Trisha Vincent
English 11
Ethnography
'10/20/09'
Annual bass tournament
For the past eleven years the restaurant the Back Eddy located in Westport, ma has had a striped bass fishing tournament for the local fisher men to see who can catch the biggest striped bass. I’ve worked at this restaurant for the past six years and this was my sixth fishing tournament that I have worked. Every year the set up is for the most part the same the fisher men have to buy badges the cost per fisher man is forty dollars that includes the chance to enter the weight of a fish they are confident that will make them a winner it also includes a T-shirt that says Back Eddy striped bass tournament 2009 and last it works as a ticket to attend the party that the restaurant throws for all the fisher men. The contestants can start to buy their badges a month in advance, but can’t start bringing in fish to be weighed until the weekend of Columbus Day. The final weigh in which is 2pm on Columbus Day, and is also the day of the party. Because the contestants are mainly the same men that enter every year, my female coworkers joke that men will always wait last minuet, because all month we sell maybe two badges and the week of we sell out. The space is limited only 200 fisher men are able to enter. For the party on Columbus Day we do allow guest passes to be bought for the cost of thirty dollars that only includes entrance and the all you can eat buffet, there is no limit to how many guest passes are to be sold.
The staff at the Back Eddy keeps track of who brought in fish and how much they weighed, if the fish is a weight that the fisher man knows isn't going to make him a winner they can either take it home or donate it to the restaurant and they will use it for the party on Columbus Day. There are five places, first place being the big winner and 500 cash prize a trophy and their name and weight of the winning fish inscribed above the restaurant bar with the previous winners from past years. 2nd place gets a 250 cash prize, 3rd place gets a 150 dollar gift certificate to the restaurant, 4th place gets a 100 dollar gift certificate to the restaurant, and 5th place gets a 50 dollar gift certificate to the restaurant. Fisher men can’t start bringing in fish until Friday at 10am. When you walk down the hall to enter the restaurants main dinning room there is a 15 foot cooler on wheels filled with ice and on the side of it is a scale to weigh the fish. On the other side of the scale is a table with a giant chalk bored that keeps the top five contestants names and weight of their fish there is also a binder on the table that keeps record of every fish that is weighed and left for donation. On the first day of the tournament Friday, October 9, 2009, 500 pounds were recorded, by Columbus Day the final number was 2010 pounds of striped bass. The restaurant is open for the public still during the weekend of fisher men bringing in fish and them laying in the iced down cooler. The cooler is always a big hit with the guest because they aren’t used to going into a restaurant with a cooler full of several 30-40 pound dead fish in it. The guest take pictures next to the fish and everyone insists on poking them, I pass on the poking of the dead slimy fish. Through out the weekend fisher men come walking through the restaurant with all there fishing attire on, big rubber boots that come up to there knees, overalls that are made out of a rain coat material, and their hand slimy and bloody from the fish that they carried in by the gills from the back of their pickup truck in the parking lot to the scale in the restaurant. The fisher man usually hang around the restaurant bar for a little while after they are done checking in their fish and cleaning up themselves in the rest room.
On the day of the final weigh in and the party to announce the winner is always on Columbus Day. The party doesn't start till 3pm and the restaurant is only open for the fisher men and the guest that bought a guest pass. At three there is usually already a line out the door, but they have to be checked in before they are allowed into the restaurant. Being checked in means you have to present your badge or guest pass given to you when you bought it and then your hand gets stamped to let the staff know you have already checked in cause there is more than one entrance to the restaurant, and there are occasions when people do go through another entrance and skipped the check in process.
Immediately at 3 the kitchen starts sending out appetizers for the staff to start passing to all the guests. The appetizers are simply finger foods that don't require much work to eat such as scallops wrapped in bacon, smoked blue fish pate, and bass cakes are throw on a crab cake. We do the passing for about two hours or until people start to turn away the food because they are saving room for the buffet. Around 4:30 the restaurant is completely packed with fisher men with their families and friends. As part of the staff, to get around in there you have to speak up and give a loud excuse me! Its tuff not to get bumped or even worse something spilt on you with all the people. At 5 is when the buffet is up and ready to go. The kitchen staff sets up the buffet in the front window of the open kitchen, the front window is where the servers usually pick up their food on a normal business day. The buffet contains many bass, bass tacos, smoked bass, grilled bass, cornbread stuffed bass, fried bass, and a quite a few sides like mixed vegetables a huge bowl of our house salad, French fries, and a few other things. The manager will ring a huge bell that the restaurant has hanging up as decoration near the bar, to get every ones attention that it is now time to eat. At this time in the party there is no organization, everyone gets up and rushes to the kitchen window located at the front of the restaurant where the fish cooler and giant chalk board are displayed. It takes about half an hour for all the guests to go through the buffet line, once everyone has gone through the kitchen leaves the food in the window in case anyone wants seconds, and only a few ever do go back up. Shortly after everyone has found a seat to eat my manager again rings the bell near the bar to get every ones attention. This time to announce the winner of the top five weigh ins of striped bass. While they are announcing the winners and handing them their prizes the staff tries to buss as much plates and cups as possible to set up a coffee and table. Because the chalk board has been updated everyone knew already that the winning fish was a fifty-three pound striped bass. The second largest fish to win the contest in the past eleven years. Once the announcements are made the guests are welcome to help themselves to the kitchen window again for some coffee and house made chocolate chip cookies. By seven guest start calling it a night and begin clearing out of the restaurant, and by eight o'clock the restaurant is back in its original set up and can’t wait for the 12th annual Back Eddy striped bass fishing tournament.