- Jul 18, 2005
- 270
- 13
Gentlemen!
While we have our problems here in the Gulf of Maine the kind of Bravo Sierra that Bill is describing does not usually happen. In years past Lobstermen occasionally would get involved in shooting wars but that hasn't happened much in recent years. :)
Sometimes there is friction when " Coastal Lobsterman" (who are new to the business and don't understand the unwritten rules) start to drop their traps around the "Island Lobsterman". :(
Today, if a newbie encroaches in another man's territory, he usually gets a courteous warning by radio to find another spot, If after a warning or two, the newguy doesn't get it :roll: then the next time he comes out to collect his catch or bait his traps, he has a hard time finding them cause the Buoys and toggles have been snipped at low tide :shock:
Now if the new guy has marked his trap locations on a GPS/Chartplotter then its only a matter of throwing a grappling hook over the side and drifting through the area til he hooks up, recovers his traps, and finds his own damn area! :lol:
As far as Charter headboats are concerned; in my opinion there are several reasons I havn't experienced the stuff described happening in the Gulf of Mexico.
First; We don't have the population problems that places like Florida, and the other gulf coast states have.Maine geographically is a pretty large state.Around 36,000 sq miles but we have only 1,275,000 peeps here and 300,000 of them live in Portland.
This in turn reflects in the amount of boating which occurs. Our larger charters are mostly dedicated to whale watching; The skippers of these vessels are 100-200 ton Masters who are Merchant Marine's and are licensed by the Coast Guard. There are not many of these guys in southern Maine and they try to get along with tuna fishermen and the Sharkers and the other Sportsfishermen because while we are out there on a day to day basis We are the ones who know where the Damn Whales are! :lol: So we trade info on the VHF radio.
As Monty knows Isle of Shoals is only about 7 miles offshore so there may have been some problems there occasionally(small boats can get there) but most of the places I fish are are 25-45 miles offshore.Most of the guys out there know what they are doing and stay out of each others way.
Normally you will only find three types of fisherman out there, Tuna, Shark and Groundfisherman(Cod Haddock Pollock Cusk etc)..The tuna men run a chum line as do the sharkers...Its not polite to drive your boat through someone elses chumline...If I have been out there since O-Dark thirty getting my chumline going and a guy drives through it....I am no longer connected to my chumline.
Since we all are trying to do the same thing and we all pretty much know each other we tend to give each other a wide berth and stay in touch by radio..Chumlines are expensive to create these days and we all ask for the same courtesy. :)
I just believe that we are a much smaller fishermen's community up here and every skipper strives to be known as a "Professional" rather than to be known as a D _ _ _ H_ _ D :P
I guess one last thing to be mentioned regarding drunken fishermen on big party boats...We really don't have many large party boats in Maine. We have many small charter headboat skippers who take parties of 2-6 people fishing and they also must be Licensed Captains and while some of them will allow their clients to drink a few beers while fishing; They never allow hard alcohol on their boats. That is absolutely out of the question!
some years ago there was some of that stuff going on...But today I can assure you that the Penalties are way too severe! If your clients get out of hand then you as the Captain are responcible and believe me Captains don't tolerate it any more...
One call to the Coasties and they will come and arrest and remove the offending party from your boat!
This is my perception of what happens up here anyway 8)
Hope I answered your questions :D Its hard to answer that one in just a few words! :lol:
ranger72
Besides! I don't know about you guys but I prefer to be Stone, Cold, Sober when I am dealing with one of these critters! 8)
OTBS # 14
This 503 pound Mako taken by another member of our small community, Captain Mike Jancovic Skipper of the EXCALIBUR" This Oceangoing Chainsaw was taken last week!
While we have our problems here in the Gulf of Maine the kind of Bravo Sierra that Bill is describing does not usually happen. In years past Lobstermen occasionally would get involved in shooting wars but that hasn't happened much in recent years. :)
Sometimes there is friction when " Coastal Lobsterman" (who are new to the business and don't understand the unwritten rules) start to drop their traps around the "Island Lobsterman". :(
Today, if a newbie encroaches in another man's territory, he usually gets a courteous warning by radio to find another spot, If after a warning or two, the newguy doesn't get it :roll: then the next time he comes out to collect his catch or bait his traps, he has a hard time finding them cause the Buoys and toggles have been snipped at low tide :shock:
Now if the new guy has marked his trap locations on a GPS/Chartplotter then its only a matter of throwing a grappling hook over the side and drifting through the area til he hooks up, recovers his traps, and finds his own damn area! :lol:
As far as Charter headboats are concerned; in my opinion there are several reasons I havn't experienced the stuff described happening in the Gulf of Mexico.
First; We don't have the population problems that places like Florida, and the other gulf coast states have.Maine geographically is a pretty large state.Around 36,000 sq miles but we have only 1,275,000 peeps here and 300,000 of them live in Portland.
This in turn reflects in the amount of boating which occurs. Our larger charters are mostly dedicated to whale watching; The skippers of these vessels are 100-200 ton Masters who are Merchant Marine's and are licensed by the Coast Guard. There are not many of these guys in southern Maine and they try to get along with tuna fishermen and the Sharkers and the other Sportsfishermen because while we are out there on a day to day basis We are the ones who know where the Damn Whales are! :lol: So we trade info on the VHF radio.
As Monty knows Isle of Shoals is only about 7 miles offshore so there may have been some problems there occasionally(small boats can get there) but most of the places I fish are are 25-45 miles offshore.Most of the guys out there know what they are doing and stay out of each others way.
Normally you will only find three types of fisherman out there, Tuna, Shark and Groundfisherman(Cod Haddock Pollock Cusk etc)..The tuna men run a chum line as do the sharkers...Its not polite to drive your boat through someone elses chumline...If I have been out there since O-Dark thirty getting my chumline going and a guy drives through it....I am no longer connected to my chumline.
Since we all are trying to do the same thing and we all pretty much know each other we tend to give each other a wide berth and stay in touch by radio..Chumlines are expensive to create these days and we all ask for the same courtesy. :)
I just believe that we are a much smaller fishermen's community up here and every skipper strives to be known as a "Professional" rather than to be known as a D _ _ _ H_ _ D :P
I guess one last thing to be mentioned regarding drunken fishermen on big party boats...We really don't have many large party boats in Maine. We have many small charter headboat skippers who take parties of 2-6 people fishing and they also must be Licensed Captains and while some of them will allow their clients to drink a few beers while fishing; They never allow hard alcohol on their boats. That is absolutely out of the question!
some years ago there was some of that stuff going on...But today I can assure you that the Penalties are way too severe! If your clients get out of hand then you as the Captain are responcible and believe me Captains don't tolerate it any more...
One call to the Coasties and they will come and arrest and remove the offending party from your boat!
This is my perception of what happens up here anyway 8)
Hope I answered your questions :D Its hard to answer that one in just a few words! :lol:
ranger72
Besides! I don't know about you guys but I prefer to be Stone, Cold, Sober when I am dealing with one of these critters! 8)
OTBS # 14
This 503 pound Mako taken by another member of our small community, Captain Mike Jancovic Skipper of the EXCALIBUR" This Oceangoing Chainsaw was taken last week!