NO BANANAS ON BOAT! (Tuckerton report)

[PHILLY JOE]

Headed to Tuckerton sat. 5/23/09 with my son and Pinchy. Pinchy went out last Sat. and managed 21 from shore with 5 ring traps. I figured with another week of warm weather and 30 traps and boat, we would do well. I guess i'm crazy for going out this early because EVERYONE KNOWS it's way too early to get crabs. An old timer told  Pinchy last week that you can't get crabs there till July even though he had over a doz in the cooler and another person had some also. He showd the  guy his catch.   Ignorance is bliss, I guess.
 
Launched at 6:15 and headed to out spot. Dropped in various depths from 4 to 10 ft. Last year we got them in deeper water this time of year.. Tide was incoming and we had about 1.5 hours of moving tide before slack.  Day was nice but the gnats were murder. Thank God for Skin so soft! Had our traps in the water by 7am and started our first run. Got 2 in first 2 traps and figured GREAT start. Finished run with 4 keepers. Ok, we'll have to work for them. After a couple runs we noticed we were getting most in shallow water. 3-5 ft.  Moved the deep traps to shallow and we nailed them. By around 11 am we had a bu. of keepers up to 6.25 in long. A few of the runs we had 12+ keepers on the run. The crabs continued feeding through slack tide. They were alot of rustys and black crabs. They were tearing the bait apart. We decided that a bu. was good enough and pulled and cleaned the traps. Decided to go fluking the rest of the day. (opening day)

Put the traps in the truck and bought bait. Headed out to the shallows and tried our luck. My son managed 1 short and 1 skate. Water is still a little cool for fluke (64 deg) I managed 1 skate. Found out 2 of my 3 lessons about skates. (1) A skate can sense your finger close to his mouth, distend  his mouth and latch on to your finger while avoiding the needle nose pliers that you are using to dislodge the hook in his mouth.(2) After it latches on to your finger, it has a very strong clamping effect that keeps the razor sharp needle like teeth embedded into your finger and keeps you from pulling your finger out of his mouth. In complete surprise and shock, my manly instincts took over and I did the first thing I could do out of shear instinct. I let out my finest rendition of a (SISSY LA LA) yelp for all to hear. It was worthy of an Oscar nomination. There were quite a few boats around so I dared not to look up. I grabbed the needle nose pliers and was ready to rip his jaw open to release my finger when it was nice enough to release my finger while it was still attached. I got the hook out and released him back. My son doesn't amuse easily BUT..... After a couple hours, we called it quits on fishing. Not productive.

Heading back in, we decided to grab 10 traps and go back crabbing. The tide was dead low and it was a very low tide. Wouldn't have been able to get to trailer backed far enough to retrieve boat. We had a few hours to kill. Dropped 10 traps and handlined an fished from boat. The area we crabbed in the am was now very shallow and we had trouble finding depths to drop just the 10 but we managed. Caught a couple crabs on rod and hand line an pulled traps. Averaged 3 per run on traps. Crabs were still biting at dead low. This is rare. Usually they stop at ebb tide. Got a good strike on rod and pulled in another of my favorite fish. The skate! I learned my lesson from earlier about not getting my finger too close to his mouth BUT I learned my 3rd lesson of the day. If a skate is lying on his back and flips around while you are trying to cut the line because it swallowed the hook, its body contains unseen little spikes that rips your (same) finger to near shreds and causes  intense pain and immediate throbbing. I don't know if it has a toxin in it or the cuts hit a nerve of some type but It hurt like [Sam Hill]. I cut the line and used the pliers to grab it and toss it back. After tide rolled in somewhat, we called it quits at around 4pm and headed in.

Now the banana part. Every trip I tell Pinchy that bananas are bad luck on the boat. Every trip as we bu. out, he has a banana on board and insists it is good luck. This trip I guess he figured that if 1 banana is a negative factor ("in my opinion"), then 2 negatives make a positive. Wrong! 2 bananas= 2 skates I caught= 2 sets of gashes in my finger. Is it a coincidence, (like full moon effect) or an unproven fact? You be the judge. 

Pics enclosed are of early bounty, and almost final catch( before we went back with 10 traps. manage around 18 more keepers) and cooked 2/3 catch.(Pinchy went home with his portion) The Time Magazine in background is the June 1st 2009 issue for all those who need proof. The pic with the cloudy newspaper is the sun, may 17 copy. I didn't have the 5/24 edition because I went on 5/23

Ended day with 98 keepers with 50+ throwbacks. NO ONE else crabbing out there. I guess it's too early!

[PHILLY JOE]

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[jack1747]

Nice essay....     

[tattoo]

Nice catch , thanks for the long report . better keep potting anticepct on that finger, 

[Jocko]

Could you give us some details! Great post and pics! I love the TIME magazine in the background!

