Luke McFadden

Eric Girouard  0:00  

This is Bucket Talk, a weekly podcast for people who work in the trades and construction that aren't just trying to survive, but have the ambition and desire to thrive. The opportunity in the trades and construction is absolutely ridiculous right now. So if you're hungry, it's time to eat. We discuss what it takes to rise from the bottom to the top with people who are well on their way and roll up their sleeves every single day.

Jeremy Perkins  0:28  

All right, this episode of Bucket talk, we're here with Luke McFadden. Luke has the boat, the fishing vessel. Southern girl out of Maryland, Luke. Welcome. Hey. Thanks for having me. Awesome. Awesome. So senior, I'm fascinated with your content. Not only are you a awesome crab fisherman, but you do a lot of stuff to your boat yourself, from maintenance to just upkeep, painting, scraping, and you are hilarious in what you do. But I'd like to get a little background on how you got into the industry and and what you do on a daily basis. So go, go as far back as you can.

Luke McFadden  1:09  

I mean, I, I've always, I've always really liked the water. I've grown up here in Pasadena, Maryland, so, you know, close proximity to the water pretty much my whole life. My dad, you know, he got me, my biological father, he got me into, like, the outdoors and fishing and everything. Grew up with, you know, my mom and stepdad, who were really not into the outdoors and any of that. But, you know, I called the bug from a young age, just hunting, fishing, being outside, and, man, I always want to be a crabber. I don't know why, even, like, we didn't even know anybody that was a crabber. When I decided I wanted to, I had seen some pictures of Waterman. I just always really thought it was fascinating, you know, that it was kind of like hunting and fishing, my two favorite things, right? And then being your own boss and all that kind of stuff. You know, early on, I like the industriousness of it. You know, doing it all kind of a commercial scale and all that. And I was 11, bought my first boat. Bought, like a little eight foot row boat out of the penny saver for 170 from like cutting grass and stuff. My grandmother got me a set of feather late, five foot oars for Christmas, and I was off to the races. I was I actually had to build a little like Dolly, because we didn't live on the water. We lived near it. I did build a little dolly out of my parents trash can, wheels that would slip over the transom of the boat so I could carry the boat down to the end of the street, and I cut the neighbor's grass, and then they let me launch the boat. So, you know, that's how I got, I really the grassroots, I guess, of getting into it. And then I a little bit later, I, you know, my parents had had a friend that was a crabber who ended up basically becoming my mentors, named CJ. He has a YouTube channel as well, called FV, Miss Paula. He's on all the platforms and little more informational kind of content on crabbing, like a deeper dive into the actual industry. Very interesting. You guys ought to have him on if you have a chance. Yeah. But yeah, I started, you know, I got a job working with him, working crew, working in the yard, working on crab pots. I was just, I was, I was wanting to do just anything that had to do with it. I was just like, I was into it, the whole deal, you know. And it didn't matter really what I was getting paid or not, or whatever. I just wanted to be involved. And so, yeah, I mean, from the time I was 12 till 18, I basically worked for him in the summers, on and off, you know, learning kind of just by being there. And when I was 18, I had moved out of my parents house, like, two months after I turned 18, and just decided I was going grabbing I had bought, like a boat, like, basically the hall. It was a 32 foot plywood and glass boat, really, mostly mulch and fiberglass, and I was working in a granite shop, making countertops in the wintertime. And I would go work on this boat after work. And I worked on it all winter. I put in a floor, replaced stringers, built a cabin, got the motor running, the whole everything, and then launched the boat. CJ sold me like, 200 crab pots kind of on the conditions of, like, pay me back when you can. And it was an absolute disaster, horrible, total, epic failure for about five years. But the first couple years were really just a mess. I mean, I lost more money. I was working to have money to go crab in because I, you know, I just didn't know anything, you know. You know, crabbing is traditionally here a generational kind of occupation. You know, your dad did it, your his great your grandfather did it, you know. So there's not quite as much barrier to entry, typically. And there's also, you know, you just kind of grow up with it, you know, understand, for. Complicated business. And, you know, just, even just getting out there and doing it is really hard. And, you know, so it was I worked on, just got up, got after it every day. And basically, the, you know, the definition of insanity, just did the same thing over and over till you get a different result. But yeah, it took me. It took me a good, like, probably four or five years, I'd say, to really even just kind of get my feet under me, you know. And then I sold the widow, and I bought the southern girl, and then that's kind of when it changed for me, you know, kind of a little bit of mindset, a little bit of everything, where it was like, All right, this is, this is your last chance. Like, you know, all the eggs are in one basket. Like, there's no other options. You know, I kind of changed my mindset is like, this is your only option. Like, you have no plan B, this is it? This. You either make this work or you there's no option not to make this work, you know what I mean? So I was like, This is what I do, and I'm going to do it till I get it. And, you know, just went after it. And, you know, kind of led me one thing led to another. And I'm kind of, you know, here I am. So that's wild.

