L_S_2015_04_

116 Louisiana Sportsman^ | April 2015

He

called this cycling arrangement “the circle

of life.”

Frankly, it was well-orchestrated chaos

quarterbacked by Heikamp. Five of the seven

guys were big dudes; it was impressive to see a 260-pound bull

of a man with a heavily bowed rod in his hands thundering

toward the stern while the other guys gracefully wanded their

rods over his head.

Heikamp’s eagle eyes didn’t miss anything. He constantly

reminded the fishermen, in the midst of all the action, to mark

their fish on the fish counter as they iced them.

“We don’t want to have to dig in the box to count them,” he said.

When the bite slackened considerably, Heikamp said he knew

the problem.

“I think it’s because we lost too many fish,” he grunted. “I’m

going to do something I don’t like too much: I’m going to chum

a little to see if we can get them started again.”

He broke out a bag of, believe it or not — Kibbles ’n Bits dog

food — and tossed a couple of handfuls toward the rig leg.

At 7:30 a.m., Coach Heikamp looked at the fish counter and

urged his crew on.

“That’s only 21,” he said. “We got a long way to go.”

The men were experiencing a lot of break-offs fishing as close

to the rig as they were with all the slack in their lines.

“Be ready to tie on a lot of hooks when you do this,” he

growled.

“Yeah, bring plenty of hooks,” chimed in Richard Waller, an

experienced mangrove snapper fisherman in his own right.

Shortly thereafter, a rig worker came down the platform’s

lower deck and asked the boat to leave for a bit because of the

need to bleed off some flammable gas.

Heikamp was unperturbed: He simply moved the boat a short

hop to Grand Isle 47A.

The twin platform already had two boats on it, soon joined by

a third and then a fourth, besides Heikamp’s.

“The other boats don’t bother me,” he said with a crooked

grin. “I am probably doing other things than them.

“I don’t own these rigs. Plus, I want everyone to catch fish.”

The father-and-son Waller team had almost instant hook-ups.

Son Trey had the hottest hand so far in the morning and was

also the youngest one aboard, so he received special abuse

Mangrove Snapper

Production Operators

Lead Operators

Field Supervisors

I & E Technicians

Electricians

Mechanics

Flowback Operators / Consultants

Marine Riggers

Dispatchers / Production Clerks

Benefits include – Health, Life , Dental, Vision, Short and Long term Disability Insurance.

Cancer Policy, 401 K, Direct Deposit, Paid Vacation and Paid Holidays.

11878 Hyw. 308 • Larose, LA 70373

Office: 985-693-5900 • Fax: 985-693-5903

Apply online: [email protected]

Pioneer Production Service Inc. is an equal opportunity employer.

HIRING