The Janet Leigh Fishing Boat Gets a Shore Scrubbin'

The yellow 40-foot Cape Islander fishing boat leaned on its red keel beached at the muddy shore Monday.

Boat owner and fisherman Ed Desroiser scrubbed its sides and hull, did some engine maintenance and replaced zinc pieces just fore and aft of the propeller blades.

The 70-degree temperature, sunshine and afternoon low tide made a perfect spring maintenance day even if the calendar still read winter.

Ed, 54, fishes 800 lobster traps and has been fishing commercially since 1984.

He grew up in Swampscott with sand in his shoes and fish below his feet.

His first fishing job was in 1975 when he worked a fish trap for Lucky Williams, bailing mackeral by the dory load then sorting them for sale at market.

These days federal and state regulations strictly curb his time netting groundfish but he still lobsters regularly and, like a lot of fisherman, has a second job.

His boat is a harbor fixture, a reassuring and pleasant sight. Sort of like Egg Rock and the Boston skyline.

The bright Janet Leigh, named after the fisherman's daughter, bobs among the remaining fleet of white fishing boats moored beyond the fish pier.

A print of the Janet Leigh is a popular item at Kennedy's Studio, across from .

Monday, the craft got a cleaning.

That will have to last her until July when she'll come out of the water for a couple weeks to get a thorough overhaul.

In the meantime, when she's not hauling traps, she'll be off the pier, the big yellow boat rocking in the tide.