices that safeguard the fishery he loves.
Anglers of every stripe are welcome aboard with Captain Jaime Boyle.
Today he runs Boylermaker Charters with the same obsessive attention to detail that defines his hand-tied flies.
Two patterns have become synonymous with Saltwater fishing in New England — each refined over decades on Martha's Vineyard.
Built for speed. Palmered cross-cut rabbit strip gives this fly the bouyancy and pulse that false albacore can't resist. Designed specifically for the rips and current edges of the Elizabeth Islands, where fish are moving fast and opportunities are brief.
A variation on Bob Popovics' Hollow Squid, refined over years on the Vineyard rips. The eyes are superglued directly to the hook shank — a small detail that changes how the fly moves and sits in the water column. A go-to for bass in the rips on the squid run.