WEBVTT - Ep. 905: The Life of a Crabber 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:12.760 If this is the me Eater podcast coming at you shirtless, 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:14.440 severely bug bitten. 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:19.640 And in my case, underwear. Listening toast, you can't predict anything. 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:23.200 Brought to you by First Light. When I'm hunting, I 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:27.640 need gear that won't quit. First light build, no compromise, 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:31.480 gear that keeps me in the field longer, no shortcuts, 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.840 just gear that works. Check it out at first light 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.680 dot com. That's f I R S T l I 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:43.160 t E dot com. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.839 You're joining us from the Walleye grounds of Lake of 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.120 the Woods, Ontario, but we're here to talk about the 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:54.440 life of a crabber in Chesapeak Bay back in America. 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:57.280 Uh Luke McFadden, thanks for coming on the show. 0:00:57.640 --> 0:00:58.440 Thanks for having me. 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:01.160 First question for you, though, before we get into crab 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.880 and we're here for the Fish Eater Classic Fishing Tournament. 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.080 You've been spending a couple of days in a boat 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.479 with dirt myth any takeaways. 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:14.759 I like him, man, he's cool. 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:16.600 Yeah, he's man. 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.320 He's like Not only is he like, you know, doing 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:22.520 all the filming and this and that and has somehow 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.960 been able to like Bob and weave every single hook 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.720 flying past his head, he's also like you know, he's 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:28.320 part of the team. 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:29.800 Man, he's keep morale up. 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.520 He's like he's doing it every situation. 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.440 Yeah, I find that every situation is better with dirt round. 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.160 I agree. So you're you're you approve of the cameraman, 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:39.280 I agree, I do. 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.880 So tell me, like I've followed you for a long time. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.000 We've talked before, and I know the kind of like 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:51.840 the basic outline is that that in Chesapeake Bay, like 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:53.960 in the in the blue crab world, that tends to 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:59.400 be a thing that. 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:58.280 That people kind of inherit. 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.320 Yeah, you know, people come up in it and their 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:03.160 kids come up in it. 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:03.680 Is that true? 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:05.480 Like it's a thing that's like there's a little bit 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.600 of a I don't know, man, like it gets handed 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:10.920 down generation to generation, that lifestyle. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:11.520 Yeah. 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.960 Yeah, you could call it like a hereditary disease in 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.160 a lot of ways. But yeah, it's, uh, it's generally 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:23.480 like a generational you know. So it's mostly like you know, 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:25.160 you do it because your dad did it, and he 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:26.800 did it because his dad did and he did it 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:27.880 because there was no other option. 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.000 You know what I meant, I got it, but you 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:30.880 didn't inherit it. 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.560 No, no walk me through that, like, because I mean, 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.360 because you're a professional crabber, yeah, and have been for 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:39.280 how many years? 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.440 I mean this is I started on my own boat 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:44.280 when I was eleven years old, or no, when I 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:48.560 was sorry, eighteen years old. I'm thirty. So it's my 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.480 I think this is my eleventh crab season. Got so 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:52.400 it's been a little while. 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:54.440 I think I've got my ten thousand and how many 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:55.079 of those seats? 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:59.840 Like not that there's a lot of similarity between crab 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.840 and writing, but in writing, like you write for years 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.519 with side jobs. Yeah, a lot of people do you 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:08.280 write for years with side jobs and all of a 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:08.840 sudden you're. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.640 Like, damn, yeah, I don't need the side job anymore, right, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.120 I mean, was it was? It was? It was it when. 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.280 You're crabbing, you're all in and that's just what you're doing. 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:18.880 Or did you have to kind of like did you 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:20.200 have to kind of trickle into it? 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.079 So, I mean definitely, like in the beginning, I mean 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.359 it was like just a disaster for a very long time. 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.519 Oh yeah, dude, it was it was like, you know, 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.280 a lot to learn quickly, steep learning curve, but you know, 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:35.920 I was like it was like I was basically working 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:37.640 in the winter time to be able to go crab 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:39.200 it again in the spring, you know what I mean. 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:43.000 And I was just hustling anyway. I possibly could, you know, 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:48.520 to continue to go in the beginning, you know, but 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:50.480 I was just kind of committed to it, you know, 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:52.120 I was like not going to let it fail. 