Fishing Party: Shelter Island (1985) also dates from Gachot’s first period. The theme of “the one that got away” can of course be traced far back in history and folk lore. Traditionally, groups of weekend fishermen would rent boats out of Port of Egypt, near Southold, for a day’s porgy fishing. Here one such party is confronted by a weakfish too big for the net or even the boat. A fisherman attacks the weakfish with his oar while another tries to pull it into a net that is really much too small. The fish and figures are carved and painted, but the metal fins, the fishermen’s Brillo-pad hair, hats from Utica Club and Moosehead beer-bottle caps, and net are all found elements. In Gachot’s work, the overwhelming size of the catch reprises the man-versus-nature theme implicit in Chicken’s Lament and recalls narratives such as Jonah and the whale (portrayed in another piece by Gachot) and Moby-Dick.

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— Franklin Hill Perrell, from "Richard Gachot: An American Original"