The Richard and Arnold heading out, this time to Woods Hole then on to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Sound to chase the summer flounder. In the two weeks before this picture was taken Dave added a layer of fiberglass cloth and resin over the doghouse and forward deck, the hatch lip was lowered by four inches and a new cover added. Doors to below deck now swing open and are louvered. We drove to NJ and back with a net reel and doors. Dave changed doors, but then changed them again - put his old ones back on, the net needed the bigger door. Each door weighs about 600 pounds. I watched as he used a sky hook to put them into the back of his old truck, using a three part tackles system on a gin-pole. Nets were changed, the squid net for the 'flat-net', he had a beauty built by the Levin's in Fairhaven since the last one he had built by them lasted many, many years and caught its share of flat-fish. He stopped squid fishing because the boat's muffler was leaking fumes into the wheelhouse. The old muffler was removed and a new elbow, pipe and stainless steel muffler were added, thanks Wellfleet Welding - Matt.  This all takes place before he can even set the net. Oh and he changed the oil in the engine. Lots of small issues taken care of, all good, all to keep the boat safe and catching. Let's hope this will be a good Fluke season.

Fishing is what Dave loves to do and he's now doing it with our fishing/yacht. Our vessel will be leaving the wharf again for a June Fluke season off Martha's Vineyard. The daily catch allowance is small, 300 pounds, but we can live with that. There is hardly any fishing left around here, I mean that the cod allocations have been caught up, there are lots of back door dealings as far as the yellow-tail flounder go, the rules have pretty much overwhelmed most fishing businesses and the lobster gear has moved in for the season. The latest scheme for dividing up the fish - the current trend, it's not a good one. First of all it was based on a time frame that did not take into account the years leading up to allocation. Too many people have been pushed out of the fishing business using faulty data and over zealous regulators. The control and money are now in the hands of a few and they can sell allocation to whomever they choose. It's the thirty year cycle - weirs, dorymen with hooks, gillnets and draggers, harpooners and hand-liners- after thirty years no one will remember what the broo-haha over catch shares was all about and no one will remember when men were free to fish the way they wanted. We hope to leave all the bureaucracy at the wharf when we cast off the lines, catch a few fish. If the price stays up we'll have a good summer.   I have been busy writing, speaking, and spending time meeting lots of friends who tell me they enjoyed reading my book, 'Nautical Twilight'. I will be in the author's tent in Wellfleet for the Wellfleet Harborfest on the pier at 10 am Sat.- June 16, 2012 - and will talk about the book. I'm not used to tooting my own horn - but so many people have been telling me how much they've loved it. It's a small slice of our lives and a look at what was once the Provincetown fishing fleet. I have been invited to speak at the Eldredge Library in Chatham,MA at 2 pm on Thursday, June 21                     ALSO Dave and I will be participating in many of the events at the Provincetown Portuguese Festival and the 65th Blessing of the Fleet, June 21-24. visit their web page: www.provincetownportuguesefestival.com  I will be sharing a table with Nancy Bloom on Ryder Street all day Friday and Saturday. Stop and say hello.   Dave has promised to bring the boat back for that weekend- he's not allowed to fish for fluke on Fridays and Saturdays anyway, don't ask me why. The Richard & Arnold will be in the parade of boats on Sunday, this is our 31st with the R&A, but we had lots of blessings and parties with the 'Wildflower' back in the 1970's. Looks like June is going to be a fun month.   Thank you one and all

Dave brought the Richard & Arnold back to Provincetown, not that he wanted to stop catching squid but because there is work to be done that requires his attention: he added fiberglass cloth and resin to deck to stop leaks from the top, there are no leaks from the bottom now! Dave will replace an old leaky muffler and some metal pipe as well.  A new net has been ordered form Levin in Fairhaven,MA for the up coming Fluke season and we just returned from a two day trip to New Jersey to pick up an aluminum net reel, along with two winches, and doors (the metal slabs that hold the net open). We borrowed our son's truck and a friend's trailer to carry the gear, I'd forgotten how stressful travel on America's highways can be, especially when towing a 20 ft trailer. We witnessed the most bizarre traffic accident on our way onto the George Washington Bridge: traffic was at a crawl - stop and go - lanes narrowing and funneling from four down to two, construction on the left, bright plastic orange cones forcing cars to the right and this small car squished itself against a big truck, literally ran into the massive truck going less than 5 miles an hour like it was going to push it out of the way -  instead of stopping and waiting for the truck to pass, or running into the plastic cone - the car pushed against a truck 10 times its size. Dave and I couldn't believe our eyes. We were able to scoot around it because we were in back of the truck. Some people just shouldn't be driving. We were happy to arrive in Pt. Pleasant, NJ where there still is a fishing fleet, anywhere there are fishing boats feels like home. Everyone was helpful and we had the trailer loaded in an hour. I spent a couple of summers with my family when I was a kid in our two week rental at the beach in Point Pleasant. We spent the night and walked the boardwalk along the Jersey Shore, the first time for Dave and a return for me - some sixty years later. My how time flies. Back home safe and ready to tackle the muffler, its priority. After that if there is time before Fluke season, Dave will cut the old net reel off and lift it from the boat. The new one will be mounted, bolted and welded in place. Sounds easy when I write about it but nothing about fishing or the boat is ever really easy, but I think Dave would rather be welding on a new net reel than driving Interstate 95.  

