Here are some pix we took over the spring and summer lobstering.
The big lobster with the bands on it was a legal lobster. The other big one was oversized and released. It weighed about 15 lbs if I remember correctly. It was probably around 60 years old.
The last photo is our boat, hauled out at Rose Marine, Gloucester, MA in mid-June.
Lobstering pix by request
Lobstering pix by request
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some more
The first pic is an oversized lobster and a legal lobster. The metal device is the gauge to measure legal lobsters. The minimum size we are allowed to take is 3 1/4 inches from the eye socket to the start of the tail (carapace length). The maximum legal size is 5 inches in carapace length. The other metal thing is a spyderco harpy. :D
Pic 2 is a couple of totes of bait. We were using salted pogies on this particular day. Each box is about 100 lbs. We go through 2-3 boxes per day depending on how many traps we haul. Each box baits about 60 pots.
pix 3-5 were taken last saturday. The day started nice enough but by noon it was blowing a sustained 30 knot northwest wind and the seas rapidly built to about 3 feet. The surface of the sea was almost all white and we were taking spray while at idle. We did not stay out much longer after taking those photos.
I have a few more but they are too big to use as attatchments. I will upload them to a hosting site and post them when I get a free moment. 7 pm is about bed time for me. we are up at 4 am usually so I will try to get some more up in the next few days.
The first pic is an oversized lobster and a legal lobster. The metal device is the gauge to measure legal lobsters. The minimum size we are allowed to take is 3 1/4 inches from the eye socket to the start of the tail (carapace length). The maximum legal size is 5 inches in carapace length. The other metal thing is a spyderco harpy. :D
Pic 2 is a couple of totes of bait. We were using salted pogies on this particular day. Each box is about 100 lbs. We go through 2-3 boxes per day depending on how many traps we haul. Each box baits about 60 pots.
pix 3-5 were taken last saturday. The day started nice enough but by noon it was blowing a sustained 30 knot northwest wind and the seas rapidly built to about 3 feet. The surface of the sea was almost all white and we were taking spray while at idle. We did not stay out much longer after taking those photos.
I have a few more but they are too big to use as attatchments. I will upload them to a hosting site and post them when I get a free moment. 7 pm is about bed time for me. we are up at 4 am usually so I will try to get some more up in the next few days.
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Pete,
Great pics! Thanks for the work that you do. I love eating your catches whenever I get a chance.
Great pics! Thanks for the work that you do. I love eating your catches whenever I get a chance.
:spyder:: Advocate, Slysz Bowie Ti, Southard Black Blade, Stretch Carbon Fiber w/ZDP-189, Fluted Ti Native5, Terzuola Starmate, Terzuola SLIPIT, Leaf Storm, Gayle Bradley, Roadie, Chaparral CF, Chaparral Ti Stealth, Des Horn, Stretch FRN (Blue) ZDP-189, Centofante Memory, Military Black Blade CE, Delica4 FRN CE, Endura4 FRN Black Blade CE, Assist Orange FRN, Manbug ZDP-189, Ladybug 3 FRN SE, Delica4 Blue NLEOMF, Moran Drop Point BB, et al. :spyder: Spydie Fanatic #179 :spyder:
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A couple more from this weekend.
Spare buoys. Each one has a weak link attatched that breaks away at 600 lbs. This is to prevent whale entanglements. They are also painted with our color and pattern and our permit number is burned into the side of each one.
Approximately 3600 feet of rope on the kitchen floor of my apartment. There is 2400 feet of sinking rope (white) and 1200 feet of floating line (green) that we use for buoy lines. Floating line has been outlawed except for the last 1/3 of the buoy line (between the buoy line and the first trap) because it floats off of the bottom and is an entanglement hazard for whales. Using it as the last buoy line helps the end traps in a trawl fish better by absorbing the shock of the buoy pulling it up and down with the seas. It also prevents the trawl ends from twisting up during storms. We are fishing in 120-150 feet on a sandy or muddy bottom but wave action and strong tidal currents still can damage or snarl up the trawls during fall nor'easters.
The red twine is used to splice into the buoy lines and mark them as lobster gear. Gillnet gear uses green markings on the buoy lines. This is to differentiate the type of fixed gear in the event of a whale entanglement where only buoy lines are present.
The herring quota did not open until Nov. 1 and left a shortage of bait around town. Our lobster dealer supplied us with fish racks, in this case, salmon. Racks are what is left over after the fish has been filleted. We managed to get 4 boxes (approx. 100 lbs/box) and they baited 210 traps.
There is some codfish mixed in. Herring is a better bait but is more expensive ($35/box as opposed to $10/box for fish racks)
The knife is a serrated Atlantic Salt, courtesy of a very generous forumite.
Spare buoys. Each one has a weak link attatched that breaks away at 600 lbs. This is to prevent whale entanglements. They are also painted with our color and pattern and our permit number is burned into the side of each one.
Approximately 3600 feet of rope on the kitchen floor of my apartment. There is 2400 feet of sinking rope (white) and 1200 feet of floating line (green) that we use for buoy lines. Floating line has been outlawed except for the last 1/3 of the buoy line (between the buoy line and the first trap) because it floats off of the bottom and is an entanglement hazard for whales. Using it as the last buoy line helps the end traps in a trawl fish better by absorbing the shock of the buoy pulling it up and down with the seas. It also prevents the trawl ends from twisting up during storms. We are fishing in 120-150 feet on a sandy or muddy bottom but wave action and strong tidal currents still can damage or snarl up the trawls during fall nor'easters.
