THE LOBSTER FISHERY OF MAINE. 
249 
are set at distances from tlie shore ranging from 100 yards to 5 or 6 miles. This method 
of setting pots was first used about the year 1865 in Sagadahoc County. The traps 
are set in from 3 to 10 fathoms in the warm season. 
In winter fishing the pots are generally set singly, as the lobsters are more 
scattered then and the best results are attained by shifting the position of the pots 
slightly each time they are fished. This is caused by the drift of the boat while 
the fisherman is hauling in the pot, emptying and rebaiting it, and then dropping 
it overboard again. The winter fishing is generally carried on in the open sea, 
although in a few places, like Sheepscot Bay, the lobsters in winter retire to the 
deep waters of the bays and can there be caught. The pots are generally set in 
from 20 to 50 fathoms of water at this season. 
Certain fishermen claim that when pots are set on a trawl placed across the tide 
the catch is greater than when the trawl is set in the direction of the current. In the 
former case, it is asserted, the scent or fine particles coming from the bait is more 
widely diffused and more apt to attract the lobsters. In euteriug, after first recou- 
uoiteriug around and over the pot, the lobster always backs in, primarily that he may 
be prepared to meet any foe following him, also because his large claws would be apt 
to catch in the net funnel should he enter head first. After discovering that he is 
imprisoned, which he does very speedily, he seenis to lose all desire for the bait, and 
spends his time roaming around the pot hunting for a means of escape. 
The pots are generally hauled once a day, but sometimes twice a day in good 
weather. As the tide along the Maine coast is quite strong, the fishermen usually 
haul their pots at or about slack water, low tide generally being preferred when they 
are worked once a day. The number used by a fisherman varies greatly on different 
sections of the coast. According to the investigations of this Commission, the average 
number of pots to the man in certain years was as follows: Fifty-six pots in 1880, 59 
in 1887 and 1888, 58 in 1S89 and 1892, and 50 in 1898. This average, however, is some- 
what misleading, as quite a number of persons along the coast take up lobstering for 
only a few months in the year, and then return to their regular occupations. As these 
persons use but few pots, the average per man throughout the whole State is very 
considerably reduced. The regular lobster fishermen have been steadily increasing 
the number of their pots for several years past. They have found this an absolute 
necessity in order to catch as many lobsters now as they caught twenty or thirty 
years ago. It is not unusual now to find one of the regular fishermen handling as 
high as 100 pots, and sometimes even 125, when a few years ago 25 and 50 pots tvas a 
large number. This does not take into account his reserve stock of pots, which it is 
necessary to have on hand in order to replace those damaged or lost. 
BAIT. 
Cod, hake, and halibut heads are quite generally used as bait. Halibut heads 
are said to be the best, as they are tougher than the cod or hake heads, and thus last 
much longer. Sculpins, flounders, in fact almost any kind of fish, can be used. In 
the vicinity of sardine canneries the heads of herring are used. Sometimes the bait 
is slightly salted, at other times it is used fresh. Small herring are lightly salted, and 
then allowed to remain until partly decayed, when they are inclosed in small bags, and 
these put into the pots. The oil from this bait forms a “■ slick” in the water, and when 
the smell from it is strong the fishermen consider it at its best. The bait is generally 
secured by small haul-seines and spears in sections where offal can not be bought. 
