By: Ancriso White
The sun is rising over the trees. "The sun coming over the trees is always a start of a good fishing trip."
Another image of the sunrise. There is always a nice reflection coming off the water when clear.
Here we are making sure to give the docked vessels plenty of room. We don't want to cause any wake and possibly damage vessels.
Once out of the bay, we start to take on waves. The deckhand must communicate things he sees to the captain inside. because the captain can only see so much.
Watching the tides change, the further offshore we went. Recognizing the way the tides and currents is flowing is big when trying to mark fish.
Positioning the boat to get ready to drop and try to catch something. The first few drops can be bad when you are trying to get the boat over the fish and staying on them.
Now that the boat is over the fish, we have a talk with the fishermen. As the deckhand, it is your job to make sure everyone understands what to do in certain situations while on the water.
Handing out bait for bottom fishing happens at the first stop. The bait that the deckhand cut up was squid, stingray, cigar minnows, and Bonita.
The first fish caught. This is a species of grunt that is plentiful in the Atlantic Ocean.
Some fishermen like to hold their catch up to get a picture. While we like for everyone to get all of the photos, they like, some fish caught will be venomous or have sharp teeth, and the deckhand is the one to usually deal with them.
Freshly caught American Red Snapper. The deckhand is onboard to make sure that all fish are within regulation and standards with fish and wildlife before putting any fish into the coolers.
While fishing, you may see other ships and boats such as cargo ships, shrimp boats, crabbers, and many others. The deckhands usually reassure people if they have concerns about big ships while out on the water.
When the fish are caught, they are put in baskets. The baskets are used by deckhands so they can check each fish before they go into the ice chest.
This is a lizard fish. The deckhands say that these usually begin to bite as the day goes on, and the big game fish have slowed on biting.
Pulling the anchor up. The anchor usually takes both the deckhand and the captain to pull it up.
Now that the captain is taking everyone back in, it's time to clean the boat. The deckhand mixes many different chemicals into a bucket, connects it to a hose, and begins to spray the boat down.
The weather is changing for the worse. When the vessel was headed out, the day started clear. The deckhand says that the weather can change at any moment, and he and the captain have to communicate when they see changes.
Now back at the dock. Once everyone is off the vessel, the deckhand begins to call out the numbers of fish stringers so everyone can collect their catch.