Jeremy Perkins  6:21  

It's actually funny that you say that because you you see some of these motivational guys, the entrepreneurs on on all different platforms. And one of the things that they say, which I've never actually heard anybody say it before, other than you, is you can't have a plan B. If you have a plan B, then most likely, you'll fail

Luke McFadden  6:40  

exactly, totally how I look at it. I'm not kidding. People ask me, like, what would you do if you weren't crabbing or, you know, if you don't want nothing? I've never considered it. Because if you even in the back of your mind, for me, if I consider a Plan B or A something, you know, you're never gonna get you're never gonna truly be 110% committed to plan a, you know, yeah, no, that's not a healthy mentality, necessarily, and it's not, doesn't work for everybody. But for me, I'm a dumb, hard headed son of a gun, and, you know, so I need to, basically, I say, like, My motto is, be too dumb to quit sometimes, you know,

Jeremy Perkins  7:21  

yeah, yeah. So what kept you going in the in, like, the first couple years of, and I shouldn't say failure, because, you know, failure, to some is, is just growing and learning and and every, every scenario has an outcome, and you learn from it. So as long as you continue to learn, there is no such thing as failure. But still, it must have been a tough time for you. Probably working two jobs at the same time.

Luke McFadden  7:47  

Yeah. I mean, I was doing whatever I could here, and there I was working at the marina where I tied up at to help with the slip fee. I was, you know, I was doing pretty much anything. And then all the, you know, all through the winter, I would be working as well, doing any, anything I really could. I used to buy and sell cars and fix and, you know, anything like whatever. But yeah, basically I was working to fund my craving habit, you know. But I don't know I have, I keep, I put really high expectations on myself, but I also, you know, there, there had been some people that stuck their neck out for me, and, you know, I had seen some, some people that had kind of, like believed in me here and there, you know what I mean? And you know, I didn't want to let myself down. I couldn't let them down. I just, and I was just so driven to do it. I was like, I've been, I've worked so hard to get here. Like, every day, it was like, when every day is so hard to get through, it's like, the next day, you're like, you know, I just, I work that much harder to get to tomorrow, you know. So it's like, you can't just, you can't just give up, you know. Like, and the way I kind of saw it was, like, other people can do it there. We're all human, you know, like, you can do it too. Like, like, figure it out. There's a way. Obviously, there's a way to make this work, because other people can make this work. Like, you just need to figure it out. You know what? I mean, that's

Jeremy Perkins  9:16  

cool. So you you essentially fully immersed yourself into the lifestyle like you didn't half ass it. You wouldn't have learned or or gain the resources or the network to help you out. Obviously, you know, from crab pots to boats to engines to help slips, what you name it. You gotta have a good network. So that being there 110% every day was the key to the key to the success that you have today. But was there one specific instance that you wanted to just hang it up?

