Tag: Lobster Bait

Mornin’ At the Dock

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

5:00AM First Boat Of The Day, The Mighty Cabaret V

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Captain Pete is looking at the stinky bait thinking to himself- “Do I really wanna do this?”

Stretch Pete, you’re gonna get through it.

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Setting Up the Davit

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Skatewing Racks- Lobster Bait

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

When the bottom is activeand the tides are running, bait tends to get washed out of bait bags within lobster traps.  When a bait bag is empty it only stands to reason that the trap isn’t fishing.

Skate wing racks have membranes that run through them that hold up to strong tides much longer than soft bait like herring. 

Here’s a whole buttload of skatewing racks on Toby’s boat, the Jupiter II.

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Barrels Of Salted Herring

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

I’ve probably explained this before but the reason lobstermen salt their herring or pogies is to preserve them to use when there are times when the herring boats strike out.  Some places up in Maine they only use salted herring and put it away for the whole summer.

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Beautiful Industry – Herring

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

The herring have been scarce so the big boats have been going all the way to George’s Bank to try to find them with no luck in the past two weeks.  That means they have been burning a ton of fuel as the herring boats are gigantic vessels.

We’ve been filling in by using pogies for lobster bait which are not nearly as much fun to handle.  They break down much faster and they produce this incredibly slick oil which gets all over the floor and everywhere making it a PITA to use.  Beggars can’t be choosers though so whatever it takes to get our lobstermen out fishing is what we will try to provide.

Beautiful Industry – Herring, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

Salted Mackerel

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Salted herring and mackerel sit in vats, preserved for use as lobster bait.

Over time the salt draws all the fluid from the fish and they shrivel up a bit.  Here, our friend Mr Mackerel could use a drink of water to rehydrate.  Not to worry, soon enough he will be stuffed in a bait bag and sent off the back of a lobster boat to lure in some unsuspecting lobster that’s poking around at the bottom of the ocean looking for a meal.  Mr Mackerel will sure enough find that water once again…..just before he becomes lunch.

Salted Mackerel, originally uploaded by captjoe06.