Haul
Jeff and Jessica's fathers each hauled by hand. Today a hydraulic winch makes work somewhat easier but no less focused and fast. Each of Jeff's buoys holds two traps that come-up in succession. Jessica immediately pops open the trap and goes to work. Here's a buoy fact for you: each lobsterman creates and registers his/her own color scheme with the State. Jeff's colors are Autumn Pumpkin with a Dayglo Red band around the bottom.

Measure
Measure head to toe on a lobster? Not so. Jessica measures from the eye socket to the end of the carapace (body cavity) to determine if it stays or goes. If the lobster measurer reads 31/4" to 5", it goes in the barrel with the other keepers. If not, it experiences a brief flight back into summer waters.
Lobstah' Luck: Jeff hauls anywhere from 20 to 30 Jumbo lobsters a day. According to regulations, they are considered oversize and breed stock and so must be thrown back.

Bait
Once the traps are cleared of lobsters and other sea creatures, Jeff stuffs the mesh bait bags with gutted herring. The bait comes everyday from Owl's Head aboard the boat Night Owl.
Set
Hauled and baited, traps are lined-up on the stern, ready to go back to work. With a punctuated "hep," Jeff signals to Jessica to push the traps overboard. Watch that your feet don't get tangled in the running ropes, or you too may fly off the stern.

Trap Trivia:
Traps rest on the seabed. On today's run we hauled in 45-50 feet of water in Hurricane Sound. Out in the bay, however, Jeff hauls from a depth of 6 fathoms or 150 feet.

 

Band
After hauling, there's banding to do. Jeff modified the standard bander tool by adding handles It's easier on the hands. The red band designates a hard shell lobster; cream band means a shedder or soft-shell. The band not only identifies the lobster, but also protects the lobsterman from angry claws. Just so you know, shedders are lobsters that have just molted and are growing a new shell. Their meat, while less than hard shells, is more tender and sweet.
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Clean
By 4pm, it's time to head home. While Jeff steers toward the harbor, Jessica sprays down the stern. For just a quick minute, Jeff takes his hands from the wheel to throw the remaining bait to hovering gulls. There's no overtime for the lobstahman. By law, Jeff can't haul on Sundays. He can only set traps. And he must end his hauling every day by 4pm
Sell
Time to cash-in. Jeff pulls-up to the floating Co-op in the harbor. Lobsters fly into awaiting bins. There's just the sound of shell on shell on plastic. But it's not only lobster he's selling. Jeff also cashes-in on the several pounds of crabs that joined the lobsters in his traps. Want to know the daily income of a lobsterman? Well it's hard to calculate. The time of year, the day's haul and how much lobster you and I want to eat determine their pay.

Rest
It's been a long day. Jeff and Jessica have thrown-back a lot of lobsters. But Jeff kept 650 pounds. It's a "fair day of hauling" he said. And there's something else he didn't throw back - the good life of being a lobsterman on an island off the coast of Maine.

Would you like to taste some of Jeff's bounty from the briny?

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