Happy New Year To All!
Saltwater inshore, offshore, blue water fishing report, Freshies Suggestions, and "Little Miss Judy's story! Thanks for reading! Captain Judy
An Interview with Dean Liccardo a Seasoned Commercial Fisherman
When I am fortunate enough to get to meet and talk to an ex-commercial fisherman I am "all ears." The reason being is that their stories are so interesting and there inside views of what a fish really wants to eat is so very interesting. That last sentence leads in to the fact that "Dean Liccardo didn't let me down in this department!"
I always say, "I am going to bring my tape recorder next and every time!" By the way it's in my purse as you are reading this now!
As I talked to Dean I realized that he and I had a lot in common. The reason being is that we have been in situations where we loved the ocean and then there were times when we didn't! This means we really welcomed some dry land under our feet"been there done that many times!" It's true as with anything else that what you do for a living there are "good and bad days." However, with most jobs when you are fed up "you can jus take a walk." With our job there would be a whole lot of swimming involved after making such a decision. Here are just a few things that Dean said that were not only interesting, but also very understandable by me
The only difference between jail and commercial fishing is that you are not likely to drown in Jail. After a while, when it comes to going commercial fishing you cant wait to leave and you can't wait to get back!
Dean's White Knuckle Event
Heading home one day from a long fishing trip the crew found themselves in a real bad storm, which lasted quite a few days. Dean got so tired of hearing the Captain scream; "hold on" that he asked the captain to just let him know when it was safe to let go!
As I looked at his hands I noticed that he had all of his digits intact. By the way I do too! However, a commercial fisherman's work life on the boat is very dangerous. This boils down to the fact that small parts such as fingers and toes can get pulled, bitten, or cut off fast. When out on the high seas just like in the movies "even when body parts fly the work still has to get done!" When I think about it I don't know if I was cut out to be a commercial fisherman. After all I am home every night not out on the sea wondering what's going to happen next! I have been out on over night adventures and believe me that is exactly what they were. This is where those sea monsters that you just dreamed about start making noises and everything down under definitely looks a whole lot bigger!
Since I am on the subject of "Captain Judy's Seventies Overnight Gulf Stream Adventures" I will share this one story. The particular over night fishing trip involved three boats. Back then it was decided that if you booked an over night trip you had at least take two boats. Well, this particular group had about 18 fishermen that wanted to stay overnight at the good old Gulf Stream. So therefore it took three boats to accommodate this party. After loading up the boats, we finally started "making way" at a strong 15 knots! Back then this was the top speed for the charter boats in this area. A one-way trip to the Gulf Stream took approximately 41/2 to 5 hours.
There were a few things that I don't remember doing myself, which was checking the weather forecast. As a matter of fact there wasn't any instance weather broadcasts back in the good old days. My father used to say, "if it's blowing hard we won't go, if it's not we are out of here!" In other words, "we will deal with tomorrow's weather tomorrow!"
On this particular day there were calm winds and prefect sea conditions. Our plans were to get to about 200 feet of water; bottom fish till about an hour before dark, and then anchor up all three boats until the next morning. All went smoothly from the arrival to entire daytime fishing event. The bottom line, we caught lots of fish. After anchoring up some fishermen decided to fish while others wanted to just relax and enjoy the solid pitch-black ocean. After midnight I decided to take a few winks. I had several people watching, as well as those on our other boats, for ships and of course sea monsters of the night. You know it's funny, you certainly do hear a lot of strange noises when anchored up without the engines running. I always got this question, "what made that noise." My standard answer, which was most likely wrong was, "It was a whale!"
After a bit of small talk I was looking forward to leaning back in my helm chair and taking a quick nap. However, even though my eyes were closed I kept all the background noise in check. As I got my "forty winks" different noises started moving in and taking over the current regular sounds. I immediately stood up to see my young first mate with a hammer in his hand. Before I could say, "what the heck are you doing?" he slammed the hammer down towards the deck obviously missing the target. Had I not been watching this noise would have sent me screaming up from my half-a-sleep mode! Before I could scream, "stop" another wild swing of the hammer had taken place. This hard blow clearly hit the deck, because I heard fiberglass "just-a-cracking!"
Before I could seize control of my mate's madness I looked down on the deck and there must have been six or seven large long eel looking creatures. These creatures were wiggling about like at fish, but it was clear they weren't! From this exact moment these were sea serpents
It was dark and everywhere they shined the flashlight another so-called "sea serpent" was in the spotlight. Not only that but there were lots of hooks flying about with the movements of these green slimy looking snake things. A lot of things ran through my mind such as I had just seen a show on the television about sea snakes and their death causing capabilities. Although these creatures didn't have the same color I couldn't completely rule that out. Then there was this thing that I had read about how these big female eels migrate to the Gulf Stream to spawn. Now these snakes' types were about the right color for possibly being conger eels. However, these bad boys had inverted teeth. So therefore the possible eel thing was so called immediately ruled out. They weren't moray eels, because the movement made didn't match up to their amazing ability to removing a hook instantly. With all these things going through my head I had to grab hold and say, "I don't know what these things are so therefore we have got to throw them back!" Since I didn't have any sort of identification booklet on board. I couldn't look them up. Not only that I didn't have a camera, either. This is where my partial "photogenic memory" would come into to play.
