Finding bait, and enough of it, is on the minds of Maine's lobstermen this season. Photo courtesy of Ellsworth American.
Lobstermen are as varied as the Maine coast. Some still rely heavily on herring as bait, others move among bait sources based on time of year, others favor alternative baits altogether. Sonny Beal, on Beals Island, changes bait based on the season. In the winter he lobsters with herring, haddock racks and pig hide. “In the fall I use redfish instead of haddock when it’s available,” he said. Beal is a member of the Beals-Jonesport Co-op, which gets bait from Durkee Bait in Jonesport. “I’ve started using smaller mesh pockets and also baitsaver bags to help save bait, but that’s just in the last year or so. So far we haven’t had an issue with not having herring,” Beal said. “This year I’m going to use more small mesh pockets and use more hard bait in the pockets and less herring. Pig hide will be a help. I think we will end up using more of that this year. We hope to have a good supply of pogies but so does everyone else. Also I won’t be dumping any bait out of the pockets this year. We’ll be baiting on top of old stuff a lot more.
Donny Young of Cushing knows that with the shortage of herring, prices
for every other type of bait are likely to rise. He typically uses
pogies and frozen rockfish for his lobster bait; he hasn’t lobstered
with herring for more than six years. This year, he will be able to get
the ever-popular pogies for himself. “Last year we bought a lot from
local boats. This year I bought a 60-fathom seine with two other guys to
use off my boat,” Young said. Continuing this “do-it-yourself” approach
to securing bait, Young is turning half of his new garage into a bait
feezer. “I’m turning one bay into a freezer, good down to 15oF. We’ll
salt them and keep them there. Of course, if the pogies don’t
come in, we’re all in trouble,” he said.
Mark Jones of Boothbay
also switched to other baits in recent years. “I didn’t use any herring
last year at all and very little the year before that,” he said. “I use
frozen rockfish, redfish, pogies.” He doesn’t feel that his bait
situation will be much different this year but believes it’s a little
too early to call exactly. “It depends on how much pressure there will
be on the other types of bait. We won’t know until the season gets
going. As far as frozen bait goes, it will be sold to the highest
bidder,” he said. Jones contemplated building a freezer of his own to
stockpile bait but with the uncertainty right now about new whale
regulations and other regulatory matters, “I put that on hold.”
Out
on Matinicus Island, Tad Miller still prefers herring. “I’ve always used
herring for bait,” he said. “I still use it but started switching away
from it and using pogies.” Trying other lobster baits, including hard
bait, was a matter of necessity not preference for Miller. He also
turned to bait saver bags to reduce the amount of herring he did use,
with mixed results. “The year before last I had a lot of success with
them. If they work well, there’s a great savings in bait. But last year I
used them and I took a shot in the gut. They hurt me,” he said. This
season Miller is clear-eyed about what he faces in terms of available
bait. “I will choose the cheaper option ,” he said.
Down in Kennebunk, Laurin Brooks uses just about
everything for his traps. “Anything that’s available,” he said,
“herring, haddock racks, pig, cow hide, redfish.” The foundation of his
bait throughout the season is cow and pig hide. “I just bought a hundred
buckets of pig hide. I add what’s available to that. Pig doesn’t last
as long as cow so I mix them together,” he explained. He and other local
lobstermen have stockpiled both herring and flatfish racks to get ready
for the fishing season. Brooks is a strong advocate of bait saver bags.
“They work for me. We fish on mostly sand here and the sand fleas
really bother the bait,” he said. “But they don’t get into the bait
saver bags, which sure helps.”
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