RJ Boyle in front of his charter boat Lisa B in Lighthouse Point. [Photo by Tim Wassberg]
Lighthouse Point – The balance of enlightenment resounds in the texture of life and reflection.
RJ Boyle, who has traversed many lives as an artist, fisherman, father, husband and businessman, understands this path. Whether it is teaching high-end technical fishing through his subscription platform, painting billfish on canvas, rigging tackle or captaining his charter boat Lisa B along with compatriot Mark Danley, it is about a rounded perception; that right stride.
The acrylic painting “Misty” by RJ Boyle capturing a jumping swordfish. [Photo courtesy of RJ Boyle]
“I just feel like I’m hitting it now because I have so much going on. It’s taken years to build this brand. And we’re a brand, and it’s not really just me now. We have the learning platform. We have the actual canvas-art. We’ve got the graphic-style artwork. We’ve got the tackle store. We’ve got the charter boat. So what’s happening now is you’re seeing all these different pieces starting to gel together. It’s really jiving.”
This reflects in RJ’s love and embracing of art. He started drawing when he was eight or nine years old. His mother was an artist, and even though his craft has evolved, he focuses on mostly nauticals.
“I’m not streamlined as an artist. I enjoy black and white pencil drawings, which was where I started. I love impressionistic paintings as well but I’m mostly marine-based stuff.”
His art began to truly coalesce when “I would sit in the salon of the boats that I worked on and do some drawings, a lot of times at tournaments when we traveled.”
RJ grew up fishing on the Helen S, based in Lighthouse Point, with his brother. He was a mate for a long time on the charter boats and his early years were filled with the fishing village culture of the local area.
RJ Boyle holding a barracuda with one of the kids from Mission Fishin’. [Photo courtesy of RJ Boyle]
The key was in finding balance between business and a sense of fun. “Here’s what it is for me.
God’s gifted me the ability to do a lot of different things, but with that comes difficulty. That balance you’re talking about is everything, because fishing is fun until you have to do it. Painting is fun until you have to paint somebody something.”
What’s allowed RJ that well-rounded focus is his ability to never get bored with what he’s doing.
“So tonight I’m going to paint a swordfish bill and tomorrow I’m going to fish in the morning. Tomorrow afternoon, I’m going to do a big canvas painting. And then the next morning I’m going to rig tackle. So the fact that I have the ability to change what I’m doing, all within the brand, gives me the ability to have fun with what I’m doing.”
One aspect that integrates with his personality is the act of sword fishing, a reflection, in a sense, of RJ’s existential journey.
“I get butterflies every time I still go fishing. I’ve been fishing for so long, but at the same time, I’m not callous to that fact. Walking to my car, on the way to the boat, I look out…if there’s no wind and it’s a beautiful day, or if it’s windy, I’m looking [and] — it’s all God-created. I calculate it all the time. Does being on the ocean make it more real that the existence of God is true? Absolutely, man.”
From a fishing perspective, “lifewise,” RJ relates that “my journey as a sword fisherman has revealed God working in my life because it’s been the vessel for me to grow as a brand.”
Catching a swordfish is a singular experience for sure. “If you get a bite on an eight or 10-hour trip and you get to see a sword, you get it. If you don’t, you’ll probably never do it again because it’s brutal. You’re going 15 miles offshore. You’re fishing in roughly 2,000 feet of water down near the bottom of the ocean. It requires a huge amount of patience which most people don’t have. Like any big game fishing, you’re riding around or you’re sitting waiting for a bite that may or may not happen, but the rewards are just tremendous.”
It also reflects in seeing that basic essence of life and perspective through his 501(c)(3): Mission Fishin’ where, once a month, “we dedicate a weekend to taking out children and families and siblings of special-needs children and families,” on fishing trips.
He relates a moment with one child that really defines this feeling.
“I watched a boy look at this fish – we caught a nice fish – he kept staring at the fish for an hour but he was hiding behind the console because he was afraid of it. When he finally got up enough energy, his mom walked over to the fish, he walked behind her, reached his hand around her and touched the skin of the fish and smelled his finger.”
“To us, we don’t even think about the smell of a fish. He wanted to feel the skin texture and see what it smelled like. Think about the basics of that! When you can bring that to somebody when maybe we’re callous to it, now you’re making a difference and you’re making a change in people’s lives. If there’s a legacy to be left, for anything that we do, that’s what I would like to [leave].”
For RJ, that is the goal. “I want to love my wife, I want to love my kids, and I want to be able to provide coolness to other people who haven’t had a chance to experience what I have.”
For more information, visit rjboylestudio.com, call 954-706-4409 or rjboylestudio@aol.com.
