Some lobsters

[Pete1977]

This is probably not the kind of fishing that this forum is intended for but what the heck. I got these last tuesday off of Gloucester Mass. The one with the yellow bands on the claws was legal and was about 3 pounds. The big one was oversized and was released. It was about 10 or 12 lbs and probably over 50 years old. enjoy

 

[Samael]

Now that's my kind of fishing! I'll be flying to Providence in a few weeks; I plan on eating as many of those things as I can while I'm there.

 

[Mack]

Most of my family are Lobster fishermen in Nova Scotia. My dad, a very hard working man, says that lobster fishing was the hardest work he has ever done. I'd love to try it.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ebbtide]

Yummy ocean bugs :thumbup:

 

[sambo.]

oversized?

you actually have to return OVERSIZED fish?

undersized i can understand, but OVERSIZED?

 

[Samael]

You wouldn't want to eat a lobster that size anyway. The older they are, the tougher the meat.

 

[tonym]

Very cool, Thats a big ole Lobster!

 

[Samael]

I've seen the world's record lobster (it's on display at Wood's Hole) - it makes that one look downright puny.

 

[Pete1977]

oversized?

you actually have to return OVERSIZED fish?

undersized i can understand, but OVERSIZED?

Mass. state law prohibits the landing of lobsters under 3 1/4 inches carapace length and over 5 inches carapace length. The carapace is measured from the back of the eye socket to the start of the tail. That one was a male lobster and if it was 3/4 of an inch shorter it would have gone into the tank.

You wouldn't want to eat a lobster that size anyway. The older they are, the tougher the meat.

That is a common misconception. It is because people overcook large lobsters. The cooking time for a lobster that size is the same as for a 1 1/2 lb lobster. (1 1/2 lbs is the average size lobster available in restaurants and seafood dealers.)

I've seen the world's record lobster (it's on display at Wood's Hole) - it makes that one look downright puny.

Big lobsters like that aren't usually trap-caught. They are usually landed on draggers or scallopers or come up entangled in offshore gillnets. When the first European explorers came to New England there were reports of 6 foot lobsters washed up on the beaches after storms. And there was a law enacted that prisoners, slaves, and indentured servants could only be fed lobster twice a week. It was considered trash in the New World and it wasn't until Victorian times that it became a delicacy.

 

[nate1714]

Looks like fun but hard work. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Yorkshire Boy]

Big lobsters like that aren't usually trap-caught. They are usually landed on draggers or scallopers or come up entangled in offshore gillnets. When the first European explorers came to New England there were reports of 6 foot lobsters washed up on the beaches after storms. And there was a law enacted that prisoners, slaves, and indentured servants could only be fed lobster twice a week. It was considered trash in the New World and it wasn't until Victorian times that it became a delicacy.

Great pictures and info!

I believe that in Europe salmon and oysters were also a food of the poor, funny how times change!

Last summer I was in Wales doing a spot of shore fishing for sea bass. It was low tide and I noticed a few spider crabs feeding on algae. They were about 10ft out and about 5ft down. I stripped off to my boxer shorts and swam out and grabbed one (even with the Gulf Stream the Irish Sea is very cold!).

I took a few pictures then let it go. My sister slapped me around the head and told me I should've collected as many as I could because although there's not much meat they taste at least as good as lobster. Now I always carry a pair of swimming goggles and a little towel in case I see some more!

 

[Pete1977]

I first went lobstering in the fall and winter of 1999 and we used to get big spider crabs in the traps out in the deep water (40 + fathoms). we could sell them but we didn't get enough to make it worth it. We would throw them in the cooker, which was a 55 gallon plastic drum with a heating coil in it. It was used to cook the seaweed off of the buoys and buoy lines. After a few hours the crabs would be cooked enough eat and we would have crab legs between trawls. You don't see too many of them anymore. I don't know why as they aren't a target species in the Gulf of Maine and there is no real market for them.

Token knife content- on my boat we have 3 Moras, 2 stainless and 1 carbon, 3 victorinox serrated paring knives, 2 dexter russell stainless serrated "net knives" and a dexter russell 7 inch carbon boning knife. I keep a Byrd cara cara rescue by the throttles and took a Spyderco Harpy the last couple of days.

 

[Yorkshire Boy]

Apparently spider crab numbers have grown in southern English and Welsh waters, they don't know why that is...

Is it me but don't spider crabs look like the type of crab the Japanese love to eat, I think they're called snow crabs? I lived in Japan for a year and had a couple of legs at a restaurant, it was delicious. These snow crabs (if that's what they're called?) can be absolutely massive, like something from a sci-fi film!

You said about not having a market for spider crabs...in the UK as well as not really eating spider crabs we don't eat green shore crabs either. I think people are put off by them because they're small and also they might be confused about whether or not you can eat them. We have a large crab called an "edible crab" and maybe this has led to people here thinking that it's the only crab you can eat in British waters. Tons of green shore crabs are caught and exported to France, Portugal and Spain where the people there tuck into them!

I often wonder if it would be better if we could expand our culinary tastes to include more of our domestic species of fish and shellfish? Perhaps this might take pressure off the most popular stocks? As an example limpets don't look very appealing and they're rather rubbery and tasteless but if you chop them up very finely they can make a passable chowder!

On a side note...I have a Wenger SAK as my EDC. I take it fishing with me because the scissors have little serrations and are quite good for cutting the braided line that I use for lure fishing. Anyway, I've been very impressed at how it has resisted rusting when I've waded across estuaries and had it soaked. It's even been put to use scaling and gutting sea bass, very good value for money IMO!