ABOUT LOBSTERS 159 



know more about lobsters. If he isn't smarter than lobsters 

 in learning their habits and their appetites then he will not 

 become a top-liner. It sounds easy, doesn't it? But it is not. 



There are countless lobstermen who have fished all 

 their lives who rarely question the effectiveness of their gear 

 or will listen to suggestions, and are much ruffled at the idea 

 that anyone outside their trade can tell them anything. 



It is education that is lacking (not book-learning edu- 

 cation but education in their trade ) , and it is pretty hard to 

 teach an old dog new tricks. 



Education can start by apprenticing yourself to an ex- 

 perienced lobsterman for a season. He should be a success- 

 ful fisherman, but above all he should be a man who will 

 share his knowledge, i.e., how does he know that it is good 

 fishing ground off Jones's Point in August but not in June, 

 and why is he changing bait from redfish to herring? And 

 if he is a top-liner, notice how poorer lobstermen drop their 

 pots around his set, and how they fumble around to find his 

 new fishing grounds when he moves — always following, 

 not leading. 



If you set your heart on being more than an average 

 lobsterman, are you prepared to learn, and keep on learning 

 from any source, even the summer visitor (who may be a 

 distinguished developer of new ideas ) who innocently asks, 

 " Why don't you start lobstering later in the morning in- 

 stead of at the crack of dawn? " 



Most lobstermen wouldn't bother to answer this ques- 

 tion, and would glare at the questioner in stony-eyed con- 

 tempt. But a man who is continually searching for education 

 will think, " That's a thought. Are our reasons good enough 

 today? " 



It is unfortunate that the solitariness of a lobsterman's 

 life, and the rareness of his contacts with people outside his 

 own small community very definitely limit his knowledge 

 of what other men are doing. It must, and it does, result in 

 narrowmindedness. You laugh if a neighbor says, " My 

 father lobstered for fifty years. He knew where the ledges 