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.120 So why did you Why did you want to get 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:55.920 into that anyway? What were you seeing that made you 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:56.520 want to do it? 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.680 I mean, I I started helping on a crab boat 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.160 and I was like twelve, Just guys started taking me along, 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.320 you know. I was just cutting fish and stuff like that, 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.600 and I don't know, I just liked it out there. 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.320 And when I was eighteen, I just decided I wanted to, 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:11.120 you know, do it. 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.320 And all when you were helping out, how would you 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:14.160 get compensated? 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.400 I mean I was getting paid, you know, not much, 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:19.640 you know, pretty much nothing. 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:21.560 You know. 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.120 When I was a little older, like sixteen seventeen, I 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:25.039 was making a little bit more. 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.320 But I mean I think the most I got I made. 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.200 Like when I was breaking off to go do my 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:32.839 own thing was like I think I was making like 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:34.880 eighty five bucks a day or something like that. Okay, 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:37.120 so you know, it wasn't much. It was cash, but 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.720 it wasn't much. Yeah. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.680 Like, so you were you surrounded by where you grew up? 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:45.120 Were you surrounded by crabbers? 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.760 No, there's not many krabbers around at all. 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.440 Like the area that I'm from, in particular, Pasadena is 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:57.479 like there's a few, but it's not it's not common whatsoever. 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:59.200 I think, like we did a headcount of the fleet. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.039 I think, like, guys are you know, out there making 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:05.120 their living doing it? I think there's like six or 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.280 eight of us left going out of the whole town. 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.440 Oh no, there's some more north of us. There's a 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.880 few south of us. There's a lot more on the 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.240 Eastern Shore. Like I'm on the western shore of Maryland. 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.320 On the eastern Shore, there's a lot more cravers. It's 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.440 you know, way more common. But there's a whole you know, 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.479 there's a lot less job opportunity over there. You know, 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.320 it's a lot less developed, and you know, there's a 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.600 lot more low country and whatever. So historically there's always 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.320 a lot more crabs on the Eastern shore. 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.080 Got it? But in your town, sixty eight guys go out, Yeah, 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.159 there's not many. Yeah, tell me like, how are you guys? 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.880 I mean, I've gone getting blue crabs little ways, like 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.920 I mean, I've gone from just walking around picking them up, 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:48.800 stringing the chicken necks and all that. 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:50.640 How are you guys doing it? 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:50.760 Like? 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.240 What does your day look like? How do you catch them? 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:54.840 So we're crab potting? 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:55.400 Okay. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.359 So there's basically like two ways to commercially catch crabs 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.760 around that, and it's one is a trot line. So 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:05.760 you got that long, you know, line with inline baits, 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.880 you know, and then you're running along with a dipper 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:09.440 or a net. 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.920 And I've done that with guys. 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.400 Yeah, I don't know, one. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.840 Hundred chicken necks on the string yea, yeah, I got it. 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:18.880 And there ain't nothing wrong with that, you know. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:20.760 That's a great way to go, And that's how everybody 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:22.920 starts usually because not a lot of overhead you can 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.359 do by yourself in the beginning. 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.719 Yeah, good? And how many? How many? How many baits 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:31.520 are beyond that line that you're running. 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.440 Usually like you're running like you know, some of the 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.040 bigger guys are running up to five thousand foot of line. 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.080 Sometimes they'll break it up into like thousand foot or 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.640 twelve hundred foot sections and then you know there's debate 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.080 on how far you want your bait space, and you 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:47.840 know there's some signs to it in terms of like 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.480 you know, guys will have different lines with different space 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.719 baits for different bottom, different times. 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:53.120 Of the year all that. 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.240 Yeah, and you're talking that deal where like just for 0:06:55.400 --> 0:07:02.160 people listening, like it's the big long line with every 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:03.240 what distance. 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.160 It's usually like I would say the average I think 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.600 ours are like seven foot seven or eight foot okay, 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.320 seven or eight feet, no hooks, yeah, just bait. 