Posts Tagged ‘Gloucester’
Wicked Tuna Breakdown – S1/EP. 8
Happy Memorial Day! An unnamed US soldier in Afghanistan throws his “tails up”. Photo courtesy Susan Seger Corsbie.
5/25/12 – CAMBRIDGE, MATTHEW J. WEBSTER
NatGeo has signed on for another season of Wicked Tuna! The news was leaked just a few hours ago, via Facebook, by F/V Bounty Hunter mate Scott Ferreiro. No surprise to this observer, considering the show’s globe-sweeping impact as pictured above, but still very impressive considering the shared time slot with AMC’s Mad Men.
Episode 8 should remind avid viewers that Wicked Tuna is produced within the limits of the reality format: since it’s impossible to actually portray everything that takes place over the course of a commercial fishing season, Wicked Tuna unfolds in non-linear “TV time”. The goal is to evoke the spirit of the work and leave out the boring stuff.
Photo courtesy Ali Kat.
As such, Episode 8 begins two weeks before the end of giant tuna season. I seem to remember a previous installment being set two days before, but who cares? Paul Hebert, formerly of the Tuna.com, has moved over to Captain Bill Monte’s Bounty Hunter, and Monte seems to be falling prey to every good fisherman’s tragic flaw — superstition. Monte’s hoping Hebert has some inside dope, or esoteric technique, that will improve the crew’s fortunes. Unfortunately not.
“Tuna-ing is 90 percent luck,” says Hebert.
“I think the prick just likes to hear himself talk,” says his new mate, Scott Ferreiro.
Over on the Hard Merchandise, baldhead skipper Dave Marciano’s got Jason Muenzner, his first mate and nephew, under the microscope.
“I dropped the anchor a million times, but with Marciano looking over you, it’s intimidating,” says Muenzner.
Monk Mask Replica – Jason Muenzner of the Hard Merchandise.
It all comes good later, when Muenzner reels in a 500-pounder, as expertly as you please. Can we get the Hard Merchandise some classic hard rock for background music in Season 2? Maybe Queen’s Big Bottom Girls? Dave likes that one.
WICKED TUNA QUOTE OF THE WEEK – S1/EP. 8
“We might go on a streak, we might get a bunch of zeroes. But I know Dave will put us on that meat. I’m always coming out ahead when I’m fishing with him, because the knowledge he gives me is priceless.”
-Jason Muenzner, first mate of the F/V Hard Merchandise
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Wicked Tuna Breakdown – S1/E7
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
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