Shrimping excursion nets a boatload of succulent seafood

On assignment in Onslow County, N.C., with Our State magazine, freelance journalist Karen Langley Martin of Durham “rode along” with Sneads Ferry waterman Capt. Tommie Jarman as part of the “crew” aboard his 35-foot, wooden shrimp trawler.

 

Courtesy of Our State. Photo by Matt Ray

Martin watched the paying customers board his vessel, named Faith & Hope in honor of his two daughters. Everyone is eager to launch on a four-hour excursion to trawl the New River.

But, oh dear. One of those paying customers has a bright yellow banana in her jacket pocket.

“You can’t bring a banana on a boat,” Capt. Jarman stated. “Bananas are bad luck on a boat.”

The woman groveled, obviously unaware she was about to violate this “rule of the sea.”

He softened, smiled and took her hand to help her step aboard, Martin said.

 “Good thing I’m not superstitious,” Capt. Jarman mumbled.

 

Courtesy of Our State. Photo by Matt Ray

“The last thing Jarman needs this evening is bad luck,” Martin wrote. “He’s taking guests out on a shrimping trip – and keeping his fingers crossed that they’ll actually get to catch some shrimp. The banana bothers him a little, but Capt. Jarman is a tour guide and small business owner (Reel Livin’ Fishing Charters) who understands ‘customer service.’” So, he wisely lets the banana slide.

[And Karen Langley Martin (shown below) can proceed to write her article, which was published in the June 2023 edition of Our State.]

 

As the boat leaves the harbor, Martin observed: “Everything on board is ready…10 large coolers, holding a couple hundred pounds of ice…a miniature clothesline hangs taut with wooden clothespins displaying five clean pairs of gloves.”

 

Courtesy of Knoxville (Tenn.) Daily Sun. Photo by Tom Adkinson

Martin explained: “The gloves will keep the stink off people’s hands and protect them from the sharp points that are on the (shrimp) heads and tails. A clean white fiberglass table takes up most of the space on the boat – empty, but hopefully not for long.”

At exactly 5 p.m., the legal start time for Sunday shrimping, “Capt. Jarman pushes down on the hydraulics lever, and the nets drop into the water. As if a silent signal has gone out, seagulls begin screeching and swooping. Shrimp are popping out of the water on both sides of the boat.”

The crew gloves up and takes their assigned posts. Capt. Jarman raised his nets. Martin said: “They erupt from the river, each bulging with a dripping, wriggling mass of shrimp.”

“Thousands of grayish white shrimp flip and hop on the table, mixed in with the inevitable ‘bycatch,’ unintended victims of the shrimp nets.” Martin said the bycatch is quickly hand-picked and tossed back into the river.

 “Seven hectic minutes later, it’s all over. Capt. Jarman and First Mate Danny Wells (shown below) dump 14 baskets of shrimp – about 700 pounds – into the coolers and top them with a layer of ice.”

    Courtesy of Our State. Photo by Matt Ray

“They drop the nets twice more and both times haul up hundreds of pounds of shrimp,” Martin reported. The limit that the two men can handle back at the dock is 2,000 pounds, so they’re done.

Martin said: “The clouds turn orange and pink and plum as Faith & Hope heads back, riding a ton heavier in the water than when she left.”

“As always, Capt. Jarman shares the catch with his guests. Back at the dock, everyone fetches coolers from their cars, and he fills them with shrimp and ice.”

“A woman slides her cooler full of shrimp into the back of her minivan and turns around. She reaches into her pocket and hands Capt. Jarman the banana she never got around to eating.”

“‘Here,’ she says to him. ‘You can have this. Maybe it’s good luck.’” (Ssshhh.)

Bananas can ruin a good day on the water

Why are bananas on a boat considered to bring bad luck? There are a bunch of reasons…dating back at least to the 1700s.

And to this very day, many superstitious fishing boat skippers prohibit bananas onboard their vessels.

Many of the old legends came to light recently when Sports Illustrated magazine dispatched outdoor writer Joe Shead to peel back the “badluck banana” story.

 

“Perhaps the most plausible explanation, and the most popular theory, is from a time when early wooden cargo ships transported bananas from the tropics to foreign destinations,” Shead said.

“Inevitably, poisonous spiders and possibly even snakes inadvertently stowed away in the banana bunches, later biting unsuspecting crew members,” Shead remarked.

 

“Another problem with bananas is they give off ethylene gas as they decay. Think about how fast a banana goes from ripe to overripe.” (As Dr. Seuss noted in the lyrics of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” a banana produces a “greasy black peel.”)

 

The ethylene gas also causes the cell walls of other fruits to break down and ripen prematurely. “You may think you’ve got provisions for a lengthy sea voyage, and all of a sudden, all of your fruit spoils,” Shead said. “And without fruit, sailors get scurvy.”

“In addition, if you throw a few hundred pounds of bananas in a cargo hold, close the door and forget about them, the fruit spoils and starts to ferment. When fruit ferments, it produces alcohol,” Shead commented.

“Old-time sailors didn’t realize the alcohol could ignite, causing the boat to explode. Which, ultimately, left behind nothing but a bunch of bananas (which float).”

 

Another thing about ethylene gas is that many fishermen believe it “acts as a natural fish repellent.” 

Scientists have determined that fish have an exceptional sense of smell – about 1,000 times greater than dogs, according to Carlton “Doc” Holliday of Joplin, Ark., an authority on bass fishing.

He said that “fish biologists have found in some species that a fish’s smell system can double and even triple as the fish ages.”

Among freshwater fish, “catfish are widely regarded as the kings of smell,” say the editors of Wally BITES, a blog that serves fishermen at Lake Wallenpaupack in northeastern Pennsylvania. 

“Catfish have an olfactory system that is among the most developed in the animal kingdom, boasting millions of sensory receptors.” This aids in locating food, avoiding predators and navigating dark and murky waters.

Chris Ryan of Woodard Marine, located on Lake Bomoseen in Hydeville, Vt., said: “While there’s no definitive scientific proof supporting the idea that fish are inherently repelled by the smell of bananas, some suggest that fish might be sensitive to the scent of bananas, perceiving it as unfamiliar or even a threat, causing them to move away.”

“Others propose that the smell of bananas or associated substances (like oils) might mask other scents that would typically attract fish to bait,” Ryan said. “Various chemical odorants in the water are known to influence fish behavior.”

When Lauren Beachy, a reporter from WNCT-TV9, based in Greenville, N.C., came to Morehead City on “Friday the 13th” in June 2025 to cover the day’s action at the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, she asked if the fishing boats had any superstitions. The response – loud and clear – was “no bananas on the boats.”

 

Bananas are believed to also cause boats to have mechanical problems and to stir up violent storms.

The staff at Hubbard’s Marina in Madeira Beach, Fla., tells customers: “We are not taking any chances with this happening to us. We DO NOT allow bananas onboard ANY of our fishing vessels.”