Luke McFadden

Jeremy Perkins 0:00
This is bucket talk, a monthly podcast taking you across America meet the most badass trades people, industry leaders and personalities. If you're looking to level up in the trades, you're in the right place.

Luke McFadden 1:35
early on that helped you out, yeah, sold you some pots and kind of taught you the ropes. But first five years walk me through that. It was misery. It was just like, you know, so I work crew. I started working crew when I was like 12, for this other guy, CJ. And, you know, when I got turned 18, got out of high school, I got mold my own boat, which was a questionable decision. And actually, I had to build it because I just basically bought a hull, built it in the wintertime because I was working another job, you know, to build the boat, and launched it in the spring. CJ sold me like, 250 crab pots, kind of like, pay me back as you get it. And yeah, the first five years was pure unadulterated misery in hell. It was just like the literal definition of insanity, which is crabbing, in a nutshell, but it was also just like working crew. And then, actually, you know, running a boat is two completely different things. It ain't, ain't even the same. So, yeah, I learned some hard lessons now. Now, why? Why did you want to do this so badly? I don't know. Man, I don't know. I mean, I just always wanted to do it. Always thought it'd be cool. I just love being out there, you know, I love being on the water. And it's kind of like, it's kind of the last frontier, honestly. I know that sounds cliche, but like, man, you know, you're out there. I can go crab where I want, do what I want. I make my own decisions. I'm on my own time. Of course, there's a million headaches that come with all that, but it's like, you know, they're it's kind of like hunting and fishing, yep. And it's like, it's the, it's the last thing in America you can kind of do, like that, you know, where you're just kind of like, it's just you and the natural world, and, you know, you can make a living off a natural resource. Like, yeah, so was that kind of your segue? And I know you talked about your father was kind of your mentor when it came to hunting and fishing, yeah? Kind of, what sparked this whole, Yeah, he definitely got me into the outdoors. And then, you know, he always lived in Pennsylvania, but so he got me into hunting, fishing at a young age. And then, you know, when I was, I grew up here in Pasadena, and I just, I loved being on the water every single day after school, I was fishing and whatever else. I bought a boat when I was 11, a row boat. And I was out there rowing every day, rowing around, fishing and crabbing and doing whatever. And then, you know, when the job came up, my parents friend, CJ, you know, he was, you need to help. And I was like, Man, that sounds like, that's like, everything. That's what I do every day anyway. I was like, sounds freaking awesome. So I went and it was awesome. And I just, I don't know. And then I just say, I'm just too dumb to quit, yeah?

Luke McFadden 4:04
So keep going. What's the difference between Captain in a boat and crew in your boat? It's just two totally different things. Like, and I didn't realize that when I, you know, went from being crew to to being a captain, like, you know, crew, you show up, you work hard, yeah? But also you just, you don't know what's going on, you're like, in the captain's head, like you were there to do a job, and you're it's so hot, fast paced, and you're so busy that you just kind of do your job. You're out there and you're seeing it, but you're just doing your job, but you're not understanding all the things that I kind of understand now as a captain like, you know, keeping an eye on crew. You're making sure the crabs are getting called right. You're making sure that you know you're laying lines back correctly. You're moving, moving pots to stay on crabs, like, keeping the boat up, keeping the trucks up, keeping the crabs alive, getting market, getting bait. Like, these are all things that, like, I had no idea about, you know, until you you're in the position where you got to, yeah, so if you were to, like, peel back the curtain and.

