What is Bay Rat?
1.
1.) White, working-class residents of Southern New Jersey barrier islands (eg. Absecon Island, Brigantine, Long Beach Island). Rarely graduates of high school but very often have GED's,. Some Vo-Tech classes.
Bay Rats are excellent salt water fishermen, crabbers, clammers, duck hunters & muskrat trappers. They are top notch outboard engine mechanics, fiberglass specialists, welders & pile drivers. They posess above average skills in carpentry, auto mechanics & plumbing - and they can "rig" almost anything.
Piracy is a way of life for Bay Rats. abandoned (& not so abandoned) boats, homes, & construction sites are fair game for needed parts & materials.
Authentic Bay Rats have deep "local knowledge" of inlets, back bays, channels, sloughs, creeks, & wetlands. Bay Rats NEVER go to the beach during daylight hours and only go at night to attend bonfire keg parties. They are more typically found speeding through "no wake zones" in their custom duck boats, garveys & flivers.
Bay Rat attire includes converse sneaks or work boots, old board shorts, Tee shirts from local tackle shops & bars. Shoes & boots are ALWAYS worn - even on the boat or beach. Bay Rats can often be identified by smears of blue or black bottom paint on their elbows or the undersides of their forearms.
Many Bay Rats live at home with their widowed mothers or on old houseboats with engines removed.
The Bay Rat philosophy is to live as cheaply as possible to avoid any kind of steady work. They are however, hard workers when they need money for beer, cigs, or parts for outboard engines or old 4-door Buicks they inherited from their deceased fathers.
Bay Rats often go by nick names which include: Smiley, Mumsy, Clammer, Nags, Bubsy, Lambo...
Bay Rats are amateur demolition experts who love to "blow shit up" with 1/4 sticks of dynamite. They are ingeneous at creating hash pipes & bongs from old plumbing parts or found materials.
Bay Rats can consume large quantities of beer and still navigate the dark waters at night. They drink everyday & often get together in small groups & break each others balls. Bay Rats are generally peaceful & not given to fighting or violence. However, they will kill annoying wildlife such as seagulls, pigeons, foxes, etc in cruelly inventive ways.
A Bay Rat will unselfishly offer assistance to stranded boaters & motorists; often making sport of it.
Natural enemies of Bay Rats include the Marine Police, Shoobies,& Preppies.
Most Bay Rats are shy around women but they also have their female fans. Often the attractive & fun sisters of fellow Bay Rats.
Bay Rats are totally uninterested in: Movies, music, politics, restaurants, fresh water fishing (which is for fags).
Interests include: NASCAR, hurricanes, drugs, drunken pussy, cheap weed.
Bay Rats may soon be an endangered species. The cost of homes on the barrier islands are forcing many Bay Rat familes over to the mainland.
2.) John "Bay Rat" Barry - long time bartender at McGettigan's Albany Arms & Atlantic City's most famous bay rat.
1.) Biff: If we can't get daddy's boat started we'll be late for the fish & goose soiree'.
Muffy: There's a "bay rat" drifting in the channel for flounder, why don't you radio him for assistance?
Biff: First of all, he probably doesn't have a radio & besides, I'm too embarrassed.
2.) Where the fuck is Bay Rat? He was supposed to tap me out a hour ago?
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