Setting Day Processional
Maybe it’s time to dust off the “Composer Hat” and prepare a soundtrack. I just watched a Flickr slideshow (new window to the world will open) dedicated to those who fish. Not your weekend angler, but the ones that put their life on the waterline, day after day.
The slideshow documents “Setting Day 2006”, which took place just over a week ago. Much of the content was shot at North Lake Harbour; a port where my grandfather fished, my father almost drowned and I did maintenance diving (not for the faint of heart) for some of the same captains who are seen heading out to sow their traps at dawn.
Take a forty-foot “Cape Islander”. Load it to capacity with a fleet of traps that have been “gone over”, baited and tied on to their lines. Paint your marker buoys up in colours and patterns that are every much heraldic as any shield of Arthurian times. Then, throw the whole load overboard into deep dark waters. An Act of Faith in the ability of the captain to return to the same spot in a few days. An Act of Hope that the trap will have attracted ONLY lobster. No sea urchin, crab, or rockfish need apply. An Act of Love, to rebait that same trap, day after day for the next two months.
Each boat looks as ready as any new bride; in white, with splashes of colour. Those same craft will be somewhat worse for the wear by late June. Somewhat malodourous, too.
I salute those captains and mates. My cousins, my neighbours, my friends among them. May this season be one of record proportion!
