Back in the 1800's commercial fishing was done primarily by the use of a sailing schooner. The crews of a snapper schooner were: A captain, a cook/lead man and the other linehandlers. The lead man was a key player, but he crew often did take turns throwing the lead. The lead was used to fin hard bottom. The lead had a hollow lower end, which cntained a mixture of soap and wax. this would get whatever was on the bottom to stick to it. Live coral or small creatures indicated live bottom and possible fish.
The lead was used to find hard bottom upinto the 1950's for the grouper boats out of Tarpon Springs, Florida. Snapper schooners brought mostly red snapper to market. However, grouper and porgy were also caught and kept. Often some captains did not keep porgies.
On snapper schooners, the lead line usually had one or two baited hooks attached to it. When snapper was indicated or taken on the lead line, the crew jumped into action. 1
1 Some information was taken from Tales of Old Florida, (Castle) Edited by Frank Oppel & Tony Meisel
Part 2
Back in the 1800's the schooners small boats (dory's) would be launched from the snapper schooner when the indications of snapper were good enough. A schooner may carry 4 to 6 Dory's. By using this method, they could cover much more area. (As late as the 1960's cuban grouper boats used the same method until the 200 mile zone was initiated.) The cooks only other job was to take the wheel while the rest of the crew caught fish off the schooner's decks.
Most snapper schooners had bunkers in the hole to keep the blocis of ice for the catch. The crew used hand-lines with a rag wrapped around one hand to fight the fish with. Catches were recorded up to 1500 fish taken on a trip. (2) There were always fish to catch, they just had to find them. In those days, overfishing was never thought about. However, with the advent of Loran and then the GPS location devices, plus sonar fish finding devices, overfishing soon reared its ugly head in the 1970 and 1980's.
(2) Tales of Old Florida, (Castle) Edited by Frank Oppel & Tony Meisel
The lead was used to find hard bottom upinto the 1950's for the grouper boats out of Tarpon Springs, Florida. Snapper schooners brought mostly red snapper to market. However, grouper and porgy were also caught and kept. Often some captains did not keep porgies.
On snapper schooners, the lead line usually had one or two baited hooks attached to it. When snapper was indicated or taken on the lead line, the crew jumped into action. 1
1 Some information was taken from Tales of Old Florida, (Castle) Edited by Frank Oppel & Tony Meisel
Part 2
Back in the 1800's the schooners small boats (dory's) would be launched from the snapper schooner when the indications of snapper were good enough. A schooner may carry 4 to 6 Dory's. By using this method, they could cover much more area. (As late as the 1960's cuban grouper boats used the same method until the 200 mile zone was initiated.) The cooks only other job was to take the wheel while the rest of the crew caught fish off the schooner's decks.
Most snapper schooners had bunkers in the hole to keep the blocis of ice for the catch. The crew used hand-lines with a rag wrapped around one hand to fight the fish with. Catches were recorded up to 1500 fish taken on a trip. (2) There were always fish to catch, they just had to find them. In those days, overfishing was never thought about. However, with the advent of Loran and then the GPS location devices, plus sonar fish finding devices, overfishing soon reared its ugly head in the 1970 and 1980's.
(2) Tales of Old Florida, (Castle) Edited by Frank Oppel & Tony Meisel
No comments:
Post a Comment