Luke McFadden 5:00
Reset time, and you have chose to be a captain again. Yeah, probably, I mean, my parents always told me they were like, you know, they supported me wanting to be a crabber, not going to college and all that. But they, you know, they always told me, like, if you're going to crab you ought to be the guy that drives the boat, you know, you ought to be, you ought to try to be a captain. And you know, thing is, it's not like you can just go get a job as a captain. Like crabbers are independent. So if you want to be the captain, you got to be the guy that does it all. Yeah? You got to start the business and build it and grow it. So for people that don't know, it doesn't stop at the dock. You have you sell direct to customers at one point in time, you did, yeah, I used to wholesale. Now I have a retail spot. So now you got to you got to worry about the market prices. You're tied in with a restaurant that ships nationally. Yeah. So there's, I mean, also behind the maintenance costs and everything like that. You're top to bottom running this business, Yes, yep. From Yes, top to bottom. That's a good way to what's the worst part about the job? It's just stressful, man, like, you know, it's just, there's a lot of things and everything in crabbing is just a lot of work, which is, you know, I got no problem working hard. But it's just, you know, especially selling your own, like I say selling your own is, like, five times the money for three times the headache, you know what I mean? Or threaten, no, no, sorry, three times the money for five times the headache, is what I always say. Because, you know, like we were just talking about earlier, I said it's the end of my work day. It's 2pm but not really, you know, it's kind of the end of my first part of the work day, because we get here, we go, crab, we get, we come in, we get the crabs here. I got to go, you know, inventory the crabs, put them up in the fridge, and then you got to come back. I got to run soft crabs. I got to do, you know, pick a bait, make sure I got bait. We got to, you know, fix anything that's broken on the boat, not to mention just the maintenance of everything. Yep, we got, you know, crab pots that we're always buying more and this and that. So my house looks like a freaking, you know, crab pot boat junkyard, because we're always, you know, we're working on stuff like it's, I call it dark to dark work, you know. And then Saturday, you know, we crab Monday through Friday, and then we sell crabs Saturday and Sunday at the retail spot. And we also ship crabs, cool, cool. So one thing last time, when we did all this, I had asked you, you know, were you at the state of the business where you were just gonna maintain the course and and, you know, you were content? And you said, No, you wanted to expand in the future. Have you made, made steps towards that? Yeah. I mean, you know, they're getting the retail spot. Was a huge jump, yeah. And that was a huge risk too, because when you sell to market, and then you go to sell your own, you kind of can't do both. You know what? I mean, like, you kind of, I want to say you necessarily get blacklisted. But it's also, it's like, you know, they don't buyers, ain't gonna really buy from you if you're selling your own, because they're going to assume that you're pulling the big crabs, and, you know, they're, you're selling, you're trying to pedal off whatever you can't move. So, you know, I bought that little piece of property, and we started out of the back of a pickup truck, just my wife and I selling. And then we got the refrigerator trailer sold out of that. And then now I have that boat and everything I've seen that but, yeah, so I built, I got like, a 41 foot wood boat, converted it, gutted it, converted it into a crab stand, and then put that in the ground up there, and then we sell, you know, right out of the boat, just, kind of, you know, a little more than a trailer on the side of the road. But, you know, we do, we don't have electricity. You know what I mean, like, we run generators, like, it's not, it ain't all that, you know what I mean, it's just a it's a freaking fruit stand. Now, are your customers today? Are they

Jeremy Perkins 8:27
more one and done people, or are they loyalists? It depends. So

Luke McFadden 8:33
we have a lot of really good local, loyal local customers, which is awesome, which is really what you need. You know, with the social media stuff picking up a lot in the last couple years. It kind of changed that dynamic where we started getting a lot more people that were traveling or, you know, like people that were fans of the videos and stuff like that, yeah,

Luke McFadden 8:51
which, you know, solved some problems created others.

Luke McFadden 8:56
I lost a lot of local customers because, you know, before they just showed up and, you know, they got crabs out the truck or off the trailer, and now they show up and there's a line, which is, you know, a good problem, but also they don't want to do that, and you gotta, you have to have a good local clientele to kind of lean on, you know, depend on, to move them all week, you know, I mean, so, yeah, you don't. We've changed flashing the pan, yeah, right. So we've changed it up a little bit. So like, this year, for instance, like, you know, we I'm myself, I'm at the crab stand, like, one weekend a month, every third weekend, and we treat it more as, like a, you know, like kind of an event. We have the food truck come down and, you know, if people want to come and meet me and all that. And then the other weekends, you know, we still get some of those people. But, you know, it makes it a lot easier for the locals to, you know, be able to come and get crabs easily. And, yeah, you know, I really, like, they're my people, you know what I mean? Like, I really care deeply about the locals. Like, they're, they've been behind me my whole career. So I want to, you know, take care of them. Yeah, first, you know what I mean, that is kind of interesting. Like, you had said social media kind of happened on accident.

Jeremy Perkins 10:00
Yeah. But then it's kind of grown into too it's, I mean, it, it complements your business, but it's also a separate business in its own right, yeah? And you know, now you're running two businesses and trying to balance all that, yeah? Really, like three, catching them, selling them, and then social media is, as you well, know, I'm sure it's its own job. Yeah, yeah. So created a couple of challenges. But sounds like you're kind of working through it. Yeah, we're trying to figure out creative solutions to creative problems.

