Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board

Re: Can Do It Progress

Posted By: Capt Patrick McCrary
Date: Thursday, 17 February 2005, at 8:15 p.m.

In Response To: Can Do It Progress (Capt. Dave Kosh)

Dave,

Glad to hear that things are working out on your B31 project!

The marine industry is possibly one of the most labor intensive industries in existence. Your statement made me think of buying live baits during sailfish season down here.

Everybody bitches and complains about paying $60 - $70 a dozen for goggle eyes. The un-informed swear up and down that the bait fishermen are a bunch of crooks. Only the knowledgeable understand just what goes into catching and delivering those prime baits to the battle wagons as they leave the inlet just after the break of dawn.

Usually the weather at that time of year is snotty at best. The bait fishermen are all running open center console boats in the 24' - 30' class. Since the bait move around quite a bit, the nearest school can be anywhere from 3 to 30 nautical miles from the inlet. Now go slogging through 5' - 7' seas in that kind of boat for a round trip of up to 60 nm. Plus the fact that the temperature can be down right chilly and the guys are usually soaking wet within the first hour.

Oh, did I mention that GIs are ONLY nocturnal feeders? Yup, ya' gotta' be on the school by around 03:00 in order to have time to catch all you can before the sun hits the horizon and the bite is over. I mean serious lock jaw...

OK, so you're a bait fisherman and your work day begins at 02:00. You work in a bouncing, cold, wet, stinky, over loaded little boat, seeking a dwindling, ever moving, and highly elusive little Large Eye Scad. And you need at least 20 dozen of them just to grub into the profit margin.

When the sun starts to pink up the eastern sky, you pack it in and run at best speed, usually into the seas, to get back before the "Warrors" start leaving their docks. All of them have had the luxury of a full nite's rest, hot coffee, and maybe a few donuts.

Now, you spend the next three hours hanging around the inlet schlepping baits. After the late starters have pretty much diddled by, you head for your own dock, spend another hour or so fueling up, getting the boat back in shape for tomorrow's run, and dragging your dead ass to the house. Not over yet son!

Your dropper rigs are a mess, the reels are crusted with salt, and you spend another hour or two getting your gear into shape.

Ok, that's a total of around 10 to 11 hours and you climb into bed, maybe, by noon.

It's a lot like being a farmer with a short season. A lot of what these guys make in the 3 - 4 months of sailfish season has to be spread into several other months.

I've always told clients that bitch about the price of live baits this story and encouraged them to, rather than leave the dock at 07:00, let's leave tomorrow morning at 03:00, go catch our own baits, & then go sailfishing until 17:00. Wow, think of the money we'll save!!

Oh, wait a minute, you ain't gonna' save money... I can't do this for free, so your tab to me will be for a double day & I charge tripple for those kind of hours.

Yup, you guessed it, not a one of them ever took me up on a bait adventure and all of them seemed to have a new found respect for the bait guy, gladly forking over their pocket change for those precious wigglers...

Best regards,

Patrick

Messages In This Thread

Can Do It Progress
Capt. Dave Kosh -- Thursday, 17 February 2005, at 10:43 a.m.

Re: Can Do It Progress
Capt Patrick McCrary -- Thursday, 17 February 2005, at 8:15 p.m.

Re: Can Do It Progress
mike ohlstein -- Thursday, 17 February 2005, at 8:53 p.m.

Re: Can Do It Progress
Capt Patrick McCrary -- Thursday, 17 February 2005, at 9:13 p.m.

Re: Can Do It Progress
bruce -- Thursday, 17 February 2005, at 10:49 p.m.

Re: Can Do It Progress
randall -- Friday, 18 February 2005, at 9:02 a.m.

Re: Can Do It Progress
Capt. Dave Kosh -- Friday, 18 February 2005, at 9:52 a.m.

Re: Can Do It Progress
Walter Kaprielian -- Friday, 18 February 2005, at 10:02 a.m.