i thought about trying it [prior to carpenters apprenticeship]. lets hear some stories...

i've been watching it.....those guys have big balls...no way I'd get my @$$ out there

Shit! Try it!? I lived with it for nearly 6 years!

Oh, crabbing... I thought you were talking about Italian women.

NO HIT MOMMY!


M

oh miles

I had a buddy when I was in college who would go up to Alaska every year and work on those boats for about 6 - 8 weeks. He would bring home 10- 20 grand every time. He liked it but I would really have to need a job before I would do it unless I got to sit inside and drive the boat....

a guy i work with does the every year. takes a leave to do it.

can you handle 30'-40' swells in a 30 boat? sleep depravation?

if you go i hope you get with a good crew. theres capts. up there that will get you killed.

what till it shows when the boats get iced up, you have to knock the ice off or capsize. constant battle with the ice when it happens.

I knew one guy who did it one year. He said he would never do it again.

QUOTE (messix @ Jun 8 2005, 02:59 PM)

what till it shows when the boats get iced up, you have to knock the ice off or capsize. constant battle with the ice when it happens.

seen it... crazy shit, huh?

I was going to do it when I was a younger. Like 18-21.

Seems like there has to be better ways to make a buck.

I have been up for days without sleep before (survival school) it is easy to get complacent and do stupid things when fatigued....or just stumble around....now throw in crab pots that weigh hundreds of pounds, 30-40 ft swells, and hundreds of feet of rope just waiting to catch a foot and drag you to the bottom of the Bering Sea...money is nice to have....but being alive is better...but I do love watching the deadliest catch from the comfort of my favorite chair.
Joe

My friend did it for 3 years until the Capt's brother and another guy got snagged by a rope and went overboard. They died. He had to help pull them out of the water. That was it for him.
Yep, lots of stories of staying awake 24/7 to chip ice so they wouldn't flip over and die.

tough guy too as he was in the Israeli army during the First Gulf War.

QUOTE (joeav8tor @ Jun 8 2005, 05:44 PM)

....now throw in crab pots that weigh hundreds of pounds, 30-40 ft swells, and hundreds of feet of rope just waiting to catch a foot and drag you to the bottom of the Bering Sea...money is nice to have....but being alive is better...but I do love watching the deadliest catch from the comfort of my favorite chair. Joe

Good TV though. Definitely exciting to watch...from the comfort of my couch.

The first thing that I did in the Coast Guard was to patrol the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering. I have pics of me using an awl to beat 4" thick ice off of the ships super structure to keep it right side up. You know its cold when the aluminum bat shatters and you have to use an awl. Many stories, with 60' seas that we would have to go out into to rescue the guys with the bad choice making skills.

I would not do it again. And my living conditions were marginally better.

I watch it and just think NO WAY.

Makes my love King Crab that much more! Those guys are out to lunch!!
I would like to try their version of "elevator jumping"! I have done it from the mast to the forepeak in moderate swells, that would be the ONLY fun part.

QUOTE (Hawktel @ Jun 8 2005, 09:33 PM)

Seems like there has to be better ways to make a buck.

Like a webcam, and a nude dancing tour.


M

QUOTE (redshift @ Jun 8 2005, 08:49 PM)

QUOTE (Hawktel @ Jun 8 2005, 09:33 PM) Seems like there has to be better ways to make a buck. Like a webcam, and a nude dancing tour. M

Throw in a goat and you got yourself a business partner

BTDT for several years. It is a crazy way to make a living. Got to the point I was the First Mate and ran the boat when the Capitan slept and ran the deck all the time. Then I started a family and that was it for big boat crabbing for me. It was time, I had no major injuries in the 8 or so years I did it but there were some a few times I was worried for my life.

It is an incredibly unsafe work environment obviously, add to that the sleep deprivation and big egos and it gets worse.

I think I hated the icing of the boat the most. The boats that I fished on were between 100 and 125 feet so if it got to bad, say over 25 foot breaking swells with icing conditions, we couldn't fish. We would "jog" into it which means run with enough power to stay into the swells and maintain a course while the whole time building ice. Then after so many hours depending on how bad it was you turn the boat around, run with the waves and beat the ice off. Keep in mind that if you are building ice it is pretty damn cold. Only to turn around and do it again.

QUOTE

Makes my love King Crab that much more! Those guys are out to lunch!!

