Lafitte skiff Carrie Ann waits at dock with her load of crab traps. The broad fantail transom of the Lafitte skiff, serving when needed as extended cargo deck, catch landing platform, culling board, and all-purpose work surface, is as popular among crab fishermen as it is among shrimp trawlers. The fantail transom is only one of the Lafitte skiff's many practical work boat features. Around the mid-section of the vessel, where most fishing work of is done, Lafitte skiffs have a low freeboard (freeboard is the distance measured from the water to the sheer, or top of the boat's side). This feature makes it easier for crabbers to pull full traps of fat blue crabs into the boat's spacious hold.

-- C. Ray Brassieur,
University of Louisiana at Lafayette

South Louisiana

Cajun