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:10.800 Yeah. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:14.000 So they either put in line like they'll either use 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.640 like that old school like twisted like hemp line almost 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.480 and they'll just push it together and then put the 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.160 bait in the line. Yeah, that's like the old school 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:24.880 way of doing it. Or now like a lot of 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:26.680 guys like to run snoods is what they call it. 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:28.680 So it's like a piece of bungee like probably six 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.520 inches with a piece of like gas line, you know, 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:33.600 you tie you tie it out in the end of 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.400 the bungee and then double it over and stick the 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.040 gas line over the loop. So it's like a you know, 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.000 like a you can sent it down with the baits 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:40.320 on it. 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.560 I got it. That's kind of like the newer way 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:42.800 to do it. 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:44.320 A lot of guys like to run clam bags and 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.040 all that stuff called called a snood. 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:48.680 That's what comes off Turkey's head. 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.440 Yeah yeah, I guess so right, And then. 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.680 You string that sucker out and they're not hooked, they're 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:54.800 just hanging onto the bait. 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:55.120 Yeah. 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.600 Crabs are kind of about a stubborn as the guys 0:07:57.600 --> 0:07:59.200 that go catch them, So they're just like, you know, 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.520 they're in it for the They'll hold onto that thing 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:02.240 all the way up. 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.440 Man, you can you raise the lineup and just nab 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.000 them off there as they drop free. 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:08.160 Yeah, you got like an arm that hangs off the 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.200 side of the boat, and then you pull up. There's 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.119 a booy on either end. You pick up the buoy 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:15.960 and put that on the arm, and then you drive 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:19.680 the boat down the line. And as you're driving down 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.960 the line isn't really moving, but you're picking the line up, 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:23.600 you know what I mean? 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:25.680 Are there dudes that do that by themselves? 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.800 I would say most guys that do that do it 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:30.200 that way, do it by themselves. 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:30.640 Driving the boat. 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.199 Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean I I did it by myself. 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.120 Most guys do because you ain't got to pay a helper, 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:40.200 you know. So like a lot of times we will 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.000 set the boats up kind of different, like I got 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.200 a little trout line and boat. You Yeah, we got 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.240 one that we built for like some of my helpers 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:49.480 and everything they've been wanting to go. 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:52.880 But like we even have it with it. The console 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:54.240 is just an eight by eight piece. 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:58.880 Of aluminum square two and you stand on the right 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.440 side of the boat in between I mean, you know, 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.040 the console on your left side, and then your rollers 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.560 on your right and the steer wheels actually on like 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.840 facing the starboard side, so that you can stand there 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.400 and just run it steer with your left hand and 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:14.920 then dip with your right hand, and then you got 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:16.280 the call box in front of you, you know what 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.280 I mean. So's you can run it as a one 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.360 man band pretty easy. But they're like you'll see some 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:23.640 goofy boats, but it's like there's always a reason they're 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:25.160 set up kind of weird, you know what I mean. 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.600 It looks strange you're facing forward, you know, steering like this, 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.040 but it allows you to do it by yourself. 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.120 But then but your the main deal is running crab traps. 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.080 Yeah, so I'm potting. I'm crab potting, which is kind 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.840 of some guys would argue, but it's I guess the 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:47.120 more industrial, like larger scale. So I got gang lines, 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.080 you know, we call them underwater lines, and it's twenty 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.719 five pots connected to each other with a booy called 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:55.800 a hawk on either end. So it's a like a 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:58.080 booye with a five foot piece of PVC pipe through 0:09:58.120 --> 0:09:59.840 it with a weight at the bottom and then a 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:02.640 f lag at the top, and then what's the term 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:03.600 we call it a hawk? 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:05.880 I have no idea. 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.960 I've always wondered, because like a long lining, like deep 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.320 sea long line, and they call it a bird, you know, 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:13.600 and we call them hawks. 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:15.120 I don't know why, you know. 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:19.360 But yeah, there's seventy five foot in between each crab pot. 