Just for the record Opilio, what they call snow crab, is really the most dangerous. It starts in January when the weather couldn't be worse in the Bering Sea. That season used to last a couple of months.

Things are changing in the Bering Sea crab fishery. It has gone through a rationalization plan, similar to IFQ's (Individual Fishing Quotas) in other fisheries. But this plan is going to screw everybody but the boat owner even more than IFQs did to Halibut and Black Cod. It will be implimented this fall for the King crab fishery so we'll see what happens.

As some of you know I just recently moved back to Alaska after being gone for almost 4 years. My occupation from 1987 to 2001 was as a commercial fisherman, mostly small boat stuff when not crabbing. When I was in Oregon for those 4 years I had an office job. Steady income, home at night, and boring as hell.

In 8 days I will be heading to Bristol Bay for the Sockey Salmon season. Three guys living on a 32 foot boat catching up to 10,000lbs of salmon a day. It is a lot of fun and I can't wait. Sure I will miss my wife and little ones but hey it's just a month. Then I will be going longlining for Halibut which is a whole nuther story.

Sorry to be so long winded but I just love to talk about commercial fishing.

I haved crewed some wild offshore sailboat races in the Northwest Pacific. 30 ft + seas in a sailboat can get pretty hairy.

QUOTE (Rhodes71/914 @ Jun 8 2005, 09:54 PM)

BTDT for several years. It is a crazy way to make a living. Got to the point I was the First Mate and ran the boat when the Capitan slept and ran the deck all the time. Then I started a family and that was it for big boat crabbing for me. It was time, I had no major injuries in the 8 or so years I did it but there were some a few times I was worried for my life. It is an incredibly unsafe work environment obviously, add to that the sleep deprivation and big egos and it gets worse. I think I hated the icing of the boat the most. The boats that I fished on were between 100 and 125 feet so if it got to bad, say over 25 foot breaking swells with icing conditions, we couldn't fish. We would "jog" into it which means run with enough power to stay into the swells and maintain a course while the whole time building ice. Then after so many hours depending on how bad it was you turn the boat around, run with the waves and beat the ice off. Keep in mind that if you are building ice it is pretty damn cold. Only to turn around and do it again. QUOTE Makes my love King Crab that much more! Those guys are out to lunch!! Just for the record Opilio, what they call snow crab, is really the most dangerous. It starts in January when the weather couldn't be worse in the Bering Sea. That season used to last a couple of months. Things are changing in the Bering Sea crab fishery. It has gone through a rationalization plan, similar to IFQ's (Individual Fishing Quotas) in other fisheries. But this plan is going to screw everybody but the boat owner even more than IFQs did to Halibut and Black Cod. It will be implimented this fall for the King crab fishery so we'll see what happens. As some of you know I just recently moved back to Alaska after being gone for almost 4 years. My occupation from 1987 to 2001 was as a commercial fisherman, mostly small boat stuff when not crabbing. When I was in Oregon for those 4 years I had an office job. Steady income, home at night, and boring as hell. In 8 days I will be heading to Bristol Bay for the Sockey Salmon season. Three guys living on a 32 foot boat catching up to 10,000lbs of salmon a day. It is a lot of fun and I can't wait. Sure I will miss my wife and little ones but hey it's just a month. Then I will be going longlining for Halibut which is a whole nuther story. Sorry to be so long winded but I just love to talk about commercial fishing.

talk all you want

Sig Fergusen said, "they're pulling the rug out from under us...".

i agree. "DIRTY FISHING" is the way it should be. the strong survive...

QUOTE (ChrisReale @ Jun 9 2005, 12:55 AM)

Throw in a goat and you got yourself a business partner

You have a goat suit?

PM ME!


M

Once again the worker gets screwed and those with the money come out on top.

I have a friend who has been buying some real POS crab boats for the last few years and now he is sitting pretty. He can take 4 boats worth of quota and fish it all on one boat. It sure sounds great but it will turn the deckhands into wage earners and not a profit share situation like it has been.

Don't think that it will be any easier either, they will still fish in bad weather and work long hours, it's the nature of the biz.

We should revisit this in about 5 years and see what has happened.

On another note...

There is nothing like stepping off the airplane in Seattle, straight from Dutch Harbor. with a $30,000 check in your pocket. You've been in the middle of knowwhere for a couple of months and now your back in the real world and you have some catching up to do. Of course all your roomates are in college and poor as hell but that doesn't matter let's party .

I did manage to pay for a college, though it took a little longer than normal.