Page 41 - A Visit with Trueman Clark, Gabarus

ISSUE : Issue 62

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/1/1

months, you wouldn't get 12-hundred. (Is that 12 hundred pounds?) Pounds, yes, by the weight. And looks to me now, I've seen fellows going out, get 3 or 4 fish, well-- that's nothing. I have gone out there, I stopped and anchored--I think it was around 8 o'clock in the morning, or half past 7, something like that. Twelve o'clock I had 1200 pound of fish in the boat. Alone. (And how were you fishing that--was it trawl?) A handline and bait. We were hand- lining bait, that's all. (No trawl.) No trawl, no. (How many lines would you oper? ate at once?) Two. Sometimes three. Have one over each side, maybe one over the stern. (And keep them all moving?) Try to, anyway, best you could. (You were a busy man.) Well, anybody is busy that's fishing. And they've two lines out and the fish are biting--they're busy. But if it's like it is now, your line is apt to rot off on the side of the boat before you get a bite. (I wonder what made the difference here.) I've got no idea. Got no idea what it is. A lot of them blame it to the trawlers and all. But the trawlers wouldn't take it all--there'd be some get inside of them. That's my belief of it.... (Is that the way you always fished your codfish, from when you were a small boy up to...?) Yes. I always fished that way-- handline.... I fished up till I was 69. Commercially. Oh, not all the time, but there was a--2 or 3 years I got away from it, but that's all. That's all. (What all did you fish those years?) Cod? fish and mackerel, herring, swordfish. Well, whatever they want to catch, you catch it. That's the way it is--whatever you could get. (Now you yourself--in 59 years of fishing, did you yourself ever have any trouble aboard a boat?) No. I never had any trou? ble. I always got out and back in, when I was fish? ing. (Did you ever fall overboard?) Ha! Fall over? board? I fell overboard al? most before I could crawl. Trueman laughs. 1 got back. Come ashore. Not quite that bad, but.... I was up here in the Har? bour Cove--what they called the Harbour Cove at that time. Into the flat (boat) there and I went to move, and I tell you--I fell overboard. So, I didn't do much to it. I swum ashore. I swum ashore and took off the clothes--all but the underwear, and then I swum out and got the boat--the flat I was rowing around into. Didn't have sense enough for something for to catch ahold of the boat when she was there, and crawl back aboard. I went ashore and took off the clothes! (So you knew how to swim.) Oh yes, I could swim a little bit. (Because very often a fisherman doesn't know how to swim.) Oh! Seventy per cent of the people around here couldn't swim, at that time. (What made you learn?) Made me learn? I guess I was running around through the water, and too stupid to keep away from where the other fellow was at, and he fired me overboard. And I guess it was swim or sink. So I swum to the shore. And that's what started me swimming. (Did you like to swim?) Oh yes, I'd swim. (Would you go down just for pleasure?) Oh yes, I'd jump in the water and swim, some? times a half a mile. I had no trouble in the water. I was as good in the water al? most as I was on the land. (But in 59 years, did you ever lose a boat?) I never lost a boat.... (So you'd fish the season. And you said you did carpentry work.) Yes, I did a li- tle bit of that, carpentry work around different places. Botch work--I don't know what you call it, but I worked at it any? way. (Building boats?) Yes, I had a hand at that, with my brother. I guess, from Muffler Man • NEW LOCATION • 93 King St., North Sydney ID 3ERVIOES! • Exhaust • Brakes • Struts • Shocks • Springs • Michelin and Brunswick Tires • Wheel Balancing (Life Time Warranty) B Estimates 794-7500 So...You Own A Piece Of Nova Scotia Good Stewardship is Up to You ! About 75 percent of Nova Scotia's forest land is owned privately, with about 50 per cent in holdings less than 400 hectares in size. Increasing demands upon our forests for recreation, to supply wood, to sustain wildlife and to purify our air and water, mean land owners must take an active part in the care of this valued resource. To find out more about what you can do to keep your piece of Nova Scotia healthy and productive contact the Department of Natural Resources office nearest you. Nova Scotia '['' Department of '''S' Natural Resources Hon. John G. Leefe Minister John Mullally, Deputy Minister

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