PORTLAND (AP) – The falsehoods flow as freely as the rum drinks when fishermen trade tales at the Dry Dock Restaurant and Tavern.

That’s the gist of Linda Greenlaw’s latest book, “All Fishermen are Liars.” The book chronicles a night of drinking and swapping of stories at the Dry Dock as commercial fishermen recount their showdowns with monster weather, thieving crewmen and untamed ocean.

Greenlaw, author of “The Hungry Ocean” and “The Lobster Chronicles,” sat at a table at the Dry Dock last week and talked about her newest book, commercial fishing, writing, her love life and, of course, lying.

In her book, Greenlaw writes that fishermen revel in their lies.

She brags that she can look her best friend “square in the eye and unflinchingly lie, sandbagging or exaggerating the day’s catch.”

“And it’s not only the quantity of fish that gets twisted, it’s also the location where they were caught and the type of gear, bait and technique I found successful,” she writes. “Hell, I have even been known to stretch the weather report to my advantage.”

On this day, Greenlaw was at the watering hole for a book launch party that served as the kickoff for a book tour that will continue into October and include 60 stops in 17 states and Washington, D.C.

Despite the daunting schedule, she is relishing her second career as a writer. A fourth book – a cookbook she will write with her mother – is planned, and she hopes to write a novel after that.

Yet there are no plans to give up fishing. After 25 years on the ocean, fishing still matters where it counts – in her heart.

“I don’t enjoy writing like I enjoy fishing,” she said. “I love fishing. I would never say I love writing. I do love my books, but I don’t love the process of getting there at all.”

Greenlaw began her writing career after being included in Sebastian Junger’s 1997 best-selling book, “The Perfect Storm,” the true story of a fishing boat that disappeared in a gale in 1991.

Greenlaw, skipper of a swordfish boat, was a minor character in the book. But the exposure attracted publishers who were intrigued by the idea of a woman working in a dangerous and male-dominated profession.

She wrote “The Hungry Ocean,” published in 1999, which is about 30 days of swordfishing the high seas. That was followed in 2002 by “The Lobster Chronicles,” in which she tells of her return to the family home on Isle au Haut to run a lobster boat. Between them, there are 836,000 of the books in print.

“All Fishermen are Liars” is less about Greenlaw than harrowing tales at sea recounted by others. There are 125,000 copies in the first printing.

Two friends, former fishermen Tommy Tucker and George Pusey, are portrayed in Greenlaw’s book as drunken idiots, misfit captains and – perhaps worst of all – lousy storytellers.

Given the way they hug and greet Greenlaw at the Dry Dock, one may question Greenlaw’s harsh treatment of the two.

“It’s endearment,” insisted Tucker, 55, who now lives in Delaware and no longer fishes for a living. “I mean just because we’re screw-ups … we can’t help it.”

“Some people are born that way,” added Pusey, 57, who now lives in Maryland. Both men roar in laughter.

In her first two books, Greenlaw laments the difficulty of having a family as an offshore fisherman. She ended up receiving letters and calls from men offering up themselves, and from women offering up their ex-husbands. She got a fistful of letters from prisoners. She now says she has been seeing the same man – he’s identified as Simon in “All Fishermen are Liars” – going on two years now. He’s an orthopedic surgeon from Vermont who has a summer house on Isle au Haut.

Her next book will be “Filled to the Gills: Our New England Cookbook,” which she will write with her mother. It will be published next year.

After that, she’d like to delve into fiction, perhaps with a mystery set around fishing and boats and islands.

“I just know whatever I write has to be set around water,” she said.

Others who joined Greenlaw at the Dry Dock included Alden Leeman, a lobsterman from Orr’s Island in the town of Harpswell who is Greenlaw’s best friend. Leeman, 70, gave Greenlaw her first job aboard a swordfish boat while she was attending Colby College in 1979.

Leeman has fished all over the North Atlantic and hauls 800 lobster traps these days. He says Greenlaw’s book captures the fishing life as well as any book.

“She hits the nail on the head most times,” he said.

Greenlaw has 20 years of memories of the Dry Dock, a two-story brick building with a pub atmosphere and two decks overlooking Portland Harbor. These days, however, not as many fishermen come there. That’s because there aren’t as many fishermen around as in the past.

Greenlaw doesn’t want to get into the politics of fishing, but she fears that the number of New England fishermen will continue to dwindle with the government restrictions in recent years.

She figures she’s a lucky one. She still gets to spend time pulling lobster traps, while making decent money writing books.

And while she may not enjoy the process of completing a book, she clearly is enjoying the fruits of her labor and the celebrity that goes along with it. After all, how many people can say they were portrayed on the big screen by actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, as was the case in the film adaptation of “The Perfect Storm.”

“I begged Warner Brothers to let me play myself in The Perfect Storm,’ especially when I heard George Clooney was playing the lead. But, oh, they didn’t want me,” she said.