Lobster Fishing in Maine Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shedder

A soft shell lobster has a soft shell because it has recently molted and shed its old harder shell. Many of the soft shell lobsters caught had been thrown back as a hard shell lobster because they were too small under Maine law to keep. When they shed their old shell, they grew enough to be kept or to be "counters" as you would say on the coast.

Answer: The Pocket

Most fishermen use salted cut herring as bait. It is placed in a small "pocket" with a draw string that holds it suspended in the trap. The old school lobstermen would hand knit these out of twine, but most now use manufactured "shrimp mesh" for their pockets.

Answer: The Bedroom

A lobster enters a trap through a funnel, climbs on a piece of knit twine called "heading" in order to get at the "pocket," which contains the bait. The section of the trap called the "kitchen" is where the "pocket" is hung. Think of the kitchen of the trap as where the lobster would dine.

When the lobster leaves the "kitchen", he continues on his way on the heading, until he falls into the large part of the lobster trap called the "bedroom" where he waits to be taken by the lobsterman. The bedroom is sometimes also called the "parlor". If the lobster turns around and leaves the "kitchen" the same way he came in, he can leave the trap at will.

More often than not, they go forward to the "bedroom".

Answer: Cull

You would call this a cull. Lobster will "shoot" off their claws when in danger or under stress, but will regenerate new ones.

Answer: Pistol

A lobster with no claws is referred to as a pistol. As mentioned before, they will regenerate new claws and legs.

Answer: 5 inches

Maine has a "slot" limit on lobster size. Measured from the lobster's eye socket to the end of its torso shell, the length must be greater than 3 1/4" and less than 5". The smaller lobsters are released to grow until they are larger, resulting in a higher weight catch for the same volume. Larger lobsters are released as it is thought that they can produce more offspring than a smaller lobster.

Answer: You have caught a female lobster capable of bearing eggs

Maine law requires a female lobster bearing eggs be marked with a "V Notch" to be cut into the flipper immediately to the right of the middle flipper on the lobster's tail (looking at the underneath of the lobster). Maine lobstermen would call this a punched lobster. Even after the eggs are gone, you cannot keep this lobster as it is capable of bearing eggs.

They are illegal to possess or keep and must be thrown back into the ocean.

Answer: Pot Hauler

"Pot" is another name for a lobster trap, and the winch used to wind the rope in and pull the trap from the bottom of the ocean to the lobster boat is called a "pot hauler". Pot haulers can also be electric for use in smaller lobster boats without an engine capable of driving the hydraulic pump.

Answer: He is trying to find a precise piece of lobster bottom by using landmarks

Before much of the newer marine electronics, GPS, Sonar, Chart Plotters, etc, fisherman would "mark" a fruitful piece of the ocean floor by lining up "marks". For example, a fisherman might line up the bow of his boat with the point of an island and a distant point, and line the midships of his boat up with a specific rock on shore.

This information was ofter passed down for generations among family fishermen.

Answer: Don't get your leg or foot caught up in the rope

"Pot Warp" is the line that connects the lobster trap to the buoy marking the location of the trap on surface of the water. When the warp runs overboard if you get your leg tangled in it, it can wash you over the side.