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Davin Nes, Page 1
 Jump to a Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Discovery: Welcome to our weekly Deadliest Catch chat series. Tonight's guest is Davin Nes, deckhand of the North American. What's it like working on the one and only "green" boat? Ask him about his career as a fisherman and how his life has changed since joining the show. Davin Nes: I feel privileged to have the opportunity to be here online and to answer your questions! Polaris: Davin, thanks so much for coming online with us. Your family has paid a dear price to the sea. What is your feelings towards the sea? Love her or hate her? Davin Nes: You know, I still love the sea even though my brother was killed in a tragic accident. It's because I'm a third generation fisherman, and that's all I know. But I miss him dearly. MissHalo: Davin, my condolences on the loss of your brother Jeffery...does this change your mind about what you do? Davin Nes: You know, after it first happened, I hated Dutch Harbor and crab fishing, period. But time heals, and you get back to what you do. This is all I know, and I'm never going to get over it but I have to deal with it. It's all I know. GreenL420: how long ago did you go on your very first king crab or opillio season? Davin Nes: My very first king crab was the summer of my junior year of high school, in 1984 when I went out crab fishing with my dad. When my father told me it was time to go out and start hauling gear, I cried! I hated it so much. It's the weirdest thing - I was 17 years old, and I would cry to myself. But the paycheck brought me around : -) Erika: What was the scariest moment out on the Bering sea for you? Davin Nes: I jumped in to retrieve one of the crew members who had fallen in the water. When you're in the water, the boat looks very big and I thought it was going to come down on me. And that's the truth - that was the scariest thing I've ever encountered. I witnessed my brother fall overboard too, so that was just as scary. Polaris: What are your plans for the day you are done fishing? What would you like to do after that? Davin Nes: My plans for the day after fishing are to go home and be the best father I can. I am going to parenting classes, and I want to be the best father I can to my girls. I looked into buying a boom truck, since I know about hydraulics, I thought it might be a good thing to get into. I'm still thinking about it, but when you're home the time just goes by so fast. Before you know it, it's time to go back fishing again. WizetteMystic: Davin what is the most demanding aspect of Bering Sea crab fishing from the perspective of a deckhand? Davin Nes: The most demanding aspect of Bering Sea crab fishing is to make it through the day even though you're so tired, and it's cold, it's miserable. You go string by string. If you look at the whole big picture, oh my God, we've got 2 weeks of this. But if you go string by string, to me that helps out, looking forward to the last string so you have a ten-minute break. Lhiiiz-2: Davin, I'm sorry to hear of your brother. As far as a question, how much harder was it fishing without your table and sodium lights, etc? Davin Nes: For me the sodium lights didn't bother the deckhands at all, it just gave us more time off. Sorting crab is easier with king crab because they're bigger than opilio. You sure don't want to sort opilio without a table. Nght0661: What inspired you to join the deadliest catch? Davin Nes: I was in Alaska, not making too much money at all and Sten called and asked if I wanted to go with him crab fishing. I was fishing pollock at the time, and not making any money, so I said absolutely. GoGoGators: Where are you now? Davin Nes: Right now I'm sitting down in the basement of my house, in the rec room. I'm in Edmonds, WA. NorwegianMafia: Davin, thanks for chatting with us! In virtually every scene you're in, you're at the rail. Did Sten make you stay there the whole season? Davin Nes: You know, I've gone on 8 different crab boats, and in every one of them, hauling and setting is a little different even though it looks the same on TV. That's the way the North American does it, and to be honest, I really like being at the rail. Tasha: what is the difference between opilio and king crab? Davin Nes: The difference - for one, king crab has a richer flavor. With king crab, you can have one leg and it will fill you up a lot faster than opilio. Opilio is harder to shell, and it takes a lot more to fill you up. If I had a choice, I'd much rather eat king crab but everyone's different. Some people like tanner or bairdi more than king crab. But for me, I like king crab much better. The bairdi doesn't have as many spines as a king crab does, so you go through a lot of gloves sorting king crab. Opilio is just a lot more work. Even though they have fewer spines, they're flatter and more compact, harder to grab. Opilio are just a lot more work than king crab, period. bryan: Besides you and your brother, do you have any other family in the business? Davin Nes: Yes, I have another brother, John. Jeffrey was between John and myself. My father started king crab fishing. He was one of the pioneers of king crab fishing in Dutch Harbor. He started in the Merchant Marines when he was 14. He started fishing in New Bedford for cod, and when the cod fishery crashed, he moved to Seattle, and they started fishing crab in Alaska. My father got his first skipper job when the skipper of the boat he was working rode off in a rowboat and was never seen again, so my father got his first skipper job. At one time, he owned 29 crab boats. Brian_G: You guys have been on the quota system for a while now. Ever wish they would go back to rally style fishing? Davin Nes: Yes you know, we do. All the crab boats out there have a big quota, but the North American has .8% of the quota. But that's our very own quota, not leased. So it's really not bad. A lot of guys lease their quota, and we may do that this year so we get a higher quota. AlexisM: How can you tell which ones are male and which ones are female? Do you throw back the females? Davin Nes: We throw back the females. You turn them over, and look at their abdomens. The belly flap on the underside on a female king crab looks like a fan and covers most of the underside. On a male, it looks more like a point. The female king crab has more spines, so you can see them off the bat. They're also fatter and uglier. KRABBY KAT: Hey Davin, this week was an awesome show, but it looks like the weather was really bad. Does it ever get so bad you can't fish? Davin Nes: Yes, it gets to the point you can't fish because of the risk of someone getting injured on deck. But that's a good point, because during nice weather we all like to fish but in really bad weather, we still like it because it's exciting. But the in between weather, nobody likes it. Well, that's me anyway. : -) |
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