|
Larry Haertling (diver) & Bill Green with their "trophy"
trap float that got caught in their prop on the way to Shark river in the
Everglades.
|
Everyone who lives in the Keys knows this is a big point of contention between
commercial fishermen and recreational boaters. I had a tourist on my boat once
out in Hawk’s channel, who asked me why I left the marked channel. I hadn’t done
anything but maintain a set course. In bewilderment I asked him what he meant.
He pointed to hundreds of trap floats surrounding us – when you look in any one
direction it looks like someone has marked a narrow road on the water. When I
detoured around one he thought I was leaving a marked channel! No one wants to
run over these floats. They wrap in your props and I’ve even pulled a trap all
the way up to bang around my props and bottom of the hull. On a cruiser the poly
lines will at least let the prop shaft keep sliding when you first hit them
because they get hot and are pliable. After you stop the boat they can “harden”
(sort of) in place and give you a real fit. On outboards and I/O’s they can stop
you dead in the water immediately. In bad weather they’re hard to see in the
waves, and at night it’s impossible. On an overnight run I made from Sarasota to
Marathon I picked up so many lines on one prop that the ball of line was 3 ½
feet in diameter when I cut it off! My judgment is that the safest thing for me
and my boat here is to install line cutters on the prop shafts. If any of us
pick up lines when we’re in bad weather, night, and tough spots – and we lose
the use of one or both engines – we can put the boat and crew in jeopardy.
Picking them up slowly is worse than at full cruise because the higher RPM will
at least severe the line more quickly. Like sea grass, if you know right away
you hit one you can always try putting the engine into reverse and gunning it.
That might kick it out if you’re lucky. Otherwise diving under the boat to cut
it out is the only option. I’ve found that a hacksaw works much better than a
knife. Fishermen have to earn a living too, though it would be nice if the traps
were placed in a water depth that coincided with line length so you don’t have a
float with 50’ of extra line floating on top of the water beside it. Sometimes
they get blown into shallow water & you can’t help it. Stay Alert – don’t hit
the floats! P/C Gregory Absten
|
