RC: Well, of course, if we sold them right here they would bring
them in and ice them down. They already would be roughed
up. Then they would ship them to Georgia or Alabama and
sell them all right. Now you have to carry ice with you and
throw them right on the ice.
E: When did you change over from a johnboat to a kicker boat?
Did you ever fish with a pole skiff?
RC: I do not know. Maybe ten years ago.
E: You have to make a lot more money off of mullet to pay for a
boat, motor, and gas, than fishing with a pole skiff. Do
you catch that many more mullet to make it worth while? You
have to catch a lot more mullet for the boat, because all of
sudden the boat gets a share. The boat did not get a share
when you had only three people go out and rope them up. Now
the boat kicks itself in for a share.
RC: Every now and then you have to have another motor.
E: But, you can cover a lot more ground with a kicker boat.
You can fish a whole bay out there in one day. So you would
catch something more often with a kicker boat, too, right?
RC: Yes.
E: When did you start tarpon guiding or charter fishing?
RC: I started about 1934. I guess 1935 would have been my first
year.
E: Out of Useppa?
RC: Yes. I had Faithful I in 1936. Then Miss Crowninshield's
boat Carusine II.
E: What season did you fish then?
RC: Well, I started the Miss Rhienhart from December to the
fifteenth of April.
E: Were there any tarpon here at that time of the year?
RC: We would catch one every now and then, yes.
E: What did they fish for most of the time?
RC: We would go trolling for trout. Just trolling. We did not
have any shrimp or anything like that. [We caught] snook,
trout, and mackerel.
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