ABOUT LOBSTERS 77 



fish so that its flesh continued for a longer time to give off 

 something that the lobsters wanted. 



Oil had a place in all LobLure baits. One intelli- * * 

 gent fisherman of the type whose statements of fact 

 were generally true, and not colored by guesses and old 

 wives tales, had found on the beach a full can of sar- 

 dines. It was a large oval can, and had been punctured. 

 The oil in it was a dark color similar to 600W engine 

 oil. He used it in a pot and it caught lobsters as no 

 other bait before or after had done. 



In an effort to duplicate this bait, several cans of sar- 

 dines packed in different oils were purchased. Each can was 

 punctured with several holes so that it would be infected by 

 airborne bacteria. The different oils in the cans were olive 

 oil, soy bean oil, and peanut oil. In some of the cans, the 

 oil was poured off and molasses substituted, to test a rumor 

 that molasses mixed with salt herring would improve that 

 bait. Lobstermen sometimes find a method of fishing which 

 is better, but they often attribute the wrong reason for their 

 success. 



The cans were left at the warm back of a stove to in- 

 cubate any bacteria. In the end, they showed little evidence 

 of deterioration. (Might this have been due to the oil cover- 

 ing the sardines and excluding the air? ) 



The cans were fished in comparison with redfish and 

 were about 50 per cent as effective. The molasses treated 

 cans were even less good. It was judged that the incuba- 

 tion time had not been long enough. From these tests it 

 seemed as if two things had been learned. First, that when 

 fish is coated with oil its rate of decomposition is slowed. 

 Second, that the slight amount of oil which escaped from 

 these tins actually did fish, though not well, and that the 

 amount of fish flesh which left the can must have been very 

 slight except as sand fleas chewed away portions of it. 



It is hard to see how the oil in a sardine can can * * 

 fish effectively as it apparently did, and to understand 

 how oil, which will immediately rise to the surface, can 

 diffuse enough to attract a lobster. Apparently, a lob- 



