Preston was born to Percy and Louise (MacLean) Coffin, Kingsboro, P.E.I. He was one of twelve children. His father, Percy, was a fisherman who fished at Basin Head and many of Preston's brothers Lee, Stanley, Stewart, Sheldon, Weston and his sister Birdie fishes with her husband Sheldie Rose, are also fisherpeople. Preston's early years saw him working at the age of 12 at Harry Bruce's as a farm labourer and then working at Charles Ching's as a farm labourer and trucker where he earned $100.00 a year in wages. In 1948, at the age of 18 he bought his first boat from Basil Chapman for $150.00. This was a 22 foot, one cylinder wooden boat that used Imperial gasoline. He fished out of Basin Head along side his father, Percy.

He fished hake, cod, herring, mackerel and haddock using gill nets and set lines which were trawls with hooks on it. The fish were weighed and salted by Elmer Peters, and Peter Johnny Gallant both from St. Charles who worked for Paul Gallant Fisheries. The fish were salted for 21 days then shipped to Halifax. Preston fished for 2 years at the Basin then sold his boat to Pat Robertson and worked as a self employed trucker who trucked potatoes and pulp for the next several years. During this time he married Jean (Stewart) of Red Point and had a family of four children.

The call of the sea had Preston return to fishing starting out this time by fishing "company gear" for Griffin for one year. Company Gear Fishing was when a buyer would provide the boat and gear and the fisherman took a percentage of the catch. He then bought a boat with Pat Robertson and they fished together for one year. Then he bought his own boat. This boat was built by Richards from Murray Harbour, hence the tern "Richards Boat". It was a 34 foot, 6 cylinder engine, which cost $500.00. His next boat was also a "Richards Boat", a 32 foot, 6 cylinder engine which he named ARC. In 1971 he had his first "Baker Boat" built by Irving Baker, Munn's Road which was 40 foot long costing $1,000 - $1,500 (just for the hull). He had this boat for 14 years which he named Ricky C Allen. In 1985 he had his second "Baker Boat" built by Wendell Baker, Munn's Road, which is 38 foot with a 6 cylinder engine fully completed cost $22,000. This boat was named Candy C after his first grandchild. Preston still fishes with this boat today and says it has served him well, like all his boats.

When asked what he thought of the newer boats now compared to the older boats, he said the fiberglass and wooden boats they build today are much more comfortable and probably better, with a cost of $160,000 - $200,000 fully completed, but for the fishing he does, his boat will do just fine.

Licenses cost .25 cents when he started fishing and today to renew your license each year costs $550 - $575 depending on the number of licenses or species of fish that you have licenses for.

Preston fishes lobsters out of North Lake Harbour in May and June. He would fish in any area from McInnis Cove to East Point Lighthouse in the older days, but for the past 20 years he mainly fishes in the same spot just east of North Lake Harbour. Lobster fishermen don’t move around as much as in the old days. During the summer months and fall he fished out of Basin Head Harbour until 1985. He said fishing was easier at the Basin because the tides weren’t as strong for hauling trawls and there were plenty of fish at one time. North Lake, with the stronger tides, makes it harder to haul gear and with harsher weather on the North Side, makes it more of a challenge to fish. In the last years, he fished at the Basin (fished mainly 10 miles off on "The Rock") himself and John Robertson were the only people fishing there. There were no buyers located there so they had to haul their fish to Souris to sell their day's catch.

Preston says the North Lake Harbour has changed extremely since he first fished there. There was no wharf to speak of back then just planks laid out to pile traps on. Over the years after the Government took over the Harbours the wharfs were completed on both sides and eventually all the way down past the existing new bridge where he ties his boat up. The harbour has been dredged many times over the years to allow safer entrance and exit of the harbour.

Preston had no navigational aids when he first started fishing. He went by the wind and sun, when it was out, and said using your head was very important. After a few years he got his first compass that he used to help him judge where he was, but a lot of times he says he just headed in the direction he thought he should go. Sometimes, especially in fog, he would end up 5 miles from the harbour when he saw land then just turn and head in the direction of the harbour. He says it was a lot of guess work back then but now a days with modern technology such as depth sounders, radars, fish finders, GPS, CB Radio and VHF, things are easier. He said in the old days if you saw the seagulls flying high it meant it would be windy the next day.

Years ago to measure the depth of the water they would tie a rope on the anchor, lower it and then measure the depth of the water. One day he was fishing with Alfie Fisher and Alfie dropped the anchor over to measure the depth but forgot to attach the line and the anchor was lost. Anchors were made years ago by Clarence MacDonald in his forge in Bothwell. He made over 500 anchors a year and probably needed to with mishaps like Alfie’s.

Preston said there was no limit on the number of traps you could fish when he started fishing. Some fished as high as 1,000 traps but he only fished 400 - 500 (3 bow) traps. Now the Department of Fisheries allows fishermen to fish 300 traps. It cost about $4.00 to build a trap years ago and today it cost about $40.00 to build a 4 bow wood and wire trap. He used to build 150 traps each winter but now he only builds 25 traps each winter. He likes the 4 bow traps he uses now, as they seem to fish better and also more lobsters around now helps. He has been cleaned out of traps and gear at least 10 times in his fishing career and this is due to storms, ice and the lack of the use of ice poles.

Lobsters sold for .27 - .30 a pound when he started fishing and today you get anywhere from $5.00 - $6.00 a pound. A good days catch years ago would be 300 - 400 pounds and today an ordinary day would yield 400 - 500 pounds. He uses herring (.22 a pound) and frozen mackerel (.50 a pound) for bait now. Bait the earlier years would be .3 - .5 a pound. To save money he set trawls to catch bait for fishing and spent many a long night catching gaspereau for bait in ponds such as Black Pond, East Lake, and Blooming Point. This was done by hand by setting a seine.

He used gill nets to catch cod and hake, which now cost $150.00 ready made but he used to make his own nets by buying the material and measure up and make the size he wanted. He also made up lines and hooks for mackerel fishing.

Preston fished tuna for 10 years out of North Lake. The first one he caught he got $50.00. He caught as many as 8 -9 some years, none other years and remembers losing 7 in one day. The last fish he caught sold for $1.00 a pound and weighed 1,010 pounds. He has since sold his tuna license because fish were scarce and he wasn't one to be sailing around doing nothing waiting for that "Lucky Strike." Preston sold his "catch of the day" to many buyers over the years; Griffins, Al Babineau, Harry Walsh, Paul Gallant, Eddie Babineau, Co-op, Mariner Sea Foods, Pictou. He says buyers have stayed consistent over the years, giving a fair price and with more competition over recent years has made a better fishing market for fishermen.

Preston used to fish many years by himself but over the past number of years he has hired fishermen helpers or "Corks" to help him fish. He had a number of different people including his youngest son Rick who fished 9 years with him and his oldest son Allen has fished with him for the last 7 years and will continue in his father’s footsteps in a fishing career.

Preston or should we say "Blackie" or "Chappie" or "Jack Ronnie" is not adverse to telling a story or two. He tells us of the "Handles" that many fishermen have, some include: "The Kid", "Grey Owl", "Rabbit", "The Bear", etc. No one seems to call each other by their correct name but rather by their "Handle" when talking to them.

When asked if he enjoyed fishing, Preston said he wouldn’t be doing it if he didn’t. He said it was hard work over the years but a good way to make a dollar.

Submitted by Michael Coffin & Judy Coffin