Chapter 5 Three More Traps...

I look in the mirror and Scott is shifting quite a bit on his feet. Crab is going in the box so my guess is he's feeling the heat of the day. It's hard to tell since he's facing out the back of the boat but his body language is showing that I'm probably going to shorten this long line in to two separate ones when we move them. Moose looks a little bored as he gaffs the next buoy. It's easier to read how things are going by the winch man since you see his face more often than the one clearing. Yup, they're getting bored.

I really didn't intend to make a 6 mile line, but when we were dropping them in the water they didn't listen when I told them to count the traps and let me know when they got to sixty. They just kept on dropping. The bottom looked good, the depth was good, everything said crab so I let them keep dropping. Besides, Scott knows what he's doing. If he was concerned about putting the whole boatload in one line, I'm pretty sure he would've stopped halfway.

There's about three more miles according to the plotter. "Three more traps!" I announce to the guys. "Really?" Moose looks up the line as far as he can from the hauling station. Scott looks over at him, smiles and shakes his head as he looks back into the trap in front of him. I can tell by his movements he's laughing. "Ummmm I think I see a few more up that way though..." Moose starts insinuating as he pulls the next rope through the table and points up north east with the gaff before putting it down. "Probably three more Miles" Scott chimed in emphasizing the word miles. "Yeah I thought there was a lot more and maybe she lost them" Moose replied and added with more of a serious and concerned tone "I was trying to figure how Morgan lost track of the traps. Or maybe how I did and we pulled more than I thought..." They both start laughing and talking and seemed a little more energetic.

Patrón sat down and looked at me and made a sigh with his nose. "Sometimes they just need a recharge." I tell him. And he did a few circles and laid down and started his puppy nap. He's such a good boy. He stays with me in the wheelhouse when we're working. He knows all the dog safety rules. Dogs stay in the wheelhouse while we work. Dogs stay in the wheelhouse while we're underway. The dog restroom is on the front of the boat, although he doesn't like to 'go' on the boat and waits till we get to the dock anyway. Dogs don't leave the boat at any dock without an escort. He knows 'on board' 'on dock' 'wheelhouse' 'docking' and a bunch of other boat terms and what to do when he hears them as fisherman dogs typically do. He loves the boat. I don't worry about him on the boat, it's on land that I worry. He's not very street smart when it comes to things with wheels.

The line was going really smooth and we got through almost a mile when I overheard them mentioning trying to figure out how to grab a water in between traps. I had to chuckle a bit at their planning. The thought of them trying to slow down the winch without getting hit by the trap, although easily done, wasn't going to give enough time for either of them to make it to the front of the boat and back. I'd rather them not mess up the perfect spacing they had in the line. I gave the engine a slight rev for Scott to drop his cleared trap a little early, and intentionally kept the boat too far out of reach from the next buoy. They both look at the buoy being really far away then looked at me. There was an "it's over there" from Scott, and an "ummmm" from Moose who didn't even try to reach for it. Good, I was hoping it would go just like that. "Oops." I said as I turned the boat to go back for the buoy, "I'm going to do a quick circle if you guys need to grab anything."

As soon as they noticed I was headed off course to go back, they were both headed for the cooler. This particular boat doesn't take tight turns when turning around, so the wide circle back gave them a short two minute break. "I don't know how you missed that one, they looked pretty straight" Scott laughed as he handed me a water from the cooler. I just shrugged my shoulders. Patrón awoke from his nap mid circle noticing we weren't going the right way and decided to check it out. Scott dropped a few ice cubes in his bowl, and Patrón fished them out of the water like he was getting a tasty treat and crunched away on his ice.

Scott and Moose were back in position with an extra bottle of water in their areas each before I got back to the line. Moose was ready to gaff the buoy right on que. Scott looked like he was back to his work mode and they both seemed happier after a short water break. Neither of them would've asked and I'd never tell them I missed the buoy intentionally so they could grab a water. We were ahead of schedule, and the entire pull was going smooth, so we had plenty of time for a circle.

Patrón was back in the window seat for the next twenty or so buoys before he hopped over to the Captains seat and sat next to me. He looked out the window, then watched Moose gaff the buoy and Scott slide the trap before he laid down directly behind me with his head on the armrest so I could pet his soft ears. That's been his other favorite spot since he was able to reach his head onto the armrest while laying down. "Only another mile to go Patrón." He closed his eyes to regain his nap status.

"Three More Traps" I tell the guys. They both laugh.