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Like all good tuna boat fishermen here in the
1940's, the Everinghams knew how to make bait.
But imagine having to do it for an entire sportfishing
fleet and an armada of private boaters every day during
the height of the fishing season when the fish and the
fishermen have an insatiable appetite for bait fish.
That's the chore for the Everingham Bros. Bait
Co., a San Diego institution for the last 50 years. The
business, which now employs its fourth generation of the
Everingham family, is anchored at the same, exact
location in San Diego Bay that it was half a century
ago. That's when
Adolphus "Buck" Everingham (deceased) and his two
sons, Charles and Roy, bought it from Lyman McDonald.
And
the truth is, Roy Everingham wasn't all that thrilled
about making bait.
"I
hated it," Roy said, laughing. "Catching bait was the
worst part of tuna fishing. Throwing those nets and
hauling in the bait just killed your back and hands."
But
Roy Everingham solved that by mechanizing the process,
and today his son, Buck, 45, runs the operation. Buck said the crew has a
combined 160 years in the bait-making business.
Roy,
75, is retired now, but he left the family business in
capable hands. Buck's son, Matthew, 19, when he's not
attending UCSD, helps at the company's Mission Bay bait
barge.
Buck
started learning the business when he was 12. That's
when Roy started teaching him all the aspects of making
bait, including the most important one of all, how to
find it in a vast ocean.
"Sometimes it looks like the shadow of a cloud,"
Buck said. "Other times, it's two different shades of
green or even less than that. You really need a keen
eye."
For
the Everinghams, it all started back in the post-World
War II days. Albacore fishing had slowed to a crawl, and
Roy's father, the original Buck, and brother went to
work for McDonald, who then owned Mac's
Bait. Soon, Roy tired of fishing tuna and joined
them. And, before long, McDonald approached them about
buying the business.
"I
was reluctant at first," Roy Everingham said this week
at the company's corporate office in Point Loma. I
didn't think a family business would work out."
But
Roy threw in, and the first thing the family did was
build a new bait boat to replace the old
Californian.
Back
then, there was competition in the bait business from
Tex Brock, and there were only two landings, H&M and
Point Loma. It wasn't easy, Roy said. The two barges
were next to each other.
"Hey, we struggled, man," Roy said. "Our
competitor supplied H&M, and we took care of Point
Loma."
Everingham likes to tell the story of the time
Tex Brock hunk out a huge sign that said, "Bait Here."
"I
built a bigger sign that said, 'Live Bait Here,'"Roy
said, laughing at the thought of one-upping his
competitor.
Other competitors came and went, but the
Everinghams persevered.
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