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:23.319 Each pot's on snap gear, so you know, it's got 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:28.080 like a almost like a twenty four inch leader basically 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.880 with a like a metal clip, and then every seventy 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.760 five foot on the main line, there's like an overhand 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.560 loop tied in the main line, and so each clip 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.960 gets clipped onto the loop. So when we go to 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.200 pick up the crab pots, we actually picked the entire 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.960 row up stack them on the boat, and then you know, 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.680 like I'm putting the line on the winder and the 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:52.800 winers hauling it into a barrel. And the barrel I 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.400 have a piece of PVC pipe, you know, screwed to 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.840 the side of the barrel, and so as each pot 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.520 comes up, I break the snap off of the mainline 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:03.920 and then stack all the loops on the PVC pipe 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.760 in order, you know, and then all the line goes 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.800 in the barrel. And then each pot as it comes up, 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.199 I'll break it off the mainline. And then the shaker, 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.840 who's kind of like your right hand guy, he'll open 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:18.680 up the top door, flip the pot up, open the 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.120 bait door, shake the crabs out, put a new bait 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.960 in it, close the bait door, and then put it 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.599 into like a hot water tank that's like kind of 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:27.240 behind us. 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:28.480 And that's clean. 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:33.160 Strange deal there, man, Yeah, it's like ninety crab in though, 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.400 just keeping gear clean in the summertime, you know. 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.840 Because because well, I got a bunch of questions. But 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.079 to tell me that real quick, explain that hot water deal. 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.559 So what you're cleaning off, we're trying like crabs. 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.600 Everybody thinks they're just like dumb scavengers, right, But I 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:50.679 mean there's a way you can go out there and 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:51.920 catch crabs. You can go out there and make a 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.000 living catching crabs. And the devil's in the detail, right. 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.400 So we clean every pot every time it comes over 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.960 the rail, and we don't let them sit more than 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:04.200 like four days in the summertime, you know. So what 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:08.719 we're trying to prevent is these pots growing things like algae, barnacles. 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.200 We have this like brown stuff. We call it hair. 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:14.640 It looks just like hair, but it's technically kind of coral. 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.760 These little arthropods that we get, they're like little shrimp 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.960 we call them, and they it'll look like you're pots 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.640 covered in like grains of brown rice. They build these 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.040 little huts that they live inside of, you know, and 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.720 then the stuff, the algae and things like that will 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.280 catch on their little huts and start to grow. 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.120 So we're just trying to prevent any of that stuff, 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:37.320 you know. 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.559 So if you see my pots, ideally they look like 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.079 they're brand new. They look like they're not dirty at all, 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.200 But it's because we hit them every time. We're literally 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.079 trying to kill it, like on a microscopic level. 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.960 Are you trying to do it like the longevity of 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:51.520 the pot. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.320 I'm trying toforms of the pot, performance of the pot. 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:57.040 They don't want to trap up in a dirty pot. 0:12:57.840 --> 0:12:59.600 They don't even like a slime on it or nothing. 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:01.080 Really they want like that. 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:03.960 I don't know, man, I really don't because you'd think, 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.160 right that like it looks a little more natural to 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:08.119 the bottom or something because. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:09.880 The bottom is all the bottoms. 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:10.800 All covered in that stuff. 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:11.200 I know. 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:15.040 It's crazy. I don't know, but yeah, we're trying to 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:15.280 keep it. 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.360 They don't want to go into a dirty pot. 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.360 Now, man, they don't want to. But they also don't 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.960 want to go into a brand new, freshly set pot 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.000 or a brand new pot because it might smell of 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:28.200 yeah we yeah, exactly. Like we paint every pot every year, 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.320 so we dip all the pots into it like a 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.920 vat of paint to you know, give them them a 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.920 fresh coat. But like a freshly painted pot. I've seen 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.199 it where they do like it. But ninety percent of 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.079 the time they don't want a freshly painted pot. So 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.040 you gotta let it weather, you got, yeah exactly, But 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:44.840 you got to fish it through too. You gotta like 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.679 let it soak and then fish it through, get new 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.839 fresh bait, and it usually it's like a week two 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.600 weeks and they'll really start to catch, right, Man. 