Intellectual Theft Aboard The Montauk Fishing Boat Mary Alice

11/29/2022 I got a late call from Pete saying his fishing trip with FDNY Engine 257 and Ladder 170 out of Rhode Island was canceled; this freed us up to fish his boat, the Mary Alice. Isn’t it always the way that the last-minute trips turn out to be the best! What a great day we had. We limited out on Blackfish and Seabass. I was dialed in today and pushed ahead of our best angler, retired FDNY Lieutenant Jimmy Zodowick. Jim was trying out a new blackfish jig, and it wasn’t going well. That blackfish rig got into Jim’s head, and he was dead in the water. Midday I went in the cabin to take a short nap, and when I returned it was brought to my attention that Jim had just landed a large quality blackfish. Before I was able to get situated to start fishing again Jim had landed two more large fish. He didn’t have me on a fish count, but he was closing in on weight. That’s when I landed a large blackfish that I thought to be at least 10 pounds. I made sure I marked this fish by cutting one of the bottom fins. Just before we wrapped up for the day I found out that while I was napping in the cabin Jim had the measuring tape out, along with a sketching pad writing down the specs on my stand-off blackfishing rig which he essentially copied. An obvious case of intellectual property theft. For what ever reason Captain Pete Carey turned a blind eye to this unethical behavior and allowed the crime to unfold. Trying to make sense of it all, I just figured fishing is fishing, and some guys will do anything to get ahead. At the end of the day, we brought both our large fish to the scale at Montauk Marine Basin for a final weigh-in which would determine who was the best fisherman for the trip. Would you believe that each of our large Blackish weighed in at 8.46lbs? What were the chances? Jim could’ve clinched the “High Hook” award had he not made the rookie mistake of grabbing the leader rather than swinging the keeper codfish he had at the surface over the gunnel, thereby losing our almost only Cod. Great Day, Great Crew. Hope you enjoyed the video!