you know, with all that rain you're having, it may be a good time to go fishing instead of Hg hunting. speaking of fishing.....
In our family it was a tradition that when a boy turned 16 and got his work permit, for his 16th Birthday they received a set of Carpenters Saddlebags, a 20' tape measure, a tri-square and a 22 oz framing hammer and from then on all summers would be spent framing houses for my dad or otherwise be sub'd out to one of the other construction trades and at the end of summer, we would buy all of our own School Clothes. Being the oldest of 5 boys, I got the somewhat dubious honor of starting at age 14 and worked summers all through High School. We would be paid 3rd period Apprentice Carpenters wages which was somewhere around $3.25 an hour. A journeyman Carpenter only made about $5.50 and hour back then so the wages were fair. During the School year, if we wanted to make some extra money, Dad would let us nail off roofs or 2nd floor decking on the weekends and would set the price. After he inspected it, we'd get paid the agreed on price.
At the end of summer, and usually before School started, Dad would charter a fishing boat for a 3 day fishing trip and the entire crew that wanted to go would go deep sea Fishing. My last summer working for him, we had a young lady that was going to college. working her way through it on her own, and somehow enrolled in the Carpenters Apprenticeship program framing right alongside of us, which was very, very unusual, first off because not many girls enrolled in construction trades courses and second because even when enrolled, not many contractors would hire them, thinking they couldn't keep up with the guys. She pretty much proved them wrong and besides was a good looking young lady with a nice build.
Anyway, my last summer, when the fishing trip came around, she decided that she wanted to go fishing with the rest of us which caused some concern by my Mom and several other women, but finally agreed to let her go if she got her own cabin instead of hot bunking with the rest of us. The first day out we ran down to Dana Point, CA to Box Canyon, off the coast and were fishing for Black or White Sea Bass in the kelp beds. The second day, having run out overnight to the far side of Catalina Island trying for Yellow Tail Tuna, which we limited out on and then headed back to somewhere off the bluffs south of Corona Del Mar, Ca and caught a slew of bottom fish. then about 2:00 in the afternoon headed back into Newport Beach where we had started.
Every guy in the crew walked off that boat with about 30# of various iced filet's. The young female carpenter? Well, I never saw her fishing, not once, but i know for a fact that she went home with a Red Snapper!
Packrat
