4-28-09 canal lobster report

[SHELLFISH]

Yes they are. Home made for getting Clams and Oysters!

For soft shell clams I just use a garden fork.

[robc22]

That is great shellfish...as a old time bullraker I love to see the handgear doing it's thing.

Jack. I use the pole to set and sometimes retrieve the gear. The canal is really just a shipping channel cut thru land. It drops off into deep water just a few feet off the beach. I use two sections of bullrake pole with My own designed whatchamacallit on the end where the bullrake usually attaches. The very pointy end sets the gear. The clip end attaches to the line to help retrieve gear thats hung up. The laundry bottles give me buoyancy when setting the gear and a vertical pivot point when hauling the gear back.

[jack1747]

Cool.. Thanks 

[masspi]

Canal lobstering is really an anomaly to regular lobstering.................the Canal is a manmade cut to allow shipping to pass between the Atlantic to Buzzards Bay.......to avoid extra miles of transit around Cape Cod.   Lots of rock and structure at the edges are a lobster haven.  Buzzards Bay, where I place my traps, is hard mud/sand bottom with little structure produces minimal lobster (IMHO).  The Canal lobstermen have perfected the method to getting lobster with the available structure (in abundance) using long poles to set their traps and retrieving them.  Rob is obviously a Master at this and I am envious of him when viewing his catch...............way to go Rob.

Shellfish disease is rampant in the Bay and I for one won't deal with lobsters showing signs of the disease.  I bet Rob catches the same females over and over !!!!!!!

Now lets talk about clamming and scalloping................You ain't got a rake, you ain't eating..............local (Town) permits.licenses allow the taking of shellfish in the waters of each Town.  I pay about 24 dollars for my shellfish permit every year (next year I eligible for a Senior Citizens permit.......FREE) to take Quahogs, Soft Shell Clams, Oysters, and Scallops.  My efforts are geared toward Quahogs that I turn into "Stuffies"  (Stuffed Quahogs)..........big time football watching fare...............I will post a recipe if you want it.

Along with my successful Crabbing, I get my share of the oceans bounty every year....................you should do the same !!!!!

Go get your share today

[SHELLFISH]

The shellfish permit here is up to $27.00 per year for 1/2 bushel of mixed shellfish.
You get that back your first or second time out so the rest of the year is free!

I usually target soft clams or hard clams and oysters each trip out rarely both groups together.
Here is a 1/2 bushel of an average trip out.

[jack1747]

Darn it Jim... Now I gotta drive up the road and get some clams for tonight.. 

[SHELLFISH]

Down Florida way we target something else!

[SHELLFISH]

Darn it Jim... Now I gotta drive up the road and get some clams for tonight.. 

Sorry Jack! That was from last year. I haven't got my boat in yet to get some this year yet. It's buggin me!
Any day now.

[SHELLFISH]

Here's another 1/2 bushel of clams from Norwalk CT.
These were culled to get mostly smaller clams only.
A 1/2 bushel equals approximately 2" below the rim of a standard five gallon busket.

[robc22]

our town resident family recreational shellfish permit is $35.

our town nonresident family recreational shellfish permit is $175.

My town of Bourne commercial master digger permit(quahog,soft shell,bay scallop and eel) costs me $700 

Man, I wish I could catch shrimp. Those look delicious.

Thats some good looking hardshell shellfish.

Masspi...please post your receipt on stuffies....they are a favourite at a friends house/hang out during the football season.

[jack1747]

.

[masspi]

I have used this basic method for years,

DAVE’S STUFFED QUAHOGS


1 pail large quahogs (10 quarts)
1/2 pound linquica or chourica (use chourica if
you like things really hot)
4 large stalks of celery
3 to 4 small hot red peppers
2 medium onions
4 to 6 dashes Tabasco Sauce
2 loaves white bread (I sometimes use Italian bread or Portuguese Sweet Bread and Ritz crackers)
1.   Open quahogs, saving shell halves. Yield should be 4 to 6 cups of drained meat. Save juice.
2.   Grind quahogs, celery, onions, linquica and peppers.
3.   Cut bread into small squares. Mix all ingredients, adding Tabasco, by hand in a large bowl. More bread may be necessary. The product should be not-too-dry, not-too-moist. If too dry, add small amounts of the quahog juice. If too moist, add more bread.
4.   Scoop mixture onto the shell halves, mounding up to fill the shell. Place on cookie sheet, sprinkle with paprika and bake at 375*F (190*C) for 25 minutes. Small shells may take only 20 minutes.
5.   These freeze well. If you want to reheat, spoon 1 teaspoon of tap water on stuffing and heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Microwave on REHEAT for about 5 minutes.
This recipe yields enough for about 36 servings.

[robc22]

Thanks dave

I will try your reciept during bruins/celtics playoffs..... hope I do a good job! I will let you know!

A stanley cup for Boston.....Its been long enough!!

A celtics repeat....yeah!!!

New england pro sports are the best!!!

[Joesmoe45]

Rob,

I see you keep saying that getting a spot down on the canal is at a premium. Im gonna go down next week and throw in a few traps, how is someone supposed to know what spots are taken?

Thanks

[robc22]

Take the time to look for other people's gear. look for ropes or cable, sometimes well hidden. Ask yourself if I had fished gear here for years would I like someone to dump their gear on top of me? With that in mind most spots are taken.

[masspi]

Rob makes a good point..................people fish the same area year round and every once in a while someone comes along and drops gear on top of someone else's.  That is a quick way to find your gear cut or gone.  Years ago when I started out I was placing my traps for the first time (just a kid) I saw other floats and dropped my traps very close to theirs as structure is a premium where I lobster.  I returned two days later and found my traps all tied up together with most of my warp missing and one float left.  The message was very clear to me.........I intruded on an in shore commercial guys"spot"...................at least he was nice enough to leave me the mess of traps to untangle and fish another day.  I spent years locating structure where no one else was placing traps.........every time I set, I would come back to find lots of traps next to mine.

The lobster game is full of cut throats and vandals and you have to think smart when doing this or have lots of money to replace gear.  Crabbing with traps is another story...........I have never lost a trap, but have had some unloaded for me by poachers and one damaged by a jet ski being operated by a mad man (ain't they all)  Most of my crab traps are within site of the house and no one has ever intruded on my space.

Now that space or spot is really not owned by me, but I have reasons for placing my traps where I do (maybe later more on this subject of pot/trap placement)  I feel that when you place your traps in the same place all the time, year after year you do have kind of a right to it.  It is an old Yankee tradition and the rules of the road say, don't invade my space.  It is just the way it is I guess.