76 ABOUT LOBSTERS 



ing a chemical lure and impregnating it into a carrier, such 

 as a fish-oil soap or sawdust or fishmeal. One long series of 

 experiments was carried out by a corporation called " Lob- 

 Lure." Maine Coast Fisherman covered the story in the May 

 and June issue of 1959. 



The idea of a manufactured lobster bait dates back to 

 early in World War II when two yachtsmen of Hingham, 

 Massachusetts, veterans of World War I, Dudley Baker and 

 Osborne M. Curtis, awoke to the help lobstermen might give 

 to the war effort. They realized that lobstermen, who put 

 to sea nearly every day in the week, were in a position to 

 supplement our Naval Intelligence. Lobstermen see the 

 burnt wreckage floating ashore, the bodies drifting in, or the 

 strange light out on a point. So these two men sold our 

 Navy the idea of taking them on as civilian Navy intelli- 

 gence men, and they organized the lobstermen from East- 

 port to Connecticut into an information reporting group. 



This work involved meeting many of the top liners 

 among the lobstermen, and of course, learning something 

 about lobstering and its problems. Curtis was particularly 

 impressed with the problem of lobster bait— its smell, its 

 cost, its likelihood of causing infection, and its seasonal 

 scarcity. 



So Curtis set out to develop a manufactured bait. He 

 took in with him his sailing partner, this author, and they 

 embarked on what became a six-year attempt, before they 

 gave up. LobLure was the name of the corporation they 

 formed and was to be the name of the artificial lobster bait 

 they hoped to produce. 



LobLure's first step was based on the generally accepted 

 fact that oily fish such as herring or menhaden make die 

 best bait; hence it was a fair deduction that the fish oil was 

 the lobster attractant. Cloth bags were made, filled with 

 sand, and saturated with uncooked herring oil. They 

 wouldn't fish, gave no indication at all of being attractive. 

 Four years later, and much wiser, LobLure concluded that 

 the reason for oily fish being better bait was not because the 

 oil was so attractive, but because the oil waterproofed the 



