Tending to his 'knitting' for 63 years

Monday may have just been another day at work for Jean Gros, but it also marked an anniversary of a trade he has done for more than six decades.
Exactly 63 years ago Monday, Gros, 82, of Amelia, began making and repairing shrimp nets, he said. On Monday, Gros was working to patch a net for Alfred Daigle, captain of the Cajun Pride shrimp boat, at the dock on the Atchafalaya River in Morgan City.
Gros grew up as a shrimper and used to patch his net every night, he said. “We used to do hoop net when I was young with my dad and momma,” Gros said. When Gros was a child, he helped his mother make his father 45 hoop nets, he said. “We used to do cast nets, and we used to fish catfish,” Gros said. “Momma taught us good.”
In 1959, Gros got hurt after injuring his leg while shrimping offshore near Galveston, Texas, he said. “I gave shrimping up,” Gros said. Gros has been fixing nets full-time since he retired from McDermott in 1998. From 1965 to 1998, Gros worked at several different oil and gas industry companies, he said.
Gros has lots of relatives and grandchildren, but cannot find anyone who wants to learn the trade, he said. The amount of work required for each job may be why more people do not want to learn the trade, he said.
Gros pointed to two of Daigle’s nets, which he said were the 43rd and 44th nets he has worked on so far this year. “I did a dip net for my friend. Five days later he died,” Gros said referring to a net he made this year.
Gros has continued to make and repair nets as he has gotten older, though he did not work on many nets in 2013, he said. The year before Hurricane Katrina hit, he repaired 38 nets, he said.
Each job varies for Gros because the work he does all depends on what the customer wants, he said. The nets Gros works on are factory-made plastic ones, he said. “I have people come from all over that bring me their nets,” he said.