ON DECK
On the Homefront
Our House: The Old Man and the Cowboy By Lori French
oy I didn’t see that one coming. It’s been a pretty wild ride since 2019, in everyone’s lives, I’m sure. In Our House, 2020 and 2021 seemed to have taken the “Here, Hold My Beer Challenge” to an entirely new level, and not in a good way. Sometime while the Old Man of
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decided he was done and moved to Hawaii. I can’t blame him with all the ^%$#@!*&^%$#@! fishing politics in the state of California. Crab Brother-in-Law’s new lifestyle has meant big changes in Our House. The Old Man of the Sea wasn’t planning on fishing this crab season
“In Our House, 2020 and 2021 seemed to have taken the ‘Here, Hold My Beer Challenge’ to an entirely new level, and not in a good way.” while I was busily worrying about how I was going to keep the Old Man of the Sea entertained. Perhaps another 2,000 laying hens for my/our small egg business? Perhaps I could rent him out as a Honey Do man? Plant another 500 avocado trees? These were all on the table. Of course, he had no idea as to my plans for him, so he made his own plans. It all started a couple of summers ago when the Young Cowboy across the road
Lori French photos
the Sea and his brother were out salmon fishing, Crab Brother-in-Law told the Old Man of the Sea that he was retiring. Now the Old Man of the Sea and his brother have been partners since 1987. Over the years, they fine-tuned their fishing to the point where I don’t even think they talk ever while on the boats. They just knew what each other was doing automatically. It worked well. And then Crab Brother-in-Law
Daniel Thoreson and Jeff French teamed up on the 29-footer Fishy Business out of Half Moon Bay, Calif.
8 National Fisherman \ Spring 2022
bought a small salmon boat and sold it while looking for a slightly bigger boat. This kid has always been a go-getter with more energy than me at that age. That’s saying something. His parents have been our only neighbors for many years until the town started moving closer.Yeah, we knew him before he was born. He has his own herd of cattle, he rides, he ropes, he welds, he surfs, he mountain bikes. In 2014, he won the National Skills USA Gold Medal for welding. The kid is never still. And now that he’s 25, I probably shouldn’t call him a kid. Back in the olden days before the Old Man of the Sea fixed the road fences, I’d call the Young Cowboy to help me get the cows back in when they were up on the road. (Trust me, it was a thing. First week that the Old Man of the Sea would leave for salmon season, I’d be finding the Mamas up on the road. I once called him on the boat and threatened divorce unless he fixed the fences.) Anyways, the kid loves fishing and he found a bigger small boat than the salmon boat — a boat with a Dungeness permit. And he needed crab pots. The Old Man of the Sea had crab pots — an entire barn full. And so the new partnership was born. All of a sudden, the Old Man of the Sea was in his full-blown Getting Ready for Crab Season mode. It’s a fun time of year if you like a stressed out fisherman who is trying to finish up harvesting the avocados and has a wife with a growing egg business that he takes care of while she is at work. Fun Times. We were already past the Nov. 15 supposed-toopen-crab-season date (insert a very sarcastic “Thanks, Center for Biological Diversity”) and into the whale waiting period. And then Christmas started inching closer. They needed to be outfitted. The Old Man of the Sea needed a new sleeping bag. Do you know how hard it is to find a sleeping bag in December in the middle of a pandemic? I needed to make sure they had snacks for the opening week. And they needed coffee. Apparently, the boat came with a Keurig www.nationalfisherman.com