Luke McFadden  9:51  

There was a lot of instances. I do remember one time my poor parents, I was having a horrible, horrible time. I mean, I was in a bad. Had, you know, I was young, you know, I was like, 1819, you know, it didn't know what I was doing. I was hard headed. I was in financial danger, basically, constantly. I was not in a good head space, you know, just in general, life was weird at the time. I just remember, like, being out there, and I kept running over my own gear. So I, like, you have buoys, and I kept running over my own buoys with the boat. And I remember I had run over six of my own floats. And you know, every time you run over, you have to jump overboard, swim under the boat and cut it out. And it can take forever. I mean, it could take, like, an hour. And I used to work by myself. It was not safe, you know. And I just had enough. I just snapped. I mean, I was mentally broken, met, you know, emotionally physically exhausted, broken, and I, I am not proud of it at all. But like, you know, I called my my parents on the phone, and I was just like, I can't do this. Like, I just basically lost it, you know. I was like, I can't this. This isn't gonna work. You know, I was so mad. I used to have a real hot temper, and I remember ripping the door off of the hinges of the cabin of my boat, smashing the gaff, everything on the boat went overboard. I was just, I mean, that was, that was, that was rock bottom man, you know, like, close to it, at least. You know, in that time it was like, I mean, it was absolute, utter, complete failure. I mean, that boat was a disaster, that it was constantly breaking down, that that first boat that I had, it sank like four times. I mean, it was so it was not only that I was having a hard time crabbing and the steep learning curve and everything else. All my equipment was junk, you know, I was starting from the bottom. My market, where you sell crabs, was horrible. I had all the bottom of the barrel markets, you know, if guys were stealing crab pots and crabs and, you know, it was like they were all trying to get me to quit. And, you know, everything in my life at that time was fighting me. And I was, you know, I was a 1819, year old guy, you know, how you know, for not that, it moved out right after turn 18. I was just, you know, I it was a bad, it was, it was just a weird time in life, you know what? I mean? Yeah, that. And then, you know, the reason I ended up getting rid of the other boat, getting the southern girl, was I got caught in a really, really bad storm and basically cracked the boat that I had in half. Like real, real bad October storm. The weather here in October gets real sketchy real quick, and it started blowing up a big it was a slick, calm day, I remember, and it picked up a real bad nor'easter out of nowhere, and I was in a bad spot for it, and that really scared me. Good,

Jeremy Perkins  13:02  

you know, the one on Halloween when it started to snow. No, no,

Luke McFadden  13:08  

not here. It was just a, I don't remember what year was even, but it was a real bad storm. And my boat actually caught fire in that storm because one of the exhaust, you know, I had a wet exhaust, so the exhaust gas would go down through some tubes. Had a coupler, and the coupler broke. Actually, the water pump had burned up something, the raw water pump or something burned up so the manifolds didn't get cooled, and then just the boat getting so beat. It cracked one of the the exhaust like couplers. So water was coming in the boat. I remember I cut the sleeve off of my sweatshirt and took a hammer and jam that handle in with the sweatshirt into the hole, and, you know, and then, as a result, the exhaust gas was in the wooden motor box, and then that caught fire. That was horrible. It scared me so bad. I mean it, you know, it scared me. Good, you know, you

Jeremy Perkins  14:01  

pull yourself out of that.

Luke McFadden  14:03  

We just got in. I mean, I literally had the rate the VHF on, like, 1616, you know, I wasn't an experienced captain either. Yeah, you know what I mean. And I had two people, one of my best friends on the boat was helping me, and another guy at the time. And, you know, it was, it was genuinely really scary at the time. I wonder now, if I were to be in that situation, what it would feel like, because the boat's different. I have different experience. But I mean, it was definitely not a good situation. And until then, that was had, you know, that was definitely the worst situation I had been in. So it was scary for me, very jarring, you know? And that was, like, basically, that was the same, like, time frame that I kind of had, like, lost it. I was trying to wrap up that crab season. I was really not in a good spot. And, you know, it was kind of like, alright, you either need to, like, all the signs are here. You either need to hang it up. And move on where you need to, you know, play a big hand and and make it work. And so, you know, that's kind of, you know, when I got the boat, everything, my mentality kind of changed. Because before, you know, fishy crab commercial fishing is a lifestyle, you know, crabbing. And, you know, I wasn't in the mindset, you know, like I said, I was a 918, 19 year old guy, and I was just doing everything, you know. I was like, I wanted to go, you know, out of the boat with my friends and go drink and go, you know, party and do whatever, and stay out and and whatever. And you can't do that, like, if you're really gonna make it work. It's a lifestyle that you have to commit to, like when your friends are down the ocean and on the beach and on vacation, you know you can't do that. You know that that's not you. If you're a crabber, you have a certain amount of months, you have a time frame to make your whole living. And if you know you don't, you're not committed to it, you're not married to it, you know it's just never going to work. Yeah, so, you know, I kind of made all those switches, and it cost me, man, it was all that was a whole nother. It felt like I started all over, you know, it was like, I lost relationships over it all kinds of stuff, just because it was like, No, I'm like, I'm married to this one thing. I was just like, one track just beyond, you know, it was either going to work or not. You know what I mean, there was no option. It was that was the only option was to make it work, you know.

