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LB: Did you attend college? What did you study?
Blake Painter: No, I never attended college. I was on an airplane to Alaska eight hours after I graduated high school. Although I do wish I would have attended college, being as fishing will always be here. At my age, an education is harder to get.
Dixiecowgurl: Do you miss anything about being on the deck?
Blake Painter: I do miss the camaraderie of the crew. And I have to say most of all the physical part of it. Being as, aside from the stress, there's not many ways to lose weight.
Aromatic chic: Hello Blake, how did it feel when you pulled in your first pot?
Blake Painter: The very first pot we hauled of the season was a prospect pot, to see if there were crab in that area. And to be totally honest, my heart hit the bottom of my stomach when I saw that first pot come over the rail. But with the second pot spirits were lifted, as we anticipated they would be all season.
kriegshund: How well do you get along with the other captains?
Blake Painter: I've personally got tremendous respect for each and every one of the captains you see on the show. They are all good fishermen and aside from how anyone may be portrayed on the show, they're all a bunch of good guys. I've learned a lot from each and every one of them just in the last season alone.
jumpabeans: How is your dad now and do you ever hope to take over your family's fishing business?
Blake Painter: My dad is currently recovered 100%. But due to his time spent ill and unable to fish, it seems to have put him in the position of enjoying the retired lifestyle. So I've come to find myself in a position I've wanted since I was a child: to run my own boat. The only problem is now I have two guys who seem to want to retire at the same time. Leaving me in a position of large responsibility for not one, but two vessels, 1,000 miles apart.
pettywhite3: How much sleep does crew really get on the boat?
Blake Painter: The sleep generally depends on what season it is. We try to maintain 2 to 4 hours in a 24 hour period. But that depends solely on weather and production. If there's no crab coming aboard and the weather is good, there's generally not much sleep. Sometimes, you may sleep 8 hours a day. Sometimes you may sleep 24 hours a day. More often than not, you're going 2 or 3 days with no sleep.
Rudy13: HI Blake. What advice did you find helpful from the other captains this season?
Blake Painter: I seem to take something different from each one of them this season. They all have a vast amount of knowledge of the fisheries they're involved with for a vast amount of years. Most of all, I would have to thank Corky on the Aleutian Ballad due to the fact of all of his knowledge in the fishery and working together so closely with me. We kept a good handle on where the crabs were at all times.
Troy: Are you guys hiring?
Blake Painter: Unfortunately, we just hired a new crew member for the summer tendering halibut fishing and the '07 king crab season.
NC87: Coming from a commercial fishing family, I really enjoy watching your show. How are the seas off of Oregon compared to the Bering Sea?
Blake Painter: In a sense, not only are they two separate oceans but they are in fact that. The Pacific Ocean rides completely different than the Bering Sea does. In the Pacific Ocean you have very large ground swells continually and then you add to that with wind waves. Whereas in the Bering Sea, being as it's so shallow, if there's no wind; generally there's flat calm. But in the winter months with continuous storms, it's generally always turbulent and miserable.
