78 ABOUT LOBSTERS 



ster has some extremely delicate sense which can detect * * 

 fish oil as it rises to the surface several fathoms above 

 him. Lobsters on the bottom have been observed to 

 follow an oil slick on the surface. 



Apparently oil will carry the attractant to a lobster pro- 

 vided the oil is of the right nature, and provided the fish has 

 been incubated with the right bacteria and to the right 

 degree. 



The baits which were fished that spring were ground 

 fish with which redfish oil had been mixed. The fish scrap 

 was incubated through its own marine bacteria, and was 

 grown in a large bottle whose neck was closed by sterile 

 cotton to exclude air bacteria. It incubated several times 

 faster than frozen mackerel, presumably because in frozen 

 fish the natural marine bacteria had been sterilized by the 

 freezing. Frozen mackerel treated with oil fished about 75 

 per cent as well as natural fish bait. 



Net-covered cotton pads tied up in a roll and saturated 

 with herring oil were tried next. The pads seemed to lose 

 little of their oil, as quantities could be squeezed out after 

 two days' fishing. One of them caught several lobsters, 

 showing that oil alone carries some attractant for lobsters. 



The next bait was composed of mackerel pellets to 

 which 15 per cent water had been added. They were air- 

 inoculated for twenty-nine hours, and 10 per cent redfish oil 

 was added. They fished about 25 per cent as well as natural 

 fish bait. At the end of three days, they showed little de- 

 terioration and the center of the bait was packed down into 

 a hard, impermeable mass. 



From the start, LobLure was hampered by the widely 

 varying opinions of different lobstermen. Many of these 

 opinions were correct as to what would or would not attract 

 lobsters, but no fisherman had made actual tests. LobLure 

 had to have actual recorded tests if they were to be financed 

 as a commercial business. So a member of the corporation 

 went out with lobstermen when each test pot was baited 

 and again when it was hauled. An accurate record was 



