Free Write Tuesday prompt Uncertain Future
This is my post for #freewrite prompt Uncertain Future by @mariannewest
Being a commercial fisherman I have always had an uncertain future, I never know what amount of money I will make when I leave the house each morning. Some days I make very little or even nothing when expenses are taken out. Other days I can make very good money. I can go for weeks without making a dime because the weather was to bad to fish. This is why it is important to fish everyday weather lets me.
Many years ago before the net ban, we were roe mullet fishing, we use to make 6 months of our money in the 6 weeks we fished roe mullet. We knew the right weather that the fish moved on and knew where they would be coming from. They came out of the Sebastian river to go in the ocean to spawn, we were regulated on what size mesh our nets could have and there were closed times so many of them had a chance to spawn.
My husband in his boat, me in mine. We got to the mouth of the Sebastian river before daylight and there were three Fort Pierce boats sitting there waiting on the fish to show. But the guys in all three boats were asleep, my husband saw a mullet clear the water, he told me he was going to set his net to the south and he wanted me to set to the north of him. We both went to making our circles, my husband went so close to one of the sleeping boats that he knocked the guys oar overboard. The guy later told us he thought someone was shooting at him, it was the lead line going out the boat. By this time the guys on the three boats woke up and saw all the mullet in the air and us setting them. It was all over by the time they got their anchors pulled. One of my sisters was driving by and saw what was going on, she went to the fish house and borrowed someones sleekers and gloves then drove back to where I was and walked down to the shore and yelled for me to come get her, she got on my boat and helped me rope the fish in. One of the Fort Pierce boats pulled up to me and said, lady, you are not going to get all those fish back on that boat, I told him to watch me. He was wanting me to tell him to go to the other end of my net and start picking it up. I was not going to give the fish to any of them, I was waiting for one of my friends to get there and give them to him. When my friend got there I told him what the guy said and told him to start on the other end. He said like hell you can't put them on your boat, I will guide you. We would put so many in the bow and he would say ok now start putting them in the stern, now put them in the middle, then back to the bow and so forth till I got them all on the boat, my sister ended up getting on my friends boat, my boat looked like a sheet of plywood with a big mound of fish on it. My boat was an 18-foot flat-bottom skiff and I put 4500 pounds of mullet on it. My husband had a 24-foot bowrider that he built, a bowrider is a boat with the motor near the bow. He had over 6000. When we left the house that morning we knew the weather was right for them to move but never dreamed we would catch that many. The kids had a great Christmas that year. We had to get the fish house to give us two checks because it was over 10,000.00 and someone told us if you get a check over 10 grand it sends red flags to the IRS.
This is the boat my husband built and used that day, he is setting mullet in this picture but it was not this day
This is the boat I fished that day
My fish was smaller than yesterdays fish. I had 21 trout that weighed 40 pounds
So much regulation in our lives….and most of it to our detriment.
You certainly have some great stories to tell.
It’s the Wednesday prompt delivery team here with the painful prompt for today:
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-677-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-burnt-skin
deirdyweirdy thank you for the prompt and liking my life stories
Hello..!! 😊🤗
@myjob
My work like yours can be feast or famine. I hope to make enough money to survive a long Winter as it hard for me to leave my cabin. Living day by day...week to week.
Sure do have to plan and hope to save. I always run short but seem to survive.
😘
@annephilbrick being self-employed you have to put back for the days of no work, we make very good money fishing but the days we can not fish takes it down to not making that much, like your winters of not being able to work. We have had many times I have worried how are we going to pay the bill, but somehow we do.
I'm getting really worried about the Hurricane/Storm heading toward Florida 😥.
@annephilbrick I am worried about it, too. they are saying it will come in on us. We live 20 miles north of Vero Beach in Sebastian, they are saying it will be a cat 4 when it hits, we have had many hurricanes but have never had a cat 4 hit here. If it does hit here I am afraid I will not have a fish house to fish for. I do not think that the old building can stand that type of weather. We are trimming what trees we can near our trailer, that is about all we can do.
😖😥😯
Oh dear...!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn...!!!!
Please keep me and all your Steemit friends posted...❤
🙏❤🙏❤ .....!!!!
Big Hug to You !!!!
@annephilbrick that is so sweet, hugs back to you. You made me smile.
🤗
![20190830_191005.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNQ6KyzHv8bYtA8gggTBLtRMBNYpFUKPCEifTb11rehFV/20190830_191005.jpg)
BIG GIANT HUG...!!!! ❤...!!!
A picture just for you from my garden.
Purple coneflower
🐛
@annephilbrick awww, they are smiling at me, I love them. When I was a teenager this was my favorite color, I wanted my room painted lavender but Dad would not let me paint it.
It is good you are so positive, uncertain about how or what can eat one.
Comparing to those days you two need to work hard now. I wonder if you ever wanted to do something else. Are there easier jobs?
💕
Posted using Partiko Android
@wakeupkitty there are easier jobs, a lot easier but we would be unhappy. Hard work has never bothered me. As I have aged and hurt my back, I have had to change the way I fish, after the net ban I threw a 12 foot cast net then with my back I had to go to a 10 foot now I am down to a 9 foot one, I don't castnet much anymore I stick to rod and reel fishing.