The full moon in October has come and gone, and with it, the spanish mackerel. One now and then, but the schools of stove pipes are headed south. When you clear the inlet in the morning, the big shrimp trawlers that have been there all summer are gone, replaced by a fleet of sink net boats from Harkers Island. You dodge the boats, and the orange net floats. The sunrise is different over the colder water. Your mate would put out a couple of fast lines as you ran offshore, to catch a couple of fresh albacores for strips that day. If you were headed east, it was down to the Cape and thru the slough, if you were headed out south or southwest, you would be watching your temp gauge looking for a temp break, and watching the scope to see if you marked some bait. The last month, everybody had sailed everyday, but it is starting to slow down and a few of the boats didnt have a trip today. After a while, you would see a color change, and there would be a temp change there as well, and you would slow down and put em out. Looking around the rocks, hoping to find a place of bait on one of the breaks. The boats all spread out, looking for a place of kings. Little George, Leroy and Terrell, you could just pick out a few boats down to the west. Booger and George Lee in the mix, Frank. The radio chatter of earlier in the year is almost gone, everybody is tired and grouchy from running nearly 6 weeks straight. But somebody circles and you see the silver flash of a king fish coming over the stern. Then another. Radio silence is broken, You see another boat of two begin to circle, on the stern of my boat a wire line goes off. The old pros begin to form their circles, 3 to 5 boats each, and it begins. Everybody catches a few kings before that circle plays out and the search begins again. If the fishing is good, the radio comes alive, and everybody is in a better mood. Today is one of those days, not much sea, not much wind, and the fish are doing their thing. As the day nears noon, the bite slows down, and again the fleet scatters and folks start, one by one, to head ashore. Backtracking the rocks and places they hit that morning, looking for just a few more bites before they blast off at 1 oclock. Then the parade begins, you see the handlines come up first, then the rest of them. The smoke leaves the old diesels as they clear themselves from a day of trolling. An easy run to the inlet, then dodging all the boats anchored in the channel spot fishing. Around the end of berth nine, the boats turn into the waterfront, one by one they come. As you pass the Sanitary, you see the guys from Daviss and Ottiss with the fishcarts, coming to see if the parties wanted their catch dressed and packed for the trip home. Several of the boat stopping at the Gulf dock to fuel, two boats on the dock, 2 or 3 waiting to top off for the next few days. Standing on the dock between Capt. Bills and the Gulf dock, is the tall figure of Reg Lewis, in his white shirt, with his grey hair hanging out around the edges of his white captains hat. His large camera hanging around his neck. Waiting to see if any of the parties wanted pictures of their catches. One by one the boats dock, the docks become silver as the piles of kings hit the dock, and the mate goes and turns out the boards on the fish racks and hangs up his catch for the day. The fish cleaners from both fish houses come by asking if they want them dressed. The Captains, standing in the cabin of their boat, settling up with the guy that put the party together, then getting his charter book out and trying to get him to book for the next year. Capt Reg is taking pictures, the mate and captain standing with their charter as he takes them. Then the thank yous and the handshakes and the charter walks down to whatever fishhouse was cleaning their fish. Then the boat crews get to work, cleaning up, getting bait and ice for the next day. Then to the Captains table at Capt Bills for coffee or ice tea. After that, back to the boat for one last check on things, then home to their families for dinner and a sleep that will come easy to get them ready for the next day. The end isnt quite here yet for the season, but it is winding down. 4 am is still coming for a few more weeks.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 14:03:41 +0000
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