Whatcha Catch?

In Hollywood, a lot of high rollers make a call to Las Vegas to get what they need. The group is not placing a bet; they’re booking a private jet to fly to the East Coast to get some lobsters. You can find a missing mobster in Santa Monica, but finding a good lobster out west is another story entirely.

Swampscott’s Paul Garcelon is a second-generation lobsterman heading out from the pier at Fisherman’s Beach year round to make sure that folks have lobsters when they need them.

Late last week, Garcelon had pulled in over 200 pounds of lobster and was packing up everything on his boat, the Jacqueline Bess, to get it ready for a trip to Salem harbor to ride out Hurricane Irene.

Garcelon keeps the Jaqueline Bess docked off of Pickering Wharf when heavy weather is coming in.

“It’s a little more guarded in Salem harbor,” Garcelon said. “You have to take all of the advisories seriously, I have several hundred thousand dollars invested in my boat and my business, so yes, I do take all of this hurricane talk seriously.”

Garcelon’s dad Paul fishes the waters off Swampscott on his boat the Susan C, named after little Paul’s mom Susan. The Jacqueline Bess is named after little Paul’s baby girl.

“My first memory of being on the boat was when I was about four,” Garcelon said. “Back in the early 1970’s, I loved it, you can’t beat being your own boss and being out on the ocean when it’s flat and calm, it’s beautiful and invigorating.”

Garcelon has 16 strings of 18-19 pots on each string, with a total of 800 pots in the water. Paul fishes year round, during the spring and summer months it’s eight hours a day, seven days a week, but in the harsh New England winter, Garcelon usually heads out only two or three days a week.

“We pulled in a good load today, it’s great to be on the water,” Garcelon said. “I’ve got a degree in finance from Salem State, but I’d really rather hit the water than hit the books.”

“Dad’s semi-retired, but that’s a long way off for me,” Garcelon said.  “We’re down here heading out at about 6 a.m., it’s nice to be done for the day at noon.”

“I’ve got expenses, it costs over 100 dollars a day for the herring we put in the bait bags, and (diesel) fuel is expensive, but Regal Fuel out of Salem comes down to the beach and fills us up when we call them.”

Garcelon has been lucky on the boat, just cuts and bruises over the years, his dad was seriously injured when the block snapped and struck him in the face several years ago.

“You’ve always got to be careful, something’s always going on, something moving, the boat is moving on the water, if you don’t pay attention, you could be seriously injured, and it takes a while for help to arrive,” Garcelon said.

John Morse works the back end of Garcelon's boat, the stern man. Paul and his dad are two of the eight or nine fisherman that make their living lobstering out of Swampscott Harbor.

“It’s hard work, I work year round, but like I said, I’m my own boss, I work outdoors so it’s pretty nice,” Garcelon said.

Garcelon is a fan of the reality TV shows, Deadliest Catch and Swords: Life on the Line, but nothing beats fishing for a living for real.

On Friday afternoon, the price for a pound of lobsters on the hard shell was $9.99, and $5.99 for soft shell.