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but gill netters are NUTZ! While lounging on the OBX beach I spied a cool boat - a DORY! I trot down the beach to check it out. Tis a gill net crew, and their net is flaked out in the stern of the dory which is mounted stern towards truck on a short trailer that ends midships. The 20+ foot dory is made from juniper wood = light, and the 35 HP outboard is mounted in a well near the bow.
What fun watching them back the boat into the raging surf! Helmsman ropes the outboard and zooomm ... dory rolls through the surf with the line and then the net peeling out over the stern. A pause about 200 yards offshore while the dory crew sets the net anchor, then the dory goes north and makes a sweeping path toward the beach.
Okay, thinks me, only one way to get the boat back, and I wuz right. With the crew hunkered down and hanging on, the helmsman beachs the boat! Truck pulls up, crew hooks a bow line to the truck, and the truck backs up to drag the boat well up on the beach.
One crew dude has his leg in a fiberglass cast. Seems last week the dory got a bit squirrely coming ashore and broached, tossing him out on the beach. Ouch.
All week I watched them launch and retrieve the net, way cool, but not exactly high on the safe job list. Crew members kept going away, probably to an easy on the bod job like Wal-Mart greeter.
They'd collect the net around 5 AM, and every morning me'n my grandaughter would be on the scene. Imagine a teenager getting up at that predawn hour. She has good night eyes and would fetch the stray fish that fell out of the net in the wash, and the Old Salt of the crew showed her every different fish. Quite an educational moment. Of course I got involved in helpng the short-handed crew and sure `nuff - a net retrieval mishap swept me off my feet and the net ground a big chunk of skin off my shin. Ouch.
Next evening the dory guy, working with a green crew, decides to shove the dory into the surf. No prob, we pushed that sucker into the ocean, then the two crew members roll over the chines to board the boat. Darling Grandaughter, who was helping push, figures that looks like fun and JUMPS OVER THE STERN INTO THE BOAT!
There she is - grinning and sitting on top of the net which is about one minute from being jerked outta the boat. I yell OUT OF THE BOAT! Still grinning, she bails out and swims ashore. "That was fun, Grandpa," she babbles. Yeah, right, fun - give me a frigging heart attack one time.
Bottom line - gill netting is a hard way to make a living. Even on a calm day the ocean can be one mean motha.
What fun watching them back the boat into the raging surf! Helmsman ropes the outboard and zooomm ... dory rolls through the surf with the line and then the net peeling out over the stern. A pause about 200 yards offshore while the dory crew sets the net anchor, then the dory goes north and makes a sweeping path toward the beach.
Okay, thinks me, only one way to get the boat back, and I wuz right. With the crew hunkered down and hanging on, the helmsman beachs the boat! Truck pulls up, crew hooks a bow line to the truck, and the truck backs up to drag the boat well up on the beach.
One crew dude has his leg in a fiberglass cast. Seems last week the dory got a bit squirrely coming ashore and broached, tossing him out on the beach. Ouch.
All week I watched them launch and retrieve the net, way cool, but not exactly high on the safe job list. Crew members kept going away, probably to an easy on the bod job like Wal-Mart greeter.
They'd collect the net around 5 AM, and every morning me'n my grandaughter would be on the scene. Imagine a teenager getting up at that predawn hour. She has good night eyes and would fetch the stray fish that fell out of the net in the wash, and the Old Salt of the crew showed her every different fish. Quite an educational moment. Of course I got involved in helpng the short-handed crew and sure `nuff - a net retrieval mishap swept me off my feet and the net ground a big chunk of skin off my shin. Ouch.
Next evening the dory guy, working with a green crew, decides to shove the dory into the surf. No prob, we pushed that sucker into the ocean, then the two crew members roll over the chines to board the boat. Darling Grandaughter, who was helping push, figures that looks like fun and JUMPS OVER THE STERN INTO THE BOAT!
There she is - grinning and sitting on top of the net which is about one minute from being jerked outta the boat. I yell OUT OF THE BOAT! Still grinning, she bails out and swims ashore. "That was fun, Grandpa," she babbles. Yeah, right, fun - give me a frigging heart attack one time. Bottom line - gill netting is a hard way to make a living. Even on a calm day the ocean can be one mean motha.
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