Jeremy Perkins  16:31  

So one of the things that resonated with me was you were talking about how you were hot headed, and now you're a little bit calmer and cooler, a little bit more collected nowadays, and and it resonated with me, because I felt like I was in the same, same scenario when I was growing up, and just the different things from, you know, when I was in the Coast Guard fires and and just machinery not performing the way you want it to perform, and constant breaking down, and you name it, same, same with the automotive industry, just A job not going the right way, but now I'm at the farm. Now I expect things to go bad. I take a breath, step back, assess it, and then tackle it. And that shift in my mindset as like, Why does everything go wrong? To Now, anticipating it going wrong has made it a little bit don't get me wrong, shits gonna break, shits gonna wear down, shits not gonna go right. And I've come to accept that, and it's made my life a little bit easier, anticipating the next breakage, or having the right parts on hand, or the tools on hand, or the know how or knowledge to do things. Do you think that's one of the keys to your success? Is being able to step back, look at it with a cooler head and and be able to tackle whatever it is?

Luke McFadden  17:53  

Yeah? Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, I kind of realized my my first shift in mindset was I remember I kept breaking, I would get pissed, and I'd break these gaps, you know, like the use over the rail. And I'm like, You idiot, like, I remember CJ, kind of the guy that was became, kind of my mentor. Was like, how he was like, how many times you want to do that? He was like, how much are those gas I was like, 40 bucks. He was like, how much did you make today? Crab? And I was like, negative 200 he's like, You just made negative 240 dumb ass. Like, he's like, every time you do that, he was like, You're costing yourself more money that you're already not making. He was like, he was like, I used to do the same thing. And then I realized, like, there's just one more battle to fight, you know. And then that kind of progressed into like, you know, it's gonna suck, and you're just gonna have to do it. And you can either fight the problem and yourself, or you can just try to fight the problem. But don't get me wrong, you know, I'm human, right, and you know, everybody can still have a little bit of hot temper, like, you know, I still get lose my patience with stuff, I can't always step back and, you know, assess the situation and go in and just methodically fix it. Like, yeah, a lot of times I can, especially now with social media and everything, it makes that process a lot easier. In some ways, it makes it a whole lot harder. In other ways, we can talk about later, but yeah, it's definitely, you know, I tell young guy, you know guys or young guys, I'm like, Listen, you can make this a lot harder on yourself, you know what? I mean, yeah, and by throwing a tantrum about it, basically, you know,

Jeremy Perkins  19:31  

so things changed around for you a little bit with the new boat. What were some of the keys to success, to getting you out of this slump and into really making money and progressing in your trade to where you are now,

Luke McFadden  19:51  

man, you know, success is sort of, you know, objective, I guess I would, I mean, I guess because I can keep going in the business. Has grown, and whatever you could call it success, successful, you know, I certainly do not view where I am is like anywhere close to have made it, you know. But I mean, you know, just kind of, you know, the different mindset that was the biggest thing, and kind of just wanting to be kind of better myself. You know what I mean, like, I wanted to do better. I wanted to be do a little better for myself. I wanted to, you know, I don't know. I didn't want to let anybody down. I don't want to let myself down, you know. And I had already been through so much hell to kind of get to where I was, you know, it was like, and I just kind of made the decision. It was like, You know what? This is going to work, that you just, you, you, this is what you do, and you're going to eat, sleep, breathe, you know, succeed and suffer, grabbing until, until it starts going in the right direction, you know,

Jeremy Perkins  21:00  

so you touched a little bit on it. Social media, obviously, you know, I'm very aware of your channel, and it's if you don't follow him, please do, because it is, it's fun to watch. How did that have a role in in where you are today? Is, was that kind of two separate paths? Did the paths come together, and now you got more resources, more help, more visibility. Or, because I know you've talked about selling crabs or even getting rid of boats or or whatever you had to do, was that, was that a tool for you and a resource, or was that something completely different that you had to manage. Well,

