this is a Non-Stop Vine these pots are
crab pots and it's just
this all day long the bait for these is
just
bunker so we measure them here go point
to point that's over 6 in so he goes in
the number one basket the blue claw
crabs are the best crab to eat it is
good brings back a lot of memories from
when he was growing up and I I wish he'd
be out here then doing what he's doing
but uh it's not meant for everyone I had
this specially built in
1983 by a local boat builder it's the
only one of its kind it's the only one
he made I grew up on this thing I
remember when the paint was fresh on
this and it has great carrying capacity
for moving gear and that's probably the
most important part of the boat besides
a stable work platform I got a lot of
good memories about this boat so every
time I get on it it's it's nostalgic for
me um just cuz I I grew up on it you
know it say part of my childhood and my
early adult years were spent right here
with
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him hello there would you like a bunker
there we go do you want another one I'll
give you another one would you like it
okay there we
go that is good come
here come here come
on come here
will you come here and eat
this there we go that was pretty cool
come on hello
there I'm pulling pulling pots now and
shaking so that Carlos can get uh skin
and Blowfish he's better at it than I am
and I pulled a lot of crab pots in my
life some of the richest people on Long
Island live right here uh and we're in
their backyard catching Blowfish and
catching blue claw crabs um I mean just
you know 100 yards offshore so it's it's
kind of neat the the dichotomy between
someone who lives in a multi-million
dollar house and my dad who doesn't is
probably the best way to put that one
pot goes over and Dad times it so that
then we'll ride at the next pot by the
time I get done working the first one so
there's this guy on the internet named
Luke mcfaden he crabs in ches Peak Bay
he's a pretty big deal so this is my
attempt to be as big a deal as he is
so you can see in the mail the inside of
the claw is
blue and that has that
shape this female The Claw is red and
has that shape so that's the difference
between between the male crab and the
female crab so she pulled out of this
one and backed out of of this small
shell when she was soft so her whole
body fit inside this and and then the
longer that she's in the the salt water
the harder her shell will
get so but these are are the delicacy of
soft shell crabs this is where they come
from this crab came out of here so
that's the that's the growth of the Blue
Claw crab this shed in the pot
absolutely delicious this one's a
leather back so this one's been in the
pot it probably shed yesterday um or the
might even been the day before after we
picked these um so this wouldn't be good
for eating they're so expensive
because of the the amount of work that
goes into shedding them you have to put
them in a shedding tank and monitor them
every couple hours so as soon as they
come out of this when they're butter
soft that you could take them out of the
water it stops that hardening process
and then they become a delicious
delicacy holy cow that pot's heavy
pulling and shaking and setting and
pulling and shaking and setting after a
while you get used to it just like any
other workout you know you'll be sore
the first couple days out here so those
are all eggs
on there so these we throw back which
also stops her from biting me other
fishermen that aren't doing well don't
have money for equipment they'll come 15
M away or another part of the island
load of boat load of pots and take them
where they live and the chances of me
finding them are slim and none you can
see the buoy for a half a mile but they
run it over and say I didn't see it on a
black calm day with no reflection I
probably lose1 to $15,000 worth of gear
a year when that doesn't count stuff
that gets worn out just from use oh it's
very very frustrating this is nothing
but physical work straight between
setting pots pulling pots like this
shaking pots it's all cuz there's weight
on this coming through the water up over
the
side shaking that moving it over here
there's rebar all around the edge here
that gives it weight so that when you
set it that is it uh it goes down right
I'm going to knock on wood I've never
had a a commercial fishing violation in
65 years not even
one not even a
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warning Mr Hampton hello
there hello we got a pretty good catch I
think we did good
probably got 150 lb of blowfish or 170
four bushel of five bushel of crab six
probably almost 100 lb of
conks so I would I would say it's very
good this used to be a big fish
company uh that has gone out of business
and I just rent space here to run my
operation yeah I I got con here maybe
150 lb or so or more all right I'm pack
like hour I yeah yeah no problem I'll
definitely be here all right okay right
bye this wonderful flip
bone and uh keeps things very simple
it's a little hectic because I'm limited
in the time I can be here usually I do
two hours a day uh from uh 3: to 5: try
to make everybody happy at 5:00 that
gives me a 12-hour day and uh that's
enough you know at my age so 12 * 7 is
84 hours a week if I don't if I can get
home early so that's too full-time jobs
in four or 5 hours overtime and what
would you like sir how many crabs two
dozen LGE two dozen large we got them
today I didn't have them yesterday these
are beautiful crabs you're going to like
these that' be
$60 you are going to enjoy them they're
probably the nicest ones I got this year
okay size seems to be getting a little
bigger every time I go out 10
lb oh
over oh God you're way off I know 132 lb
let me write up a ticket it gets hectic
course you got to have everything iced
and washed and you're getting
interruptions from retail customers and
then there was another crabber who can't
catch enough
crabs I didn't even get the CRA crabs
off the boat he grabbed two bushel so
I'm down to one bushel left for a store
that wants
five and uh which is wonderful but I
don't have time to catch these crabs at
the price that the market is uh doing
right now I just do that as a favor to
my customers that have been with me all
year and just so they have crabs for
their retail store and they don't lose
their customers and over the long term
the course of the year it'll work out
for both of us but just to cut somebody
off and then they're stuck with no crabs
uh you shouldn't do that as a as a
businessman just as a person in general