By Sheila Dassatt
There’s a lot more to lobstering than meets the eye! When we finish up the season in the fall, traditionally we start getting ready for the next season. A fishing village hunkers down for the long cold winter and starts working on traps, repairing what needs to be repaired and putting in the DMR tags for the new year. The DMR changes the color every year so there is no confusion about whether it is a new tag or an old one.
Most work shops have a form of heat in them. In our case, we have a cozy wood stove in the corner. Actually, we spend more time in the shop hunkered to the wood stove than we do in the house. That’s where all of the work gets done and visitation with fellow fishermen that stop by. Once in a while, one will stop by and bring us fresh baked pumpkin bread with chocolate chips in it. Now that’s a treat! It’s a lot more than just work, it’s a great camaraderie. I also have the coffee pot going most of the day.
In this world of shop work, a lot of the guys have CB radios hooked up and stay in touch with each other that way. It takes me back about twenty or thirty years to the ole CB days! (Mike and I drove trucks over the road during the CB heyday of Smokey and the Bandit). It was all a great time to be part of ! So with this being said, we start our day with a “good morning” check in. Through the course of the day, we’ll see what we’re having for lunch and then around 3:00, it’s time for the afternoon coffee. My parents always carried this tradition and now I know why and where it comes from.
Once the traps are basically ready, it’s time to sand the buoys and get them painted. Over the season, they get pretty messed up with growth and the paint wears off too. Now, every fisherman is pretty self sufficient with making things go a little better and easier. We have a neighbor, Frank Jones, (I don’t think he minds me telling this), that has created a pretty neat rig for sanding buoys! He uses it for his buoys first, then he brings it over to us to borrow. It is a neighborly thing that is a way of life around this island.
This rig that Frank created……he’s pretty resourceful with these gadgets, is a 55 gallon white barrel with a blower inside of it that went with a jump house! It has a length of drier vent hose attached to it for the sanding dust to go out through, so you’re not breathing sanding dust. It’s a lot better than wearing a dust mask all day. It sure has been a big help with getting the buoys ready, thanks to Frank! I do a lot of the painting on them, which I don’t mind as long as there’s a good station on the radio.
Now, it’s time to focus on getting the boat ready. If you’ve been scalloping for the winter season, it’s time to bring the boat up and do the maintenance. If you’ve been in storage at “the yard,” it’s time to maintain, paint and shine. This is a another form of camaraderie, which I really enjoy. After a long winter, such as I described, it’s time to see everyone again. We are neighbored next to other boats that are being spruced up once again and have the opportunity to share stories, help each other out and even give a little helpful advice, (if asked for). This is a time when we have tailgate lunches made up of pizza or hamburgers from the local store. We seem to all be taking our lunch at the same time and comparing which store has the best take out food. It can be a lot of fun. It may not sound like it to some, but this is the way of life that we’ve have been trying to maintain and keep the tradition going.
Actually, I have learned a lot about how the fishermen feel about the issues that we are facing these days. We have had some very factual conversations, some of the facts are old school and knowledge that I am glad to know. We have covered everything from boat design, boat racing and whether lifting rails help or not and where they should be placed on the hull. We have discussed where the actual decline (if there is any) is taking place or if it is just a seasonal thing for lobsters and bait fish. Did we over fish or not? Is there really global warming going on? Some of these subjects are really food for thought.
This year, our grandson, Kaden came along to help us get our boat ready. He and I did a lot of the spiff and shine, while Grampy worked on the engine and hydraulic maintenance. We renewed the boot top, filled in the hauling side and he really wanted to give her a good buffing. She was like new again when we were all finished! This is also a time when others would come over and tell us how good she looks and we would return the compliments. This is what the boat yard experience is all about, helping each other out and giving moral support in the end. Then it’s time to hit the water and hope and pray for a safe and profitable season. Another memorable season at the boat yard!
We have all pretty much hit the water, one boat at a time, and it is time to have the courage to keep going. We will continue to win this battle that we’ve all been facing, together.