Luke McFadden  21:42  

I mean, I kind of happened into social media, sort of by accident at the very first and then I kind of realized, like, Man, this could be a great tool for business. You know, it's, it's all at our disposal, and there was room in the market. You know, there's no other crab guys on the internet, like be the biggest fish in the smallest pond, is what I tell people. You know what I mean, at least, to get a foothold. You know when I when I was crabbing, even before social media, the my just the way the industry is going in my eyes and everything, the goal is to get more money for the crabs you can catch. And the way to do that is to not sell wholesale necessarily, is to sell direct to customer in some capacity. So I had always had that trajectory to where I was always working to, you know, try to get the business to where I could sell direct to customer. And then social media, you know, I kind of was like, Well, you know, hey, if you give it a shot, you know what? I mean, like, this is a great tool. You can get it in front of so many people, you know, I really just wanted to sell more grabs, you know, just kind of started, like, I was like, Man, if I could, like, kind of shift this social media thing to my business, you know, that could be huge, yeah, so, kind of same gig, I just kind of started easing into more content related to my industry and whatever, at first, you know, crabbing and whatever. And treat it like a job, just like I did crabbing. You know, I was like, you know, grind on it. Give it 110 and you're probably not going to make any money, or there's probably not going to be many upsides to it's just going to be sort of a thorn in your side with a steep learning curve for a long time. And you know, that was correct, but, yeah, I mean, just, you know, treat it like part of the job. It's, it's part of your job. Now, you know, to to make content and whatever, and it's in the long run, it has served me pretty well so far. And, you know, it actually gave me the ability to switch all to selling direct to customer. So it kind of worked, yeah, you know. So, you know, yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's an amazing tool, if used properly.

Jeremy Perkins  24:01  

So you you touched on it when you were given a little bit of your background how

Speaker 2  24:07  

crabbing is generational. And I've seen that from tuna fishing, lobster fishing, you name it, anything in the fisheries industry, it goes back a long ways within families. Now you had said you you essentially

Jeremy Perkins  24:22  

emerge. You essentially just, like, went head first into the industry and learned as much as you can. Could somebody else do that? Like, if I was interested in becoming a crabber, were you just lucky? Or is this a way that, hey, you know what? I want to be a crabber. How do I go about doing it? I'm going to go work at the boat yard. I'm going to start picking up as a deckhand for one of these boats, or, you know, help build rebuilding crab pots. Like, is that the way to go? Would you recommend this industry?

Luke McFadden  24:57  

I mean, it's, it's hard to say. Uh. Up, you know. And the industry, I just wrapped up my ninth year crab. And even nine years ago, it was such a different industry, yeah, you know. And I only know what I've seen and observed and done, but from what I can see, the industry is so much harder now, even to get into than what it was. Just the barrier to entry financially is, I mean, unbelievably, more than it was before you know what I mean, if that makes sense, like,

Jeremy Perkins  25:27  

yeah, so I would assume, obviously, because everything has exploded in price, that boat prices have gone up, fuel prices have gone up. Yeah, I'm sure gear is expensive now and then. There's shit that, like people wouldn't even think of from safety equipment, you know, epibs, life rafts, fuck it, all that shit. It's gotta be, it's gotta be expensive.

Luke McFadden  25:49  

Is one of the hardest help, is one of the number one things that's that's cutting our industry, you know, thinning the herd in our industry right now. Really, nobody wants to do it. No, it's just work, you know, people just, it's a different, I think it's a little different mentality, you know, people just don't want to do that kind of work, you know. And I don't, I can't necessarily blame them, you know, it's, it's, it's hard work, you know, and

Jeremy Perkins  26:16  

seasonal, yeah?

