Snagging the Buoy.

Time is money ... especially in the fishing industry. The largest expenditure of time is pulling pots. And, the greatest expenditure of fuel is consumed traveling between pots. A seasoned fisherman knows how far apart to place his pots to minimize the distance between while maximizing the amount of crabs caught. Not too far ...  not too close.

Crab fishing is a fuel economy nightmare. Up on plane to the next pot. Then drop into the hole and idle. Then back on top to the next pot. Up and Down. Full throttle, then idle. Back and forth. All day. A good crabber can pull as many as 400 pots a day.

Establishing a rhythm aids the process:  1) Drop in the hole aside the buoy.  2) Hook the buoy.  3) Retrieve the line.  4) Pull the pots on board.  5) Harvest and cull crab.  6) Re-bait.  7) Set the pot back.

Now, an important trick is hooking or snagging the buoy. As we have mentioned before, we approach the buoy from the downstream side so that the line is stretched out up stream of the buoy. That keeps us from running over the line which could tangle the line in the propeller or cutting it. Right when the boat reaches the buoy, we pull back on the throttle, put the engine in neutral, and glide forward up the line. That way there is the maximum amount of slack line to readily bring aboard.

So, what happens if a buoy is missed? Missing that buoy as it come by wastes time, energy, fuel, .... money! So on our crab boat, if you miss a buoy and the boat has to be turned around ... you owe the captain ... a root beer!

So Capt. Dad is employing a Missed Buoy, Root Beer Count. If a SCK misses a buoy, that kid owes Capt. Dad a root beer. If Capt. Dad makes a bad approach and causes the miss, then he owes the whole crew a root beer.

This could get .... sud-sy !!!