70 ABOUT LOBSTERS 



skewers also carry the bait. Creel eyes are often made 

 without any firm inner ring or with the inner end at- 

 tached to a sleeve of rubber cut from an old car inner 

 tube. The flexible inner end is thought to deter escape. 

 The most common non-escape device associated 

 with creels is a shaped wire shutter, hinged to the 

 inner end of the eye so as to open inwards. This device 

 was investigated by comparative fishing experiments. 

 In one series of experiments, using creels of intermedi- 

 ate rig with an eye diameter 4^", those having non- 

 escape (shuttered) eyes caught fewer lobsters and 

 crabs than open-eyed traps. The respective catches 

 were 56 lobsters and 280 marketable crabs compared 

 with 75 lobsters and 374 crabs for the open-eyed creels. 

 In fact, with the eye in the intermediate position, the 

 deterrent to entiy more than offset the limitation of es- 

 capes. Creels, however, with low-rigged eye inlets 

 fished better having a shuttered eye. In a second series 

 of experiments, using a light-gauge wire for the shutter 

 and with constant attention to ensure free action of the 

 eye, the non-escape shutter proved advantageous on 

 creels of eye diameter 5" and over, even though high 

 rigged. Again, at 5 l / 2 " eye diameter the respective 

 catches were 22 lobsters and 41 crabs with the open eye 

 as compared with 48 lobsters and 54 crabs with the 

 shuttered eye. But, because of the selective effect of 

 creel eye on the escape of lobsters and crabs, a smaller 

 average size is landed from shuttered-eye creels. For all 

 that, the shutters do not wholly prevent escapes 

 through the eye. Where creels are tilted on an uneven 

 bottom, one eye may be effectively open while the other 

 is obstructed. Also, in dropping a creel, a shutter oc- 

 casionally gets caught up on the braiding of the top of 

 the creel and the eye therefore remains open. The ad- 

 vantage of any such non-escape device is increased 

 where creels are frequently left for long periods between 

 hauling. 