From the instance these so called serpents were released big tales were spun! We all agreed that they were about 5 to 6 feet long and had a body shape of a snake, which was just about the size of a 31/2 pipe. Apparently we had a plumber on board on this fishing trip. Since none of us had taken a picture tales were told for sure!
About 15 years after this happened we caught another one, but it wasn't as big. When we looked this fish up it appeared to be what was called a "sand tile." I took a long look and a picture. However, the sand tile didn't look anything like what we had on the deck. So therefore "Sea Serpents" they must have been! And that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Best Commercial Baits Used!
As I talked to Dean the subject of best baits used came up. This is where I was really going to listen. After all I am talking with a man that has caught thousands of pounds of fish. So therefore "bait is something he really knows about!"
The first thing that we talked about was "salted mullet." Dean said, they would cut up hundreds of pounds for each fishing trip. The mullet cut up were about 8 to 12 inches long and they came in frozen flats. They would take a ban saw and cut them into hook size pieces. The cut pieces would then be layered in a tub with lots of rock salt, which would keep them without ice.
Back in the old days my father packed his squid, ballyhoo, and sometimes beer in rock salt. This helped toughen up the bait and a little rock salt on your ice and beer really kept it extra cold!
Dean also said, "that stingray made excellent bait!" According to Dean the wings were great as bait, because they stayed on the hook longer. It's amazing, I have never used ray as cut bait. However, I do know that a small stingray "dead or alive" makes real good shark bait! All these tales of bait were interesting. However, if I knew what was coming next I would have been more prepared!
Dean's next best bait used was something that I thought I had used before, because he called it "fish bellies!" As you know if you have been reading my reports I love using what I call "fish bellies!" However, my bait used and Dean's bait is close, but entirely different. I use the stomach wall, because it's tough, easily stripped, and stays on the hook. Dean uses the internals, which is what the stomach wall is holding in tact. As we talked, I had to keep asking "the insides, intestines, guts, etc?" And he replied "yes!"
As we talked he explained how and why they used this unusual bait. According to Dean this was the best bait to use for big fish. Dean continued, "Lets take a grouper for instance: The best bait for grouper is grouper! If you take the out the guts of the first fish caught and it happens to be a grouper, you will probably catch another grouper." As I am listening I am thinking, "How the heck does this stay on the hook?" Then it came to me as Dean explained, "The guts used as bait aren't fragile." The only part that's soft and falls apart is the liver. According to Dean, this is the only part of the fish that's not used for something. At any rate, he discards the liver and simply puts what I call the stringy part of the entrails on the hook.
As Dean talked I studied my thoughts on this particular situation. While I was thinking he said, "when sitting on a hook it looks like a live fleeing octopus." In a fish's world especially those that feed mostly in a deep holding pattern this is big time "fish candy!" So therefore we come to the bottom line to the reasoning behind this particular bait. The fish eats, it goes to the stomach, where it's processed, the scent then perforates the entrails, you catch the fish, gut it, put guts on hook, you catch another fish, and repeat!
Dean commercially fished a lot of places all over the world. He has seen some of the most unbelievable sights. Most countries have absolutely no restrictions and all fish as well as those swim with them are fair game. I choose not to go into these details, because then this lighthearted article would turn into a marine nightmare.
Before Dean's boat would push off to sea for their fishing trips, which lasted from one week to several months the captain would always load beer and rum. I had to ask, "Did you drink on the boat?" The answer came quick, "no!" The brought aboard alcohol wasn't for drinking it was for trading for foods or whatever they might need from other boats. He remembers this one time that they traded a case of beer for a bushel of pawn shrimp and a quart of rum for peck of live lobsters. Actually the list was much longer with the trading thing working quite well for the captain and crew!
Dean's "Banana Leaf Cooked Fish"
Before closing, Dean passed on this amazing fish recipe. He cooked this on many occasions while visiting the islands. Here's what you need, if you want to give it a try
Two large banana leafs, pineapple slices, piece of fresh grouper fillet or any fish fillet that you care to use
Crank up the old grill and get it hot
Lay first banana leaf down, lay down a plate of pineapple to thickness slices to accommodate the fish, lay fish on top of pineapple, cover topside of fish with pineapple, and then lay second banana leaf on top.
Cook first side until the banana leaf lying directly on grill is totally dry, then flip over and grill until the second leaf is completely dry. Dean said, "it pineapple poached fish that doesn't taste like either! The fact of the matter is it has it own signature taste. Dean says, "It's unbelievably good!" Since I just got this recipe I haven't personally tried it, but it sounds good to me and well worth trying! As soon as my banana plants re-group I plan on giving this fish recipe a try! A
Hope everyone enjoyed this interview as much as I did. It was so very nice meeting Dean and his wife Marla! Thanks for reading!
Captain Judy