Long Sleepless Nights

After a long, sleepless night of baiting and setting crab pots, the fishermen anxiously await the captain’s call to begin hauling them in. What’s in the first pot of the season as it’s pulled onto the deck sets the mood for the crew, and the questions on everyone’s mind are who’s got crab and where are they fishing?Some boats are “”on the crab,”” while others are “”pulling blanks.”” The early losers agonize over strategy, hoping to make up for lost catch, while the winners try to figure out how to keep the crab coming. Others just want to start fishing … One boat has broken the bin boards in its storage tank, which must be fixed before they can pull in their first pot. Every minute spent repairing broken equipment costs the crew serious money, and the greenhorns learn quickly that there’s no sympathy for fatigue.