Luke McFadden  26:19  

But I mean, now, just to do, just the price of equipment, you know, from four years ago to now is literally doubled. Operating cost is double what it was. I mean, it cost me $1,000 a day just to leave the dock. Now, of course, I run a three man crew. I pay them, you know, as well as I can, but a lot of expense. You know, we're in a very we're in an industry that's heavily, you know, dependent on commodity. Basically, you know what I mean, diesel fuel, metal to build crab pots and gear and boat, you know, all that kind of stuff. So when the price of everything goes up, our price goes way up too. And, you know, it gets to a point where you can only get so much for a crab, you know? I mean, people are only going to pay so much for a crab. And if you're selling wholesale, you know, you're you're at the market, you're at the mercy of the market. You know, we're like farmers. We don't set the price for our own product, necessarily. Yeah, I do. I have a little more control, because I sell direct to customer. But if you're selling to picking house or wholesale or middleman. You know, you get told what you're going to get paid when you hit the dock. And so with the with the rising price of, you know, overhead, and the uncertainties in the industry, you know, within a lot of regulation that they've imposed on us in the last couple years. Man, I, you know, I would never say I don't recommend it, but it would be very hard. And I would suggest, if you want to go get a job on a boat, working crew, and treat it like you, like it's your business, care about it like it's your business, like you have stock in the success of the business you know, like, because that's the only way you're even going to get close to a taste of what it would be like to be your own captain. Because I tell you what, I work crew for a lot of years, and it does. It's not even the same job. It's not even close to the same job as being a captain. The only similarities is that you're standing on the same boat. It's a different mindset, it's a different work ethic. It's a different you got to wear 15 hats when you're the captain, and you deal with a million different things, and you will never truly understand until you're in that position. But the closest you could get is to be really, like, basically, become that guy's right hand man, you know? Like, do all the extra, you know what I mean, like, like, because that, that's what's gonna that's being a captain. That's what, what it's gonna be like when you're a captain. You know, I gotta all of March and into April, all I do is write checks. You know what I mean? Like, we spend $20,000 just to get gear overboard. Yeah, I'm paying guys. I'm paying for fuel, I'm paying to get the boat hold. I'm doing work to everything, you know, like, and you're not getting any I'm not making any money doing that. I'm just spending it. So, you know, if you could become somebody's like, right hand man, there's a good chance. Nowadays, if you found a guy, he's probably gonna let you run the boat. He probably wants to go home. It's a hard it's a hard life. You know, it's hard on you. And most guys I know, you know, they're all pissing vinegar when they're my age, but dude, the average age of a commercial license holder in Maryland is 5627 so there's a lot of opportunity. It's actually kind of a good way if you want to get into it. You know, there's sort of an opportunity right now where a lot of these guys, the average age is really getting up there. And they're, you know, they've lived hard lives being grabbers, you know. So a lot of guys I know are looking for people to hire on that are going to be good help, reliable, dependable, willing to learn. And, man, I could name a bunch of guys, I'm sure. Would you know, if you really stuck it out? Would. Be willing to, you know, give you more opportunity, you know, than even I had when I was working crew.

Jeremy Perkins  30:05  

Yeah, yeah, no, that's, I mean, that's good insight, obviously, tough life, early mornings, late evenings, always, always on the boat, always thinking about it. But outside of that, what is one of, like, your best, successful moments, or your your happiest moment, crabbing big haul. I don't know. I mean, you probably have the example, but something that you were like, fuck yeah, I'm, I'm feeling good about this.

Speaker 1  30:39  

You know, I had a few, I had a few big days, you know, few years ago when I was kind of starting to get a little more of the crabbing figured out, you know, like the actual kind of figuring out crabs a little bit and move being a little more strategic about where you're crabbing and how and this and that. I definitely had some pretty good, pretty big days that I felt, you know, I felt pretty good about it, you know, yeah, it's, it's different now, because, you know, then I was selling the wholesale markets and so, like, if I had big days, I was just pumped, because all I did was drop, you know, I just drove the truck there, dropped them off, and got a Check. Now, I have big days, and it's cool to have big days, but now I see, you know, 30 Bush will go on the truck, 40 Bush will go on the truck on a really good day. And I think, oh, man, now, that's half the battle now. And how, how am I going to sell them? You know, I hope I have market for 40 bushel crabs. So it's unfortunately that, you know, just the, you know, euphoria of having a big day now is a little different. But I definitely, there's definitely some days where I was feeling good about it, you know, before, and it's always cool, man. It's a great feeling to be the underdog and to finally feel like you're, you know, having days that are you know, that are you know, worthy of, you know, you know, yeah, I

Jeremy Perkins  32:02  

mean, pots full of crabs up is probably a good

Luke McFadden  32:06  

place, but, man, there ain't no feeling like breaking a trap over that rail. That's just, man, big, full, nice, big crabs, especially when it's something like, you know, you went where you thought they were going to be, and they were at work. They showed up. Or, you know, whatever I mean, items like chess. You know, they're migratory animals. And you know, you always want to be. Always say you want to be where they're at, where they're going to be, and where, where they want to be. You know, you're always kind of playing this game, and when it works out, boy is it ever, is it ever Awesome. That's I still like, Man, I love bailing traps over the rail, just full of nice, big, pretty clean trap full of nice big, pretty crabs like, there you go. That is really, that no better feeling than that.

