Callis Jesso

Callis Jesso’s Interview

Callis Jesso is a retired fisherman from Sheaves Cove. He has been retired now twenty-five years, after fishing for fifty years. He began fishing at the early age of ten and stopped fishing at the age of sixty, after deciding that he wanted to retire.

Callis fished at the Sheaves Cove beach. He mainly fished lobster, cod, herring, and salmon. He fished his first thirty years in a row boat with oars. For his last twenty years, he used an outboard motor boat. When Callis fished, there was lots of fish to catch. He said you could easily put your hand over the boat and grab a fish with your hands and haul it right into the boat. He said you could easily catch about five thousand pounds a day or a set and a half of fish.

Callis misses fishing for a living because he loved to fish. Callis quotes "If I had a dory right now I would go fishing". Fishing was an occupation that Callis greatly enjoyed. Fishing was past down from generation to generation in Callis's family, since his father past it down to him. Fishing was also the main source of income for people in the community. Callis was faced with many struggles when he fished for a living. These struggles included bad weather, winds, cold, and the hardships of using a dory to fish. When Callis fished, there was no seasons or quotas, you just fished what you wanted. At the beach where he fished in Sheaves Cove, there was fifteen fishermen fishing there.

Callis is now eighty-five years old. He has a hard time trying to remember any fishing stories after currently receiving several operations. Due to these operations, it left him with bad speech and a deteriorating memory. He did, however, mention some things about fishing in the past. People normally fished in their bare feet with their pants up to their knees. They would be that cold when they got out of the boat from fishing, that they would fall down from the cold. No one had fishing clothes to wear, they only had the clothes on their backs, which were normally rags. People also slept on hay mattresses. These mattresses were so cold when you woke up in the morning, they were frozen stiff.