Luke McFadden 10:30
You know, it's, it's constantly just trying new stuff, trying to figure it out, trying to, you know, it's, it's, doesn't leave a lot of downtime, right? I'll say that. So you were gonna, you were gonna level up from this, right? You're, you know, this is a converted house boat, one of your, one of your first pieces of equipment. I mean, that's, that's how you kind of got, yeah, your name, yeah. And then you got another boat. Walk us through what happened there, yeah. Well, funny thing about southern girl. People might think this is kind of funny. May have mentioned this before, but you know my name on like YouTube and tick tock and all this is like, FV southern girl, yeah. But like, I never used to be. I used to be, like, a big hater of social media. You know what I mean? I was old school crab got, you know what I mean, like, so I just had these like accounts that I have a profile picture. It was like, I just made it, FV southern girls, because it was the name my boat, and then it kind of took off. And then it like, I didn't want to change it, you know what? I mean. So now it's like, I got this name that I didn't even really, like plan on, that everybody knows now, but, and I like, I didn't name it southern girl. When I bought, when I got that boat, I had no money to get it re lettered or anything, so I just left it. So now it's like, the whole deal, but, yeah, so do the southern girl. She's a great boat, kind of, I mean, I've done replaced everything in her twice, but I've been working my butt off to try to save up and whatever, to get a bigger boat, because I've just kind of outgrown this one in a lot of ways. And it was just like, man, it was so many situations where I was going to try to buy another boat got bought out from under me, or this or that, or the other, or the phone. You know, I didn't have the money at the time to get the boat that I wanted, and so then I finally, like, last year, I got this other boat, you know, 42 holes, unlimited, needed some work, but it was, you know, I could afford it, and it was the boat that I, you know, it's like, the pinnacle of it's one of the top tier kind of hauls, you know, for what we do, it's like, guys that get them boats, they don't usually sell them, so they don't go up often. So I jumped at the chance to get it, and I bought it. And then, like, literally, that same night, these guys, these other crabbers, come and vandalized the whole boat. Stole everything off. It took a grinder to the hydraulics. Just, I mean, just destroy, just trash the bust, all the windows out. Just trashed it. So I was like, man, I've literally been saving and working to try to get a new boat to solve a lot of the problems I have with the small boat for years and years. And there were so many times like I said, I was like, had the chance to get another one, and it just didn't work out for whatever reason. And then this one, I finally got it, and then it was like, I didn't even get to run it. You know, I never even ran the boat. It was just that same night they tore it up. So probably time to put an insurance I didn't know everybody's dude. There's all these people online that are like, Oh, it was insurance scam and this and that. I'm like, Dude, I didn't have insurance on it, yeah? Like, it was just straight loss, yeah, it sucked. So walk me through the rebuild process so you're not giving up on her. No, no, no, I'm stuck now, yeah. I mean, when it got tore up, you know, you know, I put it out online. I'm, you know, I try to show the good, the bad and the ugly, you know what I mean, and of the whole industry and the business, and, you know, a lot of people wanted to start go fund me's and this and that. And I just didn't feel right doing that, yeah, so we came up with a T shirt design, and we sold T shirts, like a limited run of T shirts, too. And I used that money to put towards rebuilding the boat, you know. So people, at least, you know, they wanted to help, at least got help. At least got something. I just didn't feel right taking, you know, something for nothing, yeah. So, yeah, we started this winter, pre building the entire thing from the ground up. I mean, literally, it just needed everything. And it wasn't that they had destroyed things to a point where it couldn't have been fixed. It could have been fixed. But I was like, you know, I knew the boat needed work. And I didn't want to just spend a bunch of time and money, you know, to get it right back to where it was to a boat that needed a bunch of work, right? So we got in there. And, of course, with boats, people that do boats, they know, or really anything, you get in there and you're like, oh, wow, it needs completely, like, a full gut job. So we go to the whole boat, cut the stringers, I mean everything. And we've, we're rebuilding it right now, like we've restring it, which took us all winter, I think we laid 492

Jeremy Perkins 14:28
pieces of fiberglass, yep, just for the stringers. Now is this, is this one of those moments in your life where it was like a bad thing happened, but something good came out of it, that you're probably gonna come out the other end with the boat that you want done the way you want, I know probably didn't go down the way you wanted to. But yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, I found in my life, a lot of the worst things in the time end up being the best things that could happen in the long run. And I really try to hold on to that, you know. And this was, you know, I was so dis.