[Reservoir Dog]

Yea, I believe that a skate will crush a clam, not to mention what it will do to a finger. I have made the same mistake. Hard not to try to pull the finger out but that just does more damage. You have to just let them crush your finger 'till they decide to let go. Not sure if that makes sence or not.

[mrscharms]

That was a very amusing report...you have great writing skills!

Sorry about your finger....that must have really been terrifying!

But you got the crabs!!!

Janice

[rubaseball21]

hey Philly Joe, (or who else could help me)

I have a question. I was looking to go crabbing this week in Tuckerton but was wondering if there were places to rent a boat since that is how you seem to be catching them? and if not where you would recommend crabbing from the shore this time of the year?

Thanks!

[marknut]

Great Report guys awesome day it sounded like wish I was out there with ya 

[marknut]

Nice essay....     

lololol haha

[125blackfire]

Nice report! Glad to have learned something.

[salt hay]

Joe excellent report..............I was upstream on the Mullica doing our annual canoe run/ Pig roast.

That is a great haul for Great Bay at any time of year. All I can say is talk and opinions are cheap, but actions speak volumes! In this case you proved ( once again) if you are willing to do your homework you can often accomplish what most naysayers think impossible.

Oh and BTW I am with you on the bananna's. Last time I was with a guy who had them for a snack, his NEW 25 Merc ripped of the transom and sunk in 18 feet of water!  

[ChrisS]

Nice job, and report.

I worked at Ake Marine, in West Ocean City....No Bananas on the boats was something the Captains took very serious!

....even had one Captain threaten to cancel a trip because his party refuse to get rid of the Bananas.

[jack1747]

Nice job, and report.

I worked at Ake Marine, in West Ocean City....No Bananas on the boats was something the Captains took very serious!

....even had one Captain threaten to cancel a trip because his party refuse to get rid of the Bananas.

[ChrisS]

Thats the place.....I worked in the reel shop, played back up mate....rebuilt all the reels they recovered when the Orginal Muff Diver sank.

Doug was one of the nicest Rich guys I ever worked for.

[Chef Lar]

It appears that coozie has been used a few times, eh Jack?

[Joe Crabs]

Nice job guys.

[CRABGUY]

There are many stories why bananas have been thought of as bad luck on boats.  This is only one of the nautical superstitions that I know of and is particularly prevalent amongst watermen.  Many stories have banana oil rubbing off on ones hands and “spooking" the fish; therefore the fish don't bite.  There is always the story of a crew member slipping on the banana peel left on the deck.  Some say that bananas give you the runs so you are always in the marine head and can't catch fish because you are busy "draining the pipes".  Many other stories are told about bad luck and bananas, however the one that I find most plausible is a historical one.

Back in the days of the transatlantic crossings by wooden sailing ships many hazards would befall the captains, crew and passengers. Disease, pirates, shipwrecks, storms, etc., claimed the lives of a good percentage of the captains, crew and passengers attempting the dangerous voyage.  Needless to say, a transatlantic crossing in the 17th and 18th centuries was a very risky endeavor.  Often the vessels would stop along the way in tropical islands to gather provisions such as food and water.  There the passengers and crew would often purchase wooden crates of bananas from the locals and bring them aboard the ship.  These crates would have all manner of critters in them such as bugs, spiders, vermin and snakes.

These critters would make their way into the bilges of the ships, multiply, and then find their way into the captain's quarters.  The captains circulated the rumor that bananas were bad luck in an attempt to keep the critters off the ship and out of their cabin.  The crew and
passengers were more than eager to follow suit because of the inherent risk of the crossing.  So, if the captain announced prior to the voyage that bananas were bad luck and not allowed aboard the vessel, everyone complied.  You must remember that these were the days of burning witches and the like, so superstitions were taken very seriously.
Watermen are a mysterious lot.  While we are known for our simple pragmatism, we also have many odd quirks.  Superstitions have been prevalent on almost every vessel I have worked on.  I feel that this is due to the nature of a waterman in that he sees the randomness of the world around him juxtaposed with the rhythmic, seasonal flows of nature and then tries to reconcile these observations into some sort of personal and/or environmental order.  As Stevie Wonder (a blind man) pointed out so eloquently: "When you believe in things you can't

understand, that's superstition".
This was a funny story I ran across while surfing the web.  I pilfered it from this site:  http://www.striper-csba.com/story6.htm
 

[Don]

Nice report!

[mrscharms]

"
I have a question. I was looking to go crabbing this week in Tuckerton but was wondering if there were places to rent a boat since that is how you seem to be catching them? and if not where you would recommend crabbing from the shore this time of the year?"

Anybody have an answer for this question?

[German82407]

Great catch and an even better story!

[CaptWilliecrab]

I got a friend how lives in Tuckerton,  and he is a boat Capt.  He told me the same thing about Bannanas on a ship.  But I gotta tell ya,  I almost always bring bannanas on board and eat them while fishing, and I always catch dinner!  But I won't leave those peels around to slip on!         williecrab