Setting day ritual

By Eric McCarthy

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

MIMINEGASH, P.E.I. – Every year around Aug. 9 - give or take a day or two - there’s a parade out of south side harbours.

It’s not a parade of banners or candy-tossing merchants, but a procession of boats laden with lobster traps and buoys.

This is the start of the fall lobster fishery - setting day. It is a sight that never grows old.

Neighbours, family members and strangers line the wharfs to see the boats off. Many carry cameras to capture the annual spectacle.

It’s been several years since I sailed on setting day, so I jumped at the opportunity when Robbie and Chris Wedge invited me along.

“You should come out; you’d get some nice pictures,” Capt. Robbie suggested.

“Let’s go,” Chris shouted as he pulled in the moor line shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9.

With Chris Wedge and Francis Gaudet positioned at the stern of the boat ready to commence their day’s work, My Three Ladies was the fifth boat to exit the mouth of the harbour. Robbie Wedge sailed straight out, turned right 90 degrees and let off on the throttle, signalling the start of their season.

“OK?” Chris shouted.

“OK,” came the answer from the wheelhouse, and Francis tossed the first buoy overboard. It was 6:01 a.m. The last of the 115 traps onboard would slide off the deck at 7:05 a.m. Just another 135 to go.

Special care has to be taken in offloading, and that’s especially so when gear is stowed right to the stern. There’s precious little foot room for letting off the first traps of the load.

And there’s fathoms of rope piled on the floor of the boat. It is important to be standing inside the trap line as gear is being played out. Quick-footedness helps.

The Wedges fish five-trap bunches. There’s a buoy at both ends of the bunch.

Traps were piled onto the boat in sequence. Bunch No. 1 went on first. Bunch 23 was the first to be tossed into the sea, into about 50 feet of water. Grab the wrong trap in the bunch and there could be problems. On this trip there are no complications. On a couple of occasions the crew has to shout up to the captain to slow down.

Capt. Robbie remains on the controls, but ventures back to tap the final trap of the load for good luck before it slides over the side.

“He gets all the headaches,” Chris says of the captain’s role. They’ve been fishing together 17 years, ever since Robbie took over their father’s gear.

The Wedge crew is the third boat back in port. By 7:20 a.m. they’ve started taking on their second load of traps.

(Eric McCarthy is a journalist with Transcontinental Media's Journal Pioneer, which is a contributor to the Sou'Wester.)