Luke McFadden 15:00
Point, it just, I wasn't even angry. I was just disappointed, because I'd just been busting my tail for so long to try to get this, and I got it, and I just didn't even, you know, it was just like, gone so well I've spent, I've spent years in, you know, in my early life, you know, fishing piers, boats, you name it, with, with some of the roughest guys around. And, you know, it kind of does suck when it comes from your own community. Yeah? That was kind of, that was kind of the thing that stung, man. I was like, Dude, I I really try to do everything I can to help the community of Waterman because, you know, the average age of a Waterman is 58 Yeah, I'm 29 you know. So they don't have a lot of young blood coming in, yeah, and, you know, and they're not, they're not well represented, you know, in the modern age of the internet and this and that. And, you know, I never set out to try to be like the face of the industry or anything, but facts, if it is that a lot of, you know, a lot of people see me, my, you know, my videos online. And, you know, they know what I do, and so they associate me with Maryland crabbing in a lot of ways. So that definitely was a bummer. But, you know, even just being first generation, you know, you catch a lot of flak from the, you know, it's a very traditionally kind of family industry, generational industry. So, you know, there's always been, I've always had issues here and there, just for that and whatever else. But that was pretty low, yeah, thought, and I was like, man, it's, that's really a bummer. But, you know, on the bright side, it was amazing to see, you know, the community, you know, really be behind me on this. And also, when it's done, you know, I'll have a brand new boat. We got to build it. You know, she'll, I'll know everything about her. I'm building her myself. So what's the new one? I can use it my whole career. I hope. What is the, what is the scheduled delivery date, if you will? Man, I don't know. I thought I could, naively, I thought I could have it done last winter, but just, it's such a big boat, and there's so much stuff, and it's just me and my friend Riley that are doing it, and just everything takes so much time, and I'm learning is I do it. I don't know how to. I learned how to do polyester fiberglass, like I'm learning how to, I don't know how to build a boat. Yeah. I mean, I built, I built a lot of stuff, but, like, it's different when you're dealing with something like that. But I don't know. I mean, I hope to have it done this winter, but I'm not making no promises, because there's just so many jobs. I mean, the back of the door is our list, you know, just Sharpie and it's all the way top to bottom. It's just like everything on a boat is wildly expensive and takes a very long time, and it's just tedious work a lot of times. So, and we don't have a shot, we're dealing with elements too. You know what I mean, like, we're doing it outside. So, so are there people coming down here to show you how to do, you know, polyester, fiberglass thing, or you just, we're just figuring it out, yeah, yeah. We spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos, yeah, to the go do it and then shoot a YouTube video about doing it, you know? But that's cool, you know, I'm, I'm very transparent with people in terms of, like, you know, I know, I don't, you know, I don't really know what I'm doing. We're just, we're trying to do it the very best we can in the right way. Buy one's cry, once, build her once, yeah, but, you know, it's, it's, we're learning, has anybody come out of the woodwork that's notable to help you out with the project? Or Garmin. Garmin has helped out with the electronics Hills Marine, which is some friends of mine. They, they did a lot of work for on my engine and everything for me. You know, I had to get the engine rebuilt and all. And they, they, they helped me out a lot on that, you know, like Atlantic turbo, gave me new turbo and whatever else. There's been a lot of lot of people it's been that, have, you know, either reached out to offer advice or, you know, a discount on some work or or this or that, to help us move forward with it. So see, social media isn't all that bad, no. I mean, it, yeah, it's not that bad. It's got its benefits, for sure. I mean, you know, a lot of these people actually for the boat, they're people in town, though, like I said, my community, you know, like they're my people I've known for Garmin is an exception, obviously. But you know, a lot of the other people that have helped with advice or help getting me materials, yeah, composite yacht and Cambridge has helped me out a lot with sourcing material. You know, I'm forgetting a lot of stuff. There's a patriot marine got me the fuel tanks. They built me brand new fuel tanks. He's in New Jersey, like, you know, it really has been cool to see my local community that's help, you know, step up and offer help and whatever else for getting it done. Yeah. And then you've also had another setback. You know, obviously, we're in the Maryland area. Tragedy struck in Baltimore with the bridge and the collision. They're not necessarily difficult for you, per se, and like your day to day operations, but definitely impacted the community. Definitely, yeah. I mean, you know, there's a lot of people that work up the port that are, you know, my people here that, you know, we're out of work, and, you know, it really affected a lot of stuff. And, you know, affects you too, you know, when you're somebody that is deeply embedded in the community, but in terms of, like, what we do, you know, it's, it's created a lot of logistical problems, yeah, you know, there's marinas over there that we get boats hauled up at. There's, you know, where I buy.

