Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Job

Here is a quick explanation of what I do, and what happens during the day.

We are both onboard by about 5:00. I go forward and cast off the anchor lines.

Back on the deck, I quickly put on my bib pants and gloves. I grab a tray (plastic tub) of herring and the Captain and I dump it into a wooden box above the holding tank.

I begin to bag bait. I grab about six herring and stuff them into a mesh bag. Once I have eight bags full I thread two each onto the four bait irons.


When a trap is hauled up I grab the old bait bag and dump the old bait overboard. In the trap there is a small line, which is pushed through a hole in the end of the bait iron. This allows the bag to be slid onto the string and suspended in the trap.

While I am baiting the trap, the Captain sorts the lobsters. He throws the keepers into a wooden tray above the holding tank. When we are both finished, I drag the trap back and place it on the trap rack. The trap rack is made up of several boards between the holding tank and the stern. It allows the traps to slide off the stern when setting a string.

There are eight traps in a string, seven of which are placed onto the trap rack. The last trap in the string is left forward with the Captain. When he is ready, he shoves it over the side. The line pays out and the other traps are pulled one by one off the stern.

While the string is being set, I rebait my irons, band any lobsters that were caught, and keep bagging bait.

It continues until the Captain says: "That was the last one." (Usually between 12:00 and 2:00)

The bags and irons picture is from here.

2 comments:

  1. Great description, Will! It's not easy to describe a job or task, and you did so very well. Good piece of writing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. also cool picture

    ReplyDelete