Lobster Pots

P

Play Dough

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Joined
Dec 19, 2007
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29135
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146
I've been hesitant to admit my ignorance of coastal boating (I'm a Great Lakes guy), but when I visited the Northeast coast a couple years ago, there seemed to be bouys for lobster pots EVERYWHERE. I noticed on an excursion out of Bar Harbor that the bouys existed miles off shore. How do you contend with all the obstacles while cruising? I guess we're fortunate in the Great Lakes, no tides, limited shoal structure, and just the occasional tribal fishing net marked to dodge.
 
Well, up here on the east coast of Vancouver Island, you just keep your eye out...well...keep it in 'cause it works better that way, but you know what I mean :D Once you start to know an area, you get a good idea where everybody sets, but you still need to be watchfull, it's the only way. On flat calm seas, the markers are easy to see, but more difficult in a chop or worse. A pot SHOULD have a weighted line which means you can get fairly close to them with out a prop foul, but as all ways, better safe than sorry!!!
 
Same down here with the crab pots on the Chesapeake Bay you really have to watch for them, stay in the channel and hope you see them. And hope the lines aren't long the don't weight them down.
 
Soon you'll learn the depth they use for lobsters and avoid those with your charts.
Always a good lookout is a must.
 
Around here the depth is anywhere from 10' to 150'. We also have some idiots that figure the best lobstering is in the channels as well as the entrance to each fairway for our marina. Have complained to the harbormaster & he says there is nothing HE can do about it. He also said if it were him, he would just cut the buoy lines loose. Of course if you get get caught there is a large fine, plus the dead traps are still on the bottom catching lobsters.
Al
 
quote:
Originally posted by lobsta1

Around here the depth is anywhere from 10' to 150'. We also have some idiots that figure the best lobstering is in the channels as well as the entrance to each fairway for our marina. Have complained to the harbormaster & he says there is nothing HE can do about it. He also said if it were him, he would just cut the buoy lines loose. Of course if you get get caught there is a large fine, plus the dead traps are still on the bottom catching lobsters.
Al

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Actually, up here anyways, you are to use a cotton string on the "gate" of your trap SO that if a trap is lost, the string deteriorates and the trap quits "fishing". It allows the caught lobsters to also escape.
 
we had a waterman down here that put his pots around our marina last year. He only did it once :)
 
I always tell new (or new to New England) boaters that the lobster buoys are doing you a favor. They remind you to keep a good lookout. While a length of pot warp in your prop can cause an inconvenient delay, hitting a log, or any other large debris, can ruin your whole day. Shouldn't you ALWAYS be watching the water in front of you?
 
as others have noted the best solution is a sharp helmsman to avoid them, sometimes that is more challenging as the sun goes up/down and the water is rough.

in our part of the world there are two schools of thought on the proactive solution of installing line cutters on the shafts. one is that the lines are typically polypropeline and can be cut succesfully by the line cutters. the other side of the coin is that the line cutters can cause corrosion issues with dissimilar metals as well as one more thing that needs to be maintained every year at haul out. depending who you talk to here as to whether they are a benifit or not worth the trouble. I don't have them on my boat, but manage to p/u pieces of the line occasionally that are floating. really a PITA to remove, the best tool is a hack saw and a pair of large needle nose pliers.
 
I had an amateur crabber put a pot right in front of my slip last year. I called Natural Resources Police who said no matter how rude it was, it wasn't illegal. We left the slip anyway. One good thing about a catamaran: I can take the pots right down the center!
 
I always like to station lookouts along my intended path of travel - such as this warning station near Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

Boothbay036-1.jpg


Capt. Tom pretty much has it pegged. Earlier in the season when they're set close to shore they serve as a reminder that you don't want to get any closer to shore than they are. I'm not a fan of cutters so I just try to be on the lookout but heading into the sun, in snotty seas or at night can get dicey. I can count on snagging one every year or so because of the sheer numbers of them so it's not a bad idea to keep a wet suit and sharp knife handy. Perhaps this year I'll start putting trap images on my bow to signify my total number of hits. Then maybe they won't set 'em in front of my dock...
 
If you take a good look at northeast pot fisherman's downeast boats , you'll see a good percentage of them have Spurs or other line cutters, if they don't have wetboxes giving running gear access from the cockpit. They don't like to drown or freeze their acorns off cutting off warp any more than the rest of us.
 
Here in the Boqueron bay area we do not (Heaven forbid) cut buoys if they are placed on our preferred channel.
We just "relocate" them.
That includes moored boats.
 
LOL - depends who's sitting in it Cap'n. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to be "blessed" as you go by. Sometimes, when it's Kimberlie, it doesn't hurt to get "flashed." If the girl from Weight-Watchers is on watch it's usually a can...
 
quote:
Originally posted by Riverbed

I always like to station lookouts along my intended path of travel - such as this warning station near Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

Boothbay036-1.jpg


Click to expand...


I don't remember that marker, but it has been a few years since I lived in Maine.

Having boated from Casco Bay to Boothbay Harbor, the traps are set everywhere and they change every couple of days as the lobstermen chase the lobsters. I hate the ones in a marked channel, but there isn't much you can do except keep a sharp eye and try to avoid them.
 
One word: Waterjet (or is that two words?...)

bottom.jpg


I aim for them sometimes, its like target practice.

Dan
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ductboy

One word: Waterjet (or is that two words?...)

bottom.jpg


I aim for them sometimes, its like target practice.

Dan

Click to expand...


That is a sweet setup and I will keep my eye out for you at Napatree this summer.

I know it must be the angle of the photo, but that hull looks like there is not much of V to it.

Have any other photos?

What's your cruising speed? And is it a diesel.?... and whats the top end...and and and....
 
Looks great. Did you get the ?LH WhisperJet? so you could safely navigate the Chagrin River?

I think the ATN is a "none", at least until someone plunks their "can" onto it. Ironically, vertically-striped red and white buoys designate ( since 2003) "safe water all around." Heh.
 
Jet boats have an advantage, but clearing rope out of the impellar can be a real bear! Some have an access hatch, but it's not an easy task. It's a pain either way.

Based on that picture of all the lobster traps, I'd expect to see a whole lot of lobsters on the bottom! Are there really that many lobster living that close together?
 
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