Luke McFadden 20:00
My crab pot supply, Miller's Island crab pot, mcclus Marine, you know, like Miller Island prop shop. All those are spots that, you know we are we need their resources pretty frequently. And you know, now it's you gotta fight traffic to go through the tunnel. And it's not impossible. It's just it was really convenient having the bridge. It was a 30 minute drive, and now it's an hour and change. And, you know, a lot of times it's actually like, when I go get the boats hauled up over at mccloskeys, I just take my Skiff over there. It's faster to go by water than it is by car, really, yeah, because it's like, you can buzz out the creek and shoot across the bay, and instead of, you know, having to get in the truck and drive all the way around. It's kind of funny around here. It's like, some places are a lot faster get to by water. That's crazy. I mean, you wouldn't, I don't know it's Maryland, for me, is, is an interesting state, right? Is, it's very small, compact state. It's very diverse. I mean, you got, you got city, you got farm country, you got water. All within this mountains, yeah, all within this tiny state, yeah, yeah. And just to hear that, you know, people are still traveling the waterways, transportation, it's kind of wild. You wouldn't think of it, yeah, it's kind of funny, like, to me, it's so normal just because we've done it. But it's like, it is something that's not, I get, you know, you just don't do that everywhere, you know. But like, in the summertime, if we go out on the boat like we're not. We don't go to restaurants and bars and stuff on land, really, if it's warm, most people don't. You know, if you got a boat, like there's so many dock bars and things, and you know, we're going to the island of the sand bar and hanging out. And you know, if I want to go somewhere sometimes, like I said, it's faster hopping the boat, and instead of sitting in traffic, you just buzz over to where you got to be. And that goes back to your earlier point, it's like, feels like the last frontier. You're like a cowboy of sorts, or a pioneer of sorts. Yeah, it's cool. You don't have to deal with the normal, you know, sitting in traffic, blah, blah, blah. You're just out there doing your own thing. Yeah, it's, it's, it's cool. It's freeing. I imagine that's how hunting Gods feel a lot of times, or something like that. You know what I mean, where it's kind of like you up to yourself doing, yeah, what you want and what you can with what's there. It's kind of a beautiful thing. So what's the rebuild like for it? Is there any timeline for for the bridge? Oh, the bridge, man, I don't know. You know when it happened. They're like, oh, have it done in five years? But they even started taking it apart yet. So now they're saying 10 to 15 years would be the bridge. Can't count on it, that's for sure. That's crazy. I mean, I remember seeing it and just how, you know, I guess surreal. It is, you know, just buckled, yeah, and it, dude, it was, it was insane. It was like, the thing heard around the state, you know. I mean, it was just, like, it was just nuts. Yeah, it's something you just never would think would ever happen, and not right in your backyard, I mean, and it could happen, but not to that degree. I mean, just the whole bridge is gone, yeah, you just don't see stuff like that. You know, often in America, at least, you know what I mean, like, but it's kind of a stark reminder. Is, like the infrastructure is fragile, literally, yeah, and it's funny too, because not only the infrastructure is fragile, but like, this came during, like, an industrial era of whatever, the 30s, 40s and 50s, right? When a lot of this stuff was built. And, I mean, they said it was bulletproof back then. But, like, what was the degree of testing, what was the degree of knowledge back then that, right? You know, I don't know, a lot less cars, lot less people, a lot less stress on everything, I guess. I mean, I guess, I mean, like that bridge used to dump right into Bethlehem Steel, you know. And that built America, built railroad for America, yeah, you know, we just don't have that kind of industry in Baltimore anymore. But on the, you know, if you want to find a silver lining, it's created a lot of jobs for people on the water, you know, the bridge rebuild and everything, because, you know, they have to hire marine contractors come and take it down and then rebuild it. So there is a silver lining. It's, it's created some jobs as well for trades people, you know, which is good. I've had some helpers that used to help me on the boat, that have gotten jobs up there running boats and whatever. Which is it's good. So to pivot from there, I'm going crabbing with you tomorrow. What should I expect? I mean, we're not, it's not like we're crabbing a full day tomorrow. Maybe it shouldn't spoil it. But, you know, like, we just got a few to fish. It's, what should you expect? I guess, I don't know. I mean, it's going to be weather ought to be nice. I mean, it's kind of hard for me to explain to, you know, like, I do it every day. So it's kind of like, I don't know. We're gonna be out there, and we're gonna fish a few rows of pots, get some crabs in the boat, and all right, I guess the all kinds. I guess we'll do it this way. How far are we going out, a couple miles, or within 10 miles. So take us 20 minutes to get there. Yeah, yeah. 2030, minutes. And then before,

Jeremy Perkins 24:36
and then you pull up, you just go check all your pots. Yeah, yeah. So like the way I crab is called Underwater lines. So we got 25 crab pots connected to each line. So we'll pull up a hawk, which is one of those big red buoys with a flag, put the line on the winder, run down the line, break the traps over the rail. Somebody will shake the crabs out, put bait in, and we'll stack them on the boat, turn around, set them back. Okay?

