Captain Elbert Gaskill
A chat with Captain Elbert Gaskill
Harkers Island, NC
F/V Miss Sandy IV
Who is your fishing boat named after? “My wife, Sandy.” The Sandy IV is a 38 foot wooden boat that Elbert built himself! “Well, I framed her up and Jamie Lewis and his brother Houston finished her out with planking and all. I had a 50 footer before her. I didn‘t mean to build that one! I bought the lumber but the builder decided it was too big a project and he was getting up in age. So I kept looking at that pile of lumber and looking at the drawing; pile of lumber, drawing, pile of lumber, drawing. Finally I told Sandy ’I‘m a‘going to town to buy some tools‘ – and I started building. Jamie finished her out.
How‘d you become a fisherman? “Growing up here on Harkers Island – I went every summer with my father – he taught me about the tides, how to work the nets. I also worked with Claude Brown on his party boat in the 1960s – he kept his boat at the county dock at the end of Marshallberg Road. Claude Brown made 200 trips a year. Marvin and Buddy Harris had party boats too in Marshallberg. People came from Raleigh and all over. 15-20 party boats worked out of Harkers Island. Sandy‘s father, Stacy M. Davis, had a party boat and I worked for him when I was 12, 13 years old for $5 a day.”
Is that how you met Sandy? “I reckon so.” Sandy and Elbert Gaskill are proud of their Harkers Island heritage – they‘re both descended from Diamond City whalers! They remember when cotton nets were washed, limed, and spread along the whole south shore to dry. Sandy stays involved in fish politics to make sure fishermen have a voice in management decisions. She won a 2004 Pelican Award from the NC Coastal Federation for Best Citizen Action and Outstanding Environmental Service!
Got any good fishing stories? “I was flounder gigging with Daryl Willis in the ocean near Cape point – we gigged 2,800 pounds of flounder in one night! Red and Ben Brooks were helping in another boat – we got 200 boxes that week. That was pretty work.”
What‘s your favorite style of fishing? “Trapping black sea bass in the wintertime. Just me and another feller have a permit to trap in Carteret County. I set my fish traps 12, 15 miles offshore on rocks and reefs. The traps are about the size of a crab pot, 24 X 24 X 20 inches. Bass love tight places and they crowd in there. Everything I catch goes to a fish house, recorded on a trip ticket so the state can have that data. But each spring I see 300 speedboats out there full of sportsmen catching snappers, groupers, bass – they don‘t have to record their catch, and when the fish look like they‘re in trouble I get the blame!”
What‘s on your mind? “I love a pretty tow of shrimp. But fuel is so expensive and seafood prices are down. I just got $2.40 a pound for 16/20s (jumbo shrimp) off Ocracoke (a long run!) but paid 2.50 a gallon for fuel. I have records showing we made more money fifteen years ago. The island is changing too – a lot of people are getting out of fishing and selling their property. They‘re moving off the island. I‘m 61 and all my boats and nets are tied up in fishing. I don‘t know what else I would do. This is my home, and I love the water.” Elbert‘s a top notch fisherman – if anyone makes it, he will!
What‘s your hope for the future? “I hope to finish my time out on Harkers Island.”
Interview / Text: Dr. Barbara Garrity Blake