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:55.440 That's so like not how you think of a crab. 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:57.160 Man, I know that's what I'm saying. 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.199 Man, everybody thinks of crabs is like they're these dirty 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.800 scavengers or just you know, they'll eat whatever, and you. 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.480 Think it will and you think that's like you're convinced 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.040 that that's right. I mean, he doesn't want to go 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:08.800 in a dirty pot. 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:10.320 It's facts. I mean it. 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:14.559 You know, it's a I go three insane amount of 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.320 effort to keep here clean. I mean, that's the whole 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.040 job in the summer, is keeping gear. And I mean 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:19.520 anybody like. 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:21.600 You could look at it like you're trapping crabs or 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.400 you're cleaning gear. You look at it like I look 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:23.600 at it. 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:25.160 Yeah, I look at it. I literally look at it 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.480 like I'm cleaning gear and I'm hoping there's grabs in it. 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:27.720 You know. 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.560 Like, so tell me how like you put in a 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:32.760 hot water bath and you agitate. 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:36.040 It or no, no, just I mean since we're hitting 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:41.440 them every time every day, like we're kind of keeping 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.920 ahead of it, you know, so they just sit in 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.520 there for I think cycle time is probably seven to 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.880 twelve seconds on a pot. You know, the water one 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:57.080 hundred and forty five degrees, so it's not like super hot. 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.040 So the air is already real hot and you're hovering 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:00.240 over that day bucks. 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.840 Yeah, yeah, it's yeah. I mean, and we're wearing you know, 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.880 rubber slickers of rubber boots. So there's some brutal days 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:11.760 out there, you know, when it's like stupid humid, like 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:13.440 heat index over one hundred. 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.000 This tank one hundred and forty five degree waters. 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:18.320 Right behind me, there's a diesel burner heating it, like 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:18.960 right next to that. 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:20.200 That's that's what heats that. 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:20.640 Yeah. 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:22.600 I built it out of like a heat pump from 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.400 a house, like a Becket heat pump basically runs it through. 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:26.800 Like a coil. 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:28.640 What I'm saying like, I know what that means, but 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:30.040 I don't know what the back of heat pump is. 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.560 What heats your house if you have like an oil furnace, Yeah, 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.480 I got you the same kind of deal. Yeah, My 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:41.040 runs off car back golf cart batteries. Yeah, so yeah, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.160 I mean, it can be definitely be pretty brutal. 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.440 Like the other second day of fishing and whatever everybody 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:48.760 was or the first day, you know, everybody's like dying 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:49.160 of the heat. 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.360 And I was like, man, this ain't so bad. I 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.400 was like, it does suck. I was like, yeah, well, 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.400 I mean it. You know, obviously I'm not loving it, 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:57.640 but I was like, at least I ain't wearing a 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.720 trash bag on the crab boat? Yeah? 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.080 How many? How many of those? How many? Well? How 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:04.320 big is your how big is your crew? 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:04.960 Me? 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:06.720 And three We'll come back to that. So it's four 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:07.360 guys in the boat. 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.280 Yeah, and in a day, if you're going like all 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:13.040 out pulling pots, Yeah, in a day, how many traps 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:13.640 are you gonna check? 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:18.240 Five hundred and seventy five? Okay, and then to twenty 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:19.119 three rows? 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.040 What's a I'm sure it's seasonal, but just give me like, 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:24.680 like they're working right now, right your crew's out there 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:33.200 right now, Okay, So right now, July, a pot that 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.760 has blank crabs is exciting, and a pot that has 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.360 blank crabs is disappointing, Like what are the blanks? 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:44.240 I mean, I'm so like, right now it's pretty hot. Yeah, 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:48.280 So I mean, like, right now, if I see not 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.960 all crabs are created equal, right, So I'm looking for 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.880 big market sized crabs. So I would say if I 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:59.000 had a pot with six nice, big, heavy market sized crabs, 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.120 good grade, that's a good pot. 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:03.480 You do that five hundred and seenty five times. 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.280 You know, you're looking all right. Right now, there's a 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:08.479 load of crabs around, which is a good thing, but 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:10.119 it's also can be kind of a pain, you know, 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.359