08/31/2024
For some reason it just hit me that it feels strange not being a lobster fisherman anymore after around 35 years in it. It’s been just over a year and a half since I hauled a trap over the rail. I recall mentioning here not long ago that I don’t miss it other than fall fishing.
Lately the daytime temperatures have cooled down a bit and the nights are actually a little cool. That always made my mouth water when it got like this in September. I knew that later in the month it would be time to wheel some gear right up in a pint of water up in those muddy coves next to the shore in the eelgrass, waiting for those newshells to crawl as soon as the water cooled down. As soon as the first ones strike, that’s when I knew the fun was just beginning and I had a couple months ahead of me of some great hauls and most of my year’s income ahead.
Those days are gone and I’m a full time quail breeder now. It was so damn hard doing both at once. I worked around the clock. It still seems the bad outweighs the good, so I’m not at all considering going back to full time fishing.
I kept my work skiff and about 30 traps, rope, and buoys, and kept my license renewed for last two years. I thought I might do some recreational play fishing but everything’s set out in the yard all this time. I’ve had no time to maintain a wooden boat or even think about setting a trap. It would take away from my brook fishing fun! Maybe next season after a lot of projects are finally finished.
I remember putting my business up for sale here on a few of the Maine and New England commercial fishing gear for sale sites. I knew what everything was worth because I know what things cost because I bought everything new and took really good care of things.
Here on Facebook no matter where you look, it doesn’t matter the group subject or category, there are always a buncha trolls looking to start some s**t. Usually the local losers in every cove along the Maine coast will be the first to jump all over it. And it’s a big coastline!
So I had a price in mind and was determined to get it. I had a ton of comments from those dubs, telling me that I was crazy to list things so high. Well things are high, and since Covid hit, they got a lot higher! I got all kinds of wisecracks and laughy face emojis from these halfwits. I even got into it with a few and told them to meet me anywhere, anytime. None took me up on it.
Even a former friend of mine, well more like a fair-weather friend who only ever called me when he wanted something, gave me a bit of s**t. I’m waiting to spot him around Brunswick, and I will. He sold out too. He was one of the bigwig offshore fishermen. I’m sure he got what he wanted for his gear because he took a thousand times better care of it than he did his own body.
I told the bastard then that he’s only got about 10 years to live. He keyboard tough guy wised off to me quite a bit. Like I say, I’ll run into him sooner or later. Why I told him he’s only got another decade if he’s lucky is because he’s a heavy smoker and a hardcore pothead. When he doesn’t have a cigarette in his mouth, he’s got a joint or a pipe fulla w**d. He’s been a real partier since he was a young kid, drinks a ton of beer, some hard stuff, and occasionally some coke. He eats nothing but fast food. All grease, salt, and sugar. He’s one of those guys who has that , “work hard, play hard” mentality. Anyway, not long after that he had a stroke.😃 Only 3 years older than me.
But with all of those wiseasses, a few guys who are on the ball and know what things cost, stuck up for me some on those sites. Little by little everything that I wanted to sell sold for what I wanted. When they all came up to look at things, not one guy tried to beat me down on my price. Boat, traps, rope, buoys, and my boat mooring.
I remember the first one to look at my boat. He was a guy from Portland, just a bit older than me and only a summer fisherman. He took his gear up in the fall before the fishing gets good.🙄 He hung here for a couple hours and looked her over from stem to stern. He had the exact same hull as mine but rigged up a bit differently. Everything was old and half fallen apart. All the guy did was complain about everything to do with lobstering.
But he loved the boat it seemed and the last thing he said to me was, “The only thing wrong with that boat is that it’s in your yard and not mine and I’ll get back to you tomorrow.” And of course, just as in the quail business, when someone says they’ll get back to me, they never do.
Not long after that I had a guy from Massachusetts interested. I called the first guy to see if he was still interested. He answered in a sarcastic way, “I’m good.”, and that was it. He knew the price when he came to look at it.🙄 Anyway, the other guy’s bank was jerking him around with things and in the meantime another guy came along and gave me a big cash deposit, then picked the boat up the following week, no questions asked. They loved it.
Here’s a good one!😅 This summer, a bit over a year after I sold it, that first prick knocked on my door. He asked if I remembered him and told me that he lost my phone number but wanted to take a chance and drive up and see if I still had the boat!😅
He was carrying on about what things would cost to repair his, all the fiberglass work, a new cabin, new hauler, electronics either a stern drive or new outboard ... I told him it sold over a year ago right after he looked at it. You snooze, you lose!😅
He was some disappointed. I think he expected it never sold and I’d be desperate and take a low offer. I saw his heart sunk when I told him it was gone. He looked mighty dejected getting into his truck and driving away.
That was great.😃