Luke McFadden 25:00
Yeah, yeah. So it's not, you know, it ain't rocket surgery, but it's like, a, you know, it's a well, when we have a full crew and whatever else, and we're out doing it, it's a pretty well old machine, you know, it's, like, it's an assembly line, essentially, yeah, so, yeah. I mean, it'll be, if you've never seen it or done it in person, it's, it's probably gonna be pretty neat. I've seen it. I've seen it on the lobster side, so I've been a part of a few of those

Jeremy Perkins 0:13
We are here on this episode of bucket talk with Luke MacFadden, captain of the fishing vessel, southern girl, and others. What's kind of interesting about us is we did a podcast a couple years back, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to come visit you down in your your neck of the woods, and kind of get into where you're at now. We'll touch on some of the early stuff, but there's been a lot going on in the past couple of years. So thanks for being on the show.

Luke McFadden 0:37
Yeah, man, thanks for having me. It's cool to do it like in person, you know? Yeah, last time it was, like, over zoom or something. Yeah, it's nice. Do it face to face? Yep, yep. So you just came off the water. Yeah? I'm like, I'm all dirty and Nancy and smell like freaking crabs and bait. So, so what's apologize,

Jeremy Perkins 0:53
what's an average morning look like for you? You wake up early in the morning and get Yeah, yeah. We meet

Luke McFadden 0:59
at the boat, any anywhere from, you know, four to 530 a lot of times when it's real hot, we try to start early. Yeah, you know, beat the heat a little bit. But yeah, meet the guys down here. I got, usually I got three helpers. Sometimes I got four. And, you know, load the load the bait on the boat, load ice and baskets, whatever we need, pots and hit the water, go to work.

Jeremy Perkins 1:23
That's crazy. And so this all came because you wanted to be a water man, yeah, nobody in your family has done it before. First generation, you had a mentor

Speaker 1 25:22
similar, it's dirty, yeah, hawks stinks and loud. Yeah, no, I'm looking forward to

Luke McFadden 25:28
it. It's cool to see, though, yeah, yeah. And then when it

Speaker 1 25:32
goes for regulations for crabs, there's undersized crabs,

Luke McFadden 25:36
yeah, five and a quarter across the shell. Tool like, yeah, we have coal sticks. Okay, cool, yep, yep. And, you know, now there's, like, limits on crabs and stuff like that certain months so, but we won't have any trouble tomorrow. We're not crabbing. We're not fishing that many pots. So now

Jeremy Perkins 25:53
has regulation gotten tighter? Oh yeah, years, even since we've

Luke McFadden 25:56
talked, oh yeah, oh yeah, it's gotten a lot tighter. So what's, what's new there? I don't know. Man, I mean, you know, they do these dredge surveys, where they survey the crabs over the winter time and try to get a count. But I'm not, I don't know enough about the dredge survey to speak on it, really, but I know that, you know, they've been, we had a lot of bad PR with crabs this year, in the last couple years, saying, Oh, it's a lower and lower and lower, you know, population. But I mean, we've, we've had, I had one of the best springs I've ever had this year. And, I mean, we've been tearing them up lately. I mean, for the past couple months, it's been really good. I've had some of my best days in my career in the last month and a half, which is kind of odd for this time of year. Usually it's kind of slim pickings. But I mean, we've been, just been crushing them. We burned them up today.

Jeremy Perkins 26:39
Now, what are they saying that's, that's due to, I mean, can't say overfishing anymore, because that's, I

Luke McFadden 26:44
mean, you know. Well, the thing is, you know, they set thresholds, and then they survey, you know, they keep records. Obviously, I have to send the records every day, what I catch and what I'm doing. And, you know, they say the commercial fishermen are still below the the threshold to decline the population. So really can't blame Waterman. I mean, there's, you know, blue catfish, which is an invasive species here now that has gotten really, their populations pretty much exploded. And, you know, they they're really hard on crab population, but In what regard they eat them? Yeah, they eat a lot of crabs, really, yeah, but, man, it's like anything else in nature, you know, stuff ebbs and flows. You know, some years we'll see a load of a certain kind of fish, and then the next year we won't barely see any, and then the next year we'll see twice as many as we've seen three years ago. You know, it's like you got a thing. We got a lot of factors. There's a lot of ecological factors, you know, environmental factors in terms of water treatment plants around here, which is a big thing that creates dead zones. You know, the water has just been really hot the last few years as well. You know, it's just, it's just nature. Stuff comes and goes. It's just kind of the way it is. Now

Jeremy Perkins 27:52
they're considered migratory, right? It's a migratory species, crabs, yeah, what is, what is the level of migration? Is it just from one side of Maryland to the other. Is it up and down the eastern seaboard?

Luke McFadden 28:04
So it's the Chesapeake Bay. So is Virginia and Maryland waters? Okay? So they'll go down, you know, crabs are kind of traveling on this path traditionally, you know, they're kind of starting Virginia. Their season opens in March. HARRIS opens in April, and they'll kind of catch a lot of crabs, way down the bay in Virginia, a couple 100 miles away, 200 miles down from where we are, and then the crabs are kind of moving up the bay, and then they kind of go to move back down. Because also, I remember here in Maryland, you know, our crabs hibernate, okay, you know, so it's different than like a crab in Louisiana or in the south, where the crabs are doing their thing all year. So our crabs only have half the year to get through their whole life cycle. And, you know, migrate and reproduce and do all that kind

Jeremy Perkins 28:43
of stuff as well. Now, did they come up here for a specific reason, or is it just a lot of

Luke McFadden 28:46
times it's salinity, okay, you know, the salinity of the water. We're in brackish water, so it's a mix of fresh and salt, yeah. But a lot of times the salinity has to do with it. You know, they might want a different salinity to shed their shell and grow, or, you know, whatever, food, all those kinds of things. You know, they kind of, I don't know, they're just doing their

Jeremy Perkins 29:05
thing, yeah, yeah. That's, that's awesome. I mean, it's a great deep dive into the crab fishing industry. So a lot

Luke McFadden 29:12
of people don't know that. They just think they're kind of like out there all the time. But, yeah, you know, we're kind of working on different bio masses of crabs as they move up and move down and, you know, whatever else, yeah,

Jeremy Perkins 29:21
yeah. So you're, you're getting older. Thoughts of kids on the horizon,

Luke McFadden 29:25
I don't know. I mean, probably in the kind of near future I would think, you know, I'm 29 my wife's 29 so probably the next few years. I think, well, I'm

Jeremy Perkins 29:33
leading you into a question. So your first generation crabber, is there gonna be a second generation crabber? I don't

Luke McFadden 29:39
know. Man, you know, always think about that, and I think about how I was with it as a kid, and anything your parents want you to do, you kind of don't want to do. So I don't know, I don't have kids, so I can't, but it kind of, I kind of like to think, you know, if they're into it, they want to great, if not, you know, it is what it is. I hope, I really hope, that by the time I have kids, and they're at the age that they could do it, that a they're. Resource is still here and still, you know, I hope it's 100 times better than it is now. You know what I mean? Like, as fishermen, we're the steward of the resource, correct? So, like, we can't, we're not just pirates. Like we care about there being more and more in the future. You know what I mean? Like, I'm, I'm the most interested person, and there being more crabs. I don't want to, I do not want to catch the last one, you know. But you know, if they want to do it, great if not, you know, I hope at least I have built something that they could, you know, either be interested in a facet of that or or not, you know, whatever. Yeah, at least provide for for them, because

Jeremy Perkins 30:31
it's kind of interesting with any fishing industry, it feels like it's a, not just generational, but like, multi generational. And it's like, I know to some degree, it's dying off people. People went different ways. You know, parents actually push their children away from the industries because of a regulation or just changing fisheries.

Luke McFadden 30:53
Yeah, and it's hard work. It's hard on your body too, yeah, but

Jeremy Perkins 30:56
you recommend it, so if your kid wanted to do it, you'd stand behind

Luke McFadden 30:59
it, yeah? If they wanted to, yeah, I absolutely would. I mean, you know, you just got to know what you're getting into. And you know, we lose more watermen every year than we gain, but you know, now, especially economically, it's very hard to get into the industry. Yeah, the cost is just astronomical, just to operate. You know, it's over 1000 bucks a day to leave the dock, and you have a lot of overhead and just everything, boat maintenance, buying boats, you know, like now, the same boat that, like, you know, CJ, my buddy bought 21 years ago for $40,000 is $140,000 you know. And crab pots used to be, you know, 15, 1415, bucks. I got $52 a pot. Yeah, you know, to put them together. So, yeah, a lot of watermen have have tried to, I won't say, discourage, but, you know, they want their kids to go to college or, or, you know, get into a trade, or, you know, do something that's a little more stable and predictable, because between the regulation and the rising cost, it's just, it's a tough game, man, yeah, it's hard to get into. You need a lot of money to get into it now, so, and a lot of sweat equity

Jeremy Perkins 32:02
before we end the podcast. So I asked you one of your worst times, and your time out there was when you were out in the rough storm and it ended up breaking the boat, yeah, exhaust caught fire and stuff like that. And that was a hair raising moment for you. We talked about, like, some of the celebratory times, like, how you know, when you're at wholesale and you have a big haul, like, that's great, but when you're doing business, or, sorry, customer, customer, sales, sometimes a big hall means a ton more work. And trying to Yeah, but tell me one of the funniest stories that you've had out on the water. There's gotta be something somebody doesn't know, somebody hasn't heard that, you just laugh your ass off and revisit it every now and again.

Luke McFadden 32:45
Funniest, you gotta have fun out there. Yeah, we have a lot of fun. I mean, it's too miserable to not try to make some fun with it. You know what I mean? But I don't know necessarily funniest. I mean, I'm always pulling little pranks on people and stuff, and there's been a lot I'd have to really think about, you know, I've always been kind of the jokester, the prankster the fleet, because I'm the youngest, you know, I've always been the youngest guy in the fleet by far. So I'm always trying to pass the time and, you know, mess with the old timers and all and you guys with each other over the radio. Actually, I do. I don't even turn the radio on. I don't get my feelings hurt. I just leave the radio off. But just, I mean, putting stuff in crab pots. I mean, CJ, a couple fourth of July's ago, and this other dude, I got a bunch of bottle rockets and Roman candles, and it was, like, Fourth of July, and they were headed out, and we were shooting bottle rockets at him, and like, one of them landed right in his like, hot tank and exploded, you know, just water everywhere, whatever else. Just, like, it's just kind of a combination of, like, all those kind of funny, funny times, funny moments, and like, putting CJ, my buddy, like, we would always put stuff like, in his crab pot that was reasonable, but not like, you know, not impossible, but crazy, like, you know, like a lobster, you know, there's no lobsters in the bit, you know, just or like, some weird fish, something that, like, you Know, and he's like, taking pictures, put them all over Facebook, caught the same like, we're, we're laughing our butts off because we're like, we put that in there, you know what I mean, lobster and a crab pot or something, you know. Just, there's been a lot of stuff like that. And we try to have a good time, you know. Just

Jeremy Perkins 34:15
so anywhere I go, I try to map out where the nearest bathroom is. For whatever reason. Where's the bathroom on this boat

Luke McFadden 34:22
you're sitting on it, find a nice spot with a good view and a nice breeze, and that's it, baby. All right? Well, I'm taking no room for a head on there ain't no money made in the cabin. So I'm taking

Jeremy Perkins 34:33
party fat already fell, taking this bad boy with me tomorrow. Is

Luke McFadden 34:36
Right? Food? Wives, exactly. That's right. Yeah. People are like, Why don't you put air conditioning in the cabin or something? I'll say, I don't want them in the cabin. I say, you know, made no money in the cabin. You got to get out there. You want the cabin to be the worst place to be? Hell

Jeremy Perkins 34:50
yeah. Well, thanks for having us again. It was great checking in on you. I look forward to crabbing tomorrow. It should be awesome. And want to learn more. But appreciate you guys taking the time, man. Yeah, any if anybody wants to find you or ask any questions, where can they do

Luke McFadden 35:04
that? I mean, you could just, like, look up my name, kind of wherever, like, on any of the platforms. Luke McFadden, there's a lot of like, especially Facebook, there's a load of fake pages. Ever all of them, there's a bunch of fake accounts. But like, I'm I got that little, the little blue check by, like, all the real ones. So just look for my name with like, the blue check mark, yeah, yep, verified. But I do more YouTube stuff now, really is what I'm focusing more on, in terms of the social media, you know? So I started on tick tock, and I do them all, but I'm really focused on YouTube. So if you're looking for something more, longer, format, that kind of stuff, check it out on YouTube. And we do all kinds of stuff beyond, beyond just crabbing too. So we'll follow the build. That'll be interesting. And yeah, we got plenty of build videos. Well, thanks for taking time out of your day. Hey man, no problem. I appreciate you guys coming down. Appreciate your time, Sam, and we'll have a good time tomorrow. Hell yeah.