Jeremy Perkins  32:47  

So you gone from a one man backyard operation to a pretty substantial business, three crew. That's That's awesome. Where do you think you're gonna go in the future. Do you have any plans to expand? This is the way it is. What's No, I'd

Luke McFadden  33:07  

like to I'd like to expand. You know, I'm always kind of have little bit of a vision of where I want to go or what I want to do, and then I always kind of try to, like, you know, like, obtain it in steps, you know what I mean, kind of set your eyes on the next piece of your puzzle. You know what I mean, always the next piece for me, you know, I would really like to do two things. I really like to kind of develop something more outside of crabbing. That's like that. It works alongside crabbing, kind of a brand that kind of, or something like that. It kind of works, you know, with this, more with the social media end, that also, like I said, is works alongside the crabbing, but also in terms of the crabbing, I'd like to really expand my sales of crab, of crabs. You know, I bought a little lot in town, actually, the next town, over few years ago, and that's when I made the jump to sell it on my own crabs. So I purchased a little lane, a little plot of land, and then I bought, I developed it a little bit, and then I put a, you know, I got, like, a big refrigerated trailer. And so now, you know, I set up a roadside stand, and I just take my roadside stand up there, set it up and sell out of the back of a trailer, which works great.

Unknown Speaker  34:21  

But you

Luke McFadden  34:23  

know, I know my strengths and weaknesses, not all of them, obviously, but I know some of them, and where I need help is in the sales side, just because it takes so much time. And, you know, times the most valuable thing you have. And there's a lot of things now with the social media that I can't designate to other people, you know. So I've been doing it all myself, which is honestly been completely burning me out, and then you just kind of start to fall short on all areas. So really, where I'd like to go is figure out something better for my crab sales, and, like I said, also develop something alongside. Of crabbing outside that's separate from crabbing. Yeah.

Jeremy Perkins  35:03  

I mean, that's gotta be a little daunting of a task. What's the what's the lifespan of a crab, or the sales time of a crab, once it's out of the pot and then once it goes to the customer, how much time do you have? It all

Luke McFadden  35:16  

depends on how the crabs handled, and basically, what time of year is, you know what I mean? So crabs, you're catching that a little colder water and it's a little cooler outside, they're going to live a lot better or a lot harder. Summer time, I'm talking, you know, June, July, August through, those are the dog days. Everything fights you. Crabs do not live well out of water when it's hot. But I would say, if you're looking for an average, I'd say, five days out of ways, which is a decent shelf life. Yeah, but, you know, you gotta consider, I'm also selling just live seafood to people, you know, direct to people. So you are, they're just all factors to consider.

Jeremy Perkins  35:57  

No, no, I know I was just, I was thinking like wholesale, it's probably easy, because you, you load them up. Now it's their problem, right? Exactly. Now you're now you're doing it yourself. Yeah, you can get better prices. But on the flip side, if you don't sell out, yeah, then it's kind of like, well, did I just waste all my time, you know, essentially parting everything out, right? Yeah. Have you looked at like shipping or anything along those lines that could get you more distribution into a greater area, versus that, that local niche that you have? Yeah?

Luke McFadden  36:32  

So I do actually offer shipping all over the country. Nice. I work. I partner with a restaurant here in town called Jimmy's, famous seafood they're really good friends of mine. It's a pretty big restaurant. They have a very big following of their own and everything. But they actually do ship crabs. So you can order them through a link that I have, and then I work with them to get my actual crabs to them, and they steam them and then cool them down, ice them, pack them and ship them same day. Oh, nice. So I do all for shipping, you know, it's just, it's also a very niche product, you know, yeah, most of the people that order from me are people in other states that are from Maryland, that are familiar with crabs. Yeah, I've also done a lot of work to kind of share crabs and how to eat them, and this and that with with everybody. Make it really user friendly and easy, so that, you know, anybody can try crabs. Yeah? So, yeah. I also have a lot of people that just are fans, you know, they watch and then they want to order crabs. It's kind of like the ultimate deliverable. You know, I do a lot of live streaming, so I live stream us crabbing link in the lives, like in real time, I have a link in the live stream you can click and actually get those graphs.

Jeremy Perkins  37:45  

That's cool, yeah, experience so you Yeah, it's kind of cool. It's like farm to table style, if you will, exactly,

Luke McFadden  37:52  

you know, a lot of kind of, what I try to promote locally here within the industry is, you know, just advocating, kind of for my industry and the people in it, and, you know, having a relationship with the people that catch your food and know where it comes from. You know, we live in a world where there's a lot of separation between your food and knowing the origin of it, you know. And people know.

