6-22-08 canal lobster report. The lobsters are moving.....

[robc22]

I checked my gear this early A.M. It was a nice morning to be down the canal. Not to hot or buggy and the fish were busting all over the place. Nobody was bass fishing!

14 keepers, two egger's,  a large V- Notch female and a couple of shorts. All my keepers had various degrees of shell diesease. A lot of good size females. These females are the egger's I catch earlier in the year. They have since dropped their eggs. They all taste good!!!!!! It's nice to start catching lobsters in numbers again. Now the question is what to do with all of them?

The fluke bite is slow but steady at Lucas/middle ground. My friends are putting a day in for a 100 pounds. There is no bite at stony point although the seabass are still there.

I haven't bothered looking for bluecrabs but I will soon.

Speaking of shell diesease on lobsters. When I was a kid we never saw such a thing. Now its so commonplace we don't think twice about it. It makes the lobster meat more bitter and less tasty in my opinion. 14 keepers today and not one without shell diesease!!! Whats up with that?

[tattoo]

nice report. glad to her you are catching. 

[SHELLFISH]

We've got a big problem with shell disease here in CT also.

Evidently it's caused by some king of microbe but the added stress from polution and low oxygen aren't helping matters! Glad to hear you are doing well. 14 keepers...how pots are you running?

I just moved out of where I was due to inactivity. I am now bouncing all over trying to find them. I am also setting up two pots for deep water...100 feet. I will be running ten pots. That's the maximum allowed on a recreational license.

[masspi]

I am on the Bay side, West of Rob and the shell disease is just as bad, maybe even worse.  This will be the last week or two for me coming up.  With all the problems, shell disease, poaching, cut lines, etc. it just is not worth the fuel and time.  Any I get from here on out are lobsters I purchase.

I have several friends in Maine who lobster commercially and my cost is good from them.  For the few times a year when I serve them to guests, it isn't that bad cost wise.

I always hoped that my grandchildren would be able to get lobster for their tables when they got older, but I kind of doubt it now.

Last year I posted an article written in a local paper about studies being done about the decline in numbers of mature lobster inshore.  One continuing study has been done regarding the increased levels of estrogen having a direct impact on the fishery.  You would never think in a million years that the cause could be humans.  The way it works..........ladies take the pill, flush the toilet, the fluids go to the treatment plants, they can't remove the estrogen so it gets pumped to the outfall and into the Bay.......Big problem for lobsters and other species. 

[robc22]

I fish ten pots. The max. allowed by MA law.

Some facts you might find intresting about the canal.

The canal is a federal waterway. No boat fishing of any kind is allowed in the landcut portion of the canal.
The canal is managed by the army corp. of engineers.
The engineers oversee the landcut and the approaches. The approaches would be the Cleveland channel on the buzzards bay side and from the fairway buoy to the East end on the cape cod bay side.

The reasons lobstering can be so good in the canal is:

No competition with boats. Only so much gear can be fished. Gear is fished and checked from shore.
The canal has fantastic lobster habitat. From the shoreline to the shipping channel the topography steps down in a series of rocky ledges. Perfect lobster habitat.
The fast current and high O2 content of the water seems to suit the lobster very well.

14 keepers may seem like alot compared to buzzards bay,scortons, etc but compared to historical catch levels in the canal its not that many at all. When I was a kid I saw alot more lobsters caught than that. Ten traps can catch alot of lobster if they are in the right place and fished at the right time.

Lobster spots in the canal are at a premium. I waited years to get my bottom. One has to be patient and a gentleman in searching for spots down the canal. Don't be a pain in the butt to someone who has had gear their for years.Before I got my canal bottom I boat fished my gear in buzzards and cape cod bay. I use to fish my traps in buzzards bay during the spring/early summer period. I would then move my gear over to cape cod bay for the fall run. Some of the sweetest lobsters I ever caught came from southwest ledge in buzzards bay this time of year.

The shell diesease really put a hurtin' on buzzards bay lobstering. It seems like its just starting to get better in the B.Bay. My three friends who boat fish gear in upper B.Bay got 16 keepers out of 30 traps this past weekend. the big problem in buzzards, besides the shell diesease is the unethical fishing practices conducted by both permit holders and poachers. As long as folks take shorts and berried lobsters the resource will not bounce back. If people would only do the right thing for a few years there would be lobster for everyone. Remember the striped bass !!!!!!!!

 I've been catching the same large v- Notch female every weekend for the last month. She spends more time in my trap's than on the open bottom. I'm curious to see how many times I catch her this year. I've named her sally!

P.S. SHELLFISH I don't know if this helps but, I've spent a few years of my life working on and off as a sternman on a lobster boat. The one big thing I learned was keep moving your gear until you caught bugs. If you stop catching them, start moving the gear again!!!!! Its work, but it works!!!!