Page 32 - South Mississippi Living - April, 2016

PEOPLE hall of fame
Biloxi charter boat captains receive honor
f ever there were two fellows from the Mississippi Gulf Coast who deserved to be called old salts, it’s Jay Trochesset and Kenny Barhanovich. Both started as deckhands in 1960, and both dreamed of having their own boats and the coveted captain’s license that would turn them into charter boat captains.
Barhanovich fulfilled his dream first. He converted a wooden shrimp boat into a Chandelier style boat in 1973 and began taking charters to the Chandelier Islands and on day trips in the Mississippi Sound.
Trochesset wasn’t far behind him and bought his first boat in 1974. It was also a wooden boat and was called the Silver Dollar, a name he kept for his next three boats, ending today with his aluminum catamaran style boat that is the Silver Dollar III.
Being a captain carries with it a bit of a swagger, some might call these two gruff, but that really isn’t so. Both are straight forward and say with some confidence what they mean. It’s
a life rife with problem solving and Trochesset says, “It’s like Clint Eastwood said, you’ve got to adapt and overcome.” Barhanovich would agree in principle and accepts that the business is tough. He says filling a boat isn’t always easy, “I’ve got to take every trip that I can get.”
Both are native Biloxians, and, if you can’t guess it by the accents, both will let you know where they call home pretty quick. They are proud of their heritage.
So perhaps being lifelong charter boat captains might not seem such a big deal, but Trochesset and Barhanovich were recently inducted into the International Game Fish Association Hall
CHARTER BOAT CAPTAINS Kenny Barhanovich and Jay Trochesset.
32 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • April 2016
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Old Salts
story by Julian Brunt photos by James Edward Bates