Every issue of our magazine is an ode to commercial fishermen. And more than any other, our annual Crew Shots issue is devoted to life through your lens. This year, however, the theme of the ode to the fishing life spread itself naturally through all of our pages.

For our Moment of Youth column, lifelong Bristol Bay fisherman Reba Temple writes an ode to her late father, Tom, and the family tradition of summering on a 32-foot drifter. On page 10 of the January issue, Robert Powell’s Dock Talk contribution is a literal ode — a fisherpoet's devotion to the Pretty Work of Chesapeake Bay watermen. I’ve been holding on to this piece for quite some time, much to Bob’s consternation (thanks for hanging in there!). But I’ve found that a story finds its way into the issue it’s meant to be in.

As I wrote in my Editor’s Log, Roger Fitzgerald’s In Search of the Simple Life is all about feeding the crew of days gone by. What happens when fishermen retire from Alaska to Washington? According to Fitz, they put the squeeze on apples over a fine kettle of codfish.

As we like to say, this is your life, and it would not be possible without the products that keep the industry humming. Boats & Gear Editor Mike Crowley’s compendium of the year’s best will help you throw off the albatross in place of something useful. It’s well worth a peruse for fishermen as well as anyone who might be looking to fill a fisherman’s Christmas stocking with something extra special (and possibly life-saving) this year.

Download your own PDF of all of our Crew Shots pages on our website (while you’re there, you can peruse PDFs of Crew Shots spreads since 2007).

As always, thank you.