Squid, squid and more squid. Today in Nantucket Sound approximately 20 boats are fishing and wishing for squid. The Richard & Arnold is doing its share. I find it amazing that one old man can keep up with boats that have crewmen 20 years younger than Dave. Back in the 1970's and 80's there were hundreds of boat all vying for the product. Today our fleets are so diminished that on most days there is not a boat to be seen on the horizon. The sad fact is that we were better off when we had many small boats instead of a few larger ones. America imports over 85 % of its fish and now we are selling our 'catch shares' to the highest bidder. Most likely our resource of fresh fish will be owned by Walmart or investors from China. Dave remains fishing because he feels that no one, not even our government should be allowed to force us out of business. The sad fact is that the younger generation of fishermen who have been given all the allocation - will never know what freedom is. They will never be able to fish when and where they want. They will always have to answer to the government, where we as the senior generation of fishermen had incentive, camaraderie and answered to a higher power.  Yes, the boat is like a new vessel, handles beautifully, feels strong, but the fishery is ghoulish, lacks ingenuity and is stifling from overbearing government regulation. The catch share system was designed to fail and in its wake will remove hundreds of small fishing businesses. It seems to be working. The men who made the sacrifices in the name of sustainability have been pushed aside by a generation who doesn't have a clue what it was like to compete for the fish, who shared a common bond, who knew true freedom.

Nautical Twilight Live

www.provincetownfishwife.com The Provincetown Portuguese Festival and Blessing of the Fleet committee is having a fund raiser -- One of the guest speakers is me.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to be talking and reading from my own book - Nautical Twilight. I am excited to share my work with the town that inspired it.  The fund raiser begins at 12 noon on May 20, 2012 at the Red Inn on Commercial Street. Cost is $15.00 at the door. I will be speaking around 1:15. I'd like to thank the committee for giving me the opportunity, I consider it a privilege. Last Sunday and Monday I went fishing on the Richard & Arnold with Dave for squid. I spent Sunday night aboard in Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, but was so tired that I didn't go ashore, I didn't touch land until Monday evening when we unloaded 1400 pounds. It took me two days to recover, so this Mother's day I'm having a day without touching the Ocean and Dave is catching squid without me. I only feel a little guilty. Next weekend I'll be dressed in my finest  instead of boots and oil gear and I'm hoping I can get Dave to give up a day of squid to come to the talk at the Red Inn, after all the story is really about him. Hope to see you there or at the Portuguese Festival on the last weekend in June. I'll have a table on Ryder Street to talk, sign and sell books. My friend Nancy Bloom will have her photos of the Provincetown Regatta on tiles, in frames and on calenders. Dave just called, he's on his way in from fishing and is coming home tonight to wish me a happy mothers day, now I really am having the best day possible. To all the moms out there in cyber land I hope your day is as good as mine.

Mark and the Tuna

The Richard & Arnold is back fishing--but I am remembering another kind of fishing today.

For all those who love fishing stories - here's another:

An unusual tuna affair was held at Ballston Beach in Truro, MA on an overcast September morning many moons ago. Mark was out to surf-cast for Stripped Bass as the sun was breaking over the wet horizon. This time of day was a favorite, before he went to work as a house builder. With a pole in his left hand and a gaff-hook looped by a leather strap over his wrist in the other, he walked beside the curling waves. At first he was not sure what he was seeing. There was a silver flash, then another. Could that be a tail? Mark Instinctively threw out his right arm like a surprised Captain Hook and sank the barbed end of the gaff that was secured to his wrist, deep into the head of a three hundred pound tuna-fish. Without thought he yanked, pulling the denizen of the deep out of the water onto the beach in front of him. The fish began whipping its body about in a wild frenzy and Mark wondered if the fish might break his arm. It would either drag Mark back into the water or Mark would land it.The muscled and scaled mass thrashed about continuously bruising and cutting Mark's legs and arms until the impulsive fisherman was able to position himself at the sea creature's head. He held the hilt of the gaff with both hands. Using brute strength and the buoyancy of the water under his feet Mark was able to pull the fish clear of the briny world. His dog was barking, rushing at the big fish then quickly retreating. Mark's whooping and holler was lost in the crashing surf and barking dog. Mark wrestled the fish away from the tide line as the struggling contortions of the fish with its flapping motion actually gave the fisherman the edge. The big fish ceased motion, the enormous eye clouded and the gills stopped pumping when Mark was sweating from fatigue and could not pull another inch. They were only ten yards from the water. He slipped the leather strap from his hand and sat on the sand, admiring and contemplating the fish. The enormous scales of rainbow colors were fading to gray, matching the sky and water. He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, instead he ran to his truck for a longer rope which he placed over the fin at the large 'Y' where belly and tail met. He put the other end of the rope over his shoulder and pulled the creature up an incline until he was close enough to use his pick-up to winch it into the back. There was not one other person there to witness the 'catch of the day'.  Word got out and friends gathered to hear the telling and retelling, while the process of bleeding, gutting and washing took place in Mark's garage. He hung it up like a deer carcass during hunting season for everyone to admire. The men shook their heads in disbelief but Mark swore the story was true. That fish fed half the town of Truro that night with some left over for freezing. It was a tasty delight, a one of a kind fish dinner and a tale worth the telling.www.provincetownfishwife.com