Jeremy Perkins  38:20  

So that's cool. So outside of crabbing, how do you unwind? What do you what kind of hobbies do you have? Or is it just all, all crabbing all the time?

Luke McFadden  38:29  

I mean, in crab season, it's all crabs all the time, right now, you know, I start in we start getting ready in March, and usually I quit at the end of October this year. I quit a little early. I had a lot of stuff going on. Unwinding is not something I'm good at. You know? I'm more of a worker than a relaxer, yeah, I like feeling like I'm getting stuff done. But I love hunting. You know? I love to fish. Unfortunately, most of the time during fishing season I'm working, yeah, but I love to hunt. So I do that any chance I can, you know? I love, I love building stuff, you know? I love creating stuff. So I like, I build furniture. I actually used to carve a lot of duck decoys. Yep, I did a lot of ceramic sculpture, actually, as well. That's in the winter time when you're shacked up, you know. But I like to build stuff, build whatever you name it, just any kind of DIY, you know, building anything I can think of. But, yeah, I really like the hunt too. So I like learning stuff, you know, buying and selling trucks and trailers, anything with a motor. Just that's kind of my hobby, honestly, it always kind of has been tinkering with stuff and projects whatever.

Jeremy Perkins  39:45  

Well, hell yeah. So this was awesome having you on I always love talking about our our trades on the water. You know, it's got a special place in my heart, and I miss the ocean every day. Spent like 40 years on the ocean. Yeah, through the military and what have you. So it's cool, but it's the end of the podcast. I want to give you an opportunity to plug where you are. Anybody wants to get some information, they can get it from you. Anybody wants to buy crabs or whatever, let them have it. Yeah.

Luke McFadden  40:18  

So you know, you can find me on all the social medias. Tick tock is my kind of where I started. It's you can either search my name, Luke McFadden, but the handle is at FV, southern girl, which is fishing vessel. Southern girl, YouTube. Luke McFadden, I'm really giving YouTube hell right now. I have Facebook, which is my name, also my business page, where I post all my reels. Is FV southern girl and bodkin point seafoods. It's all the same page. There's a lot of fake pages right now me on Facebook, so look for the blue checks. Or, you know, my business page and Instagram. I have Instagram as well, you know. So that's, that's Luke underscore, mcfad McFadden. My last name is McFadden. So, so Tiktok FV, southern girl, Facebook, bobkin point seafood, YouTube, Luke McFadden and Instagram. Luke McFadden. You could search Luke McFadden for Instagram too. And I do, Hey, man, you guys send me stuff all the time, like the boots and the the I actually just got a jacket in the mail and the pants and the shorts. And I tell you what, I'm not kidding, those are by far my favorite work clothes. And you know, everybody you know very at the very, very beginning years ago, when you guys started sending me stuff, I was, like, skeptical, but I tell you what those things are like proven, and I wear them constantly all the time. If you look at my videos, I'm like, I have a brown pair of pants and I have a tan pair of shorts. And do they? They're, I can genuinely say they're loop proof, like, I break everything. And those are really, really good. And I wear the the lace up boots. And I, you guys also just sent me a set of the slip on boots, I'm going to start wearing this winner. But hey, you ever need to offload more of those pants? Man? Yeah, those things, those are genuinely really good products. Well, I

Jeremy Perkins  42:10  

appreciate the plug there. Yeah, it's a great company to be a part of, and and we're glad we can outfit the trades and construction industries. And glad to hear you're you're happy with it,

Luke McFadden  42:23  

yeah, man, and your marketing is top notch. You guys do great job.

Jeremy Perkins  42:27  

Well, thanks for being on the podcast. This was, again, awesome. I enjoy watching your videos. So you know, if we can get your your message out there, it's, it's definitely worth the content and the time spent. You're inspiring. Thank you.

Luke McFadden  42:42  

Thank you, man. I really appreciate you having me on it was really pleasure. And as

Jeremy Perkins  42:45  

a special thanks to our loyal listeners, we're giving $10 off your next purchase of $60 or more at BRUNT work, where.com Use Discount Code, bucket talk 10. That's bucket talk 10. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai