The Websternet

Above, the cast of Wicked Tuna. That’s my old high school in the background.

5/14/12 – CAMBRIDGE, #MATTHEW J. WEBSTER

Captain Ralph Wilkins of the F/V Odysea starts out this trip with a case of the midseason blues, meaning he hasn’t caught a bluefin in a while and it’s making him superstitious. Pirate, his mate, confirms the Odysea’s been having some bad luck, and proposes that “bad things” tend to happen in sets of three. The episode narrates their progress as they attempt to shake off the slump.

Salem’s Donna Monte captures the hearts of America’s deep-sea-fishing public by weeping openly at the dock as her husband, Bill, steams out in the Bounty Hunter. Like Wilkins, the Montes have been on a cold streak, and Donna has to return to her day job temporarily. But what really bugs her is missing out on a day at sea.

On the Tuna.com, first mate Paul Hebert is growing weary of Captain Dave Carraro’s management style, and rebels by sitting in Carraro’s chair, flagrantly challenging the skipper’s authority.

“I’m gonna have to get someone else,” says Carraro.

Later, Hebert meets Bill Monte in the parking lot next to Beacon Marine, a ramshackle part-residential, part-industrial wharfside complex in Gloucester that perpetually appears about to slide into the ocean. There they conspire to bring Hebert over to the Bounty Hunter. Will some of the Tuna.com’s good luck rub off? Tuna-in to NatGeo next week to find out.

WICKED TUNA QUOTE OF THE WEEK: S1/E7

“If Donna had been on deck, we would have caught that [EXPLETIVE] fish.” – Captain Bill Monte of the F/V Bounty Hunter