The red twine is used to splice into the buoy lines and mark them as lobster gear. Gillnet gear uses green markings on the buoy lines. This is to differentiate the type of fixed gear in the event of a whale entanglement where only buoy lines are present.
The herring quota did not open until Nov. 1 and left a shortage of bait around town. Our lobster dealer supplied us with fish racks, in this case, salmon. Racks are what is left over after the fish has been filleted. We managed to get 4 boxes (approx. 100 lbs/box) and they baited 210 traps.
There is some codfish mixed in. Herring is a better bait but is more expensive ($35/box as opposed to $10/box for fish racks)
The knife is a serrated Atlantic Salt, courtesy of a very generous forumite.
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Very cool. I think that I recognize the knife on top of the ropes. Is that for the future bird stew sitting on the buoy of the other picture? :)
Good explanations. It certainly takes a lot of expertise to bring those tasty morsels to our plates. Thanks for taking the time to share and for working hard to deliver the goods.
Good explanations. It certainly takes a lot of expertise to bring those tasty morsels to our plates. Thanks for taking the time to share and for working hard to deliver the goods.
:spyder:: Advocate, Slysz Bowie Ti, Southard Black Blade, Stretch Carbon Fiber w/ZDP-189, Fluted Ti Native5, Terzuola Starmate, Terzuola SLIPIT, Leaf Storm, Gayle Bradley, Roadie, Chaparral CF, Chaparral Ti Stealth, Des Horn, Stretch FRN (Blue) ZDP-189, Centofante Memory, Military Black Blade CE, Delica4 FRN CE, Endura4 FRN Black Blade CE, Assist Orange FRN, Manbug ZDP-189, Ladybug 3 FRN SE, Delica4 Blue NLEOMF, Moran Drop Point BB, et al. :spyder: Spydie Fanatic #179 :spyder:
So why are the large ones illegal to take? Seems it would be like hunting deer where you'd want to take the elders out of the pack before nature claims them anyways. I've never ate Lobster and never really even seen them beyond what you used to see in grocery stores and at seafood restaurants...is the legal sized one about the size you'd see in a store? I'm just trying to gauge how big the big one is.
All SE all the time since 2017
~David
~David
A legal sized lobster is between 3 1/4 inches and 5 inches when measured from the furthest aft part of the eye socket to the start of the tail. Smaller lobsters than 3 1/4 inches(7 or so years old) are just becoming sexually mature. Larger lobsters than 5 inches, or as we call them, oversize lobsters, have a high fecundity. They produce more eggs and their eggs are "stronger" and have more of a chance of survival. Lobsters more than likely only mate with other lobsters in their size range so large males and females are considered brood stock or breeding stock and fishermen take conservation measures to preserve the future of their fishery.Evil D wrote:So why are the large ones illegal to take? Seems it would be like hunting deer where you'd want to take the elders out of the pack before nature claims them anyways. I've never ate Lobster and never really even seen them beyond what you used to see in grocery stores and at seafood restaurants...is the legal sized one about the size you'd see in a store? I'm just trying to gauge how big the big one is.
In the pic above the legal sized lobster is at the higher end of what you might see in a seafood market. I have more pictures of oversized lobsters that we have caught but my girlfriend is holding them and I would have to get her permission to put her photo here.
The lobstering industry, mostly because of the large concentration of lobstermen in Maine, where it is a lifestyle as well as a livelihood, is one of, if not the most sustainable fisheries in the North Atlantic. Conservation measures are some of the most restrictive of any commercial fishery.
Larger lobsters shed their shells less often than smaller ones and so their meat is usually tougher because it doesn't "grow" as often as smaller lobsters.
I learned the word "fecundity" from reading some books on lobsters and lobstering that I have. :D Know your prey and all that.....
Larger lobsters shed their shells less often than smaller ones and so their meat is usually tougher because it doesn't "grow" as often as smaller lobsters.
I learned the word "fecundity" from reading some books on lobsters and lobstering that I have. :D Know your prey and all that.....
a couple more from a couple weeks ago. The first one is my girlfriend stacking traps on the deck to bring in. This was taken on 2/1 at the start of a blizzard. There was 50-100 foot visibility and we were about a mile offshore. The chart plotter decided not to work and we went in by radar and compass.
The second pic is a stack of 40 traps on the state fish pier in gloucester surrounded by snow drifts from the battering of winter storms we have taken this year. each trap is 4'x2'x18" and there are 8 stacks of 5 traps. They have to come in every winter for storage and repair and then are set back out in the spring time. A coastal lobsterman is allowed to fish up to 800 traps.
thanx for looking :)
pete
The second pic is a stack of 40 traps on the state fish pier in gloucester surrounded by snow drifts from the battering of winter storms we have taken this year. each trap is 4'x2'x18" and there are 8 stacks of 5 traps. They have to come in every winter for storage and repair and then are set back out in the spring time. A coastal lobsterman is allowed to fish up to 800 traps.
thanx for looking :)
pete
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