Best Lobster pots

[colcreate]

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

...
As to your big boy .. I have seen the fighting claw from a similar size caught by an old worthy in my bay, he got it from an area of sand bottom between some reefs.....he assisted me in learning the craft years ago... No one would really believe they exist at that size but they sure do ... thats one of the privileges of diving

Pulled this one up off a wreck in the North Sea, first dive of the weekend so we put it in the galley freezer. This claw alone made a meal for both me and the wife!

[spartacus]

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

thats why I'm asking.

More bodywork repairs than a '78 Vauxhall Viva... but the salvaged pots still work!

[Bigmuz7]

Originally Posted by colcreate

Pulled this one up off a wreck in the North Sea, first dive of the weekend so we put it in the galley freezer. This claw alone made a meal for both me and the wife!

Yep that looks a good 'un

Originally Posted by spartacus

More bodywork repairs than a '78 Vauxhall Viva... but the salvaged pots still work!

Didn't mean to diss your post fella .. just trying to buy some latest tek .. so I get a longer lie in whilst the crusty boys go for the bait

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by colcreate

Pulled this one up off a wreck in the North Sea, first dive of the weekend so we put it in the galley freezer. This claw alone made a meal for both me and the wife!

Does the taste suffer at that size/age?

[Peter_C]

Here in the USA most folks use a leaded line to keep it underwater and a nice bag aka buoy to refind it.

One of the requirements here for traps is also that they have the main door tied shut with line that deteriorates after a couple of weeks, that way if the trap is lost, due to a prop cut or storm movement/waves breaking the line, the pots will not continue to kill for years to come. Instead after a couple of weeks, the line fails, and creatures that crawl in, can crawl back out.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Does the taste suffer at that size/age?

Still tastes good, a tad meatier in texture. Lobsters are very slow growing at around 1kg/10years, I reckon mine was around 60yrs old. It was born around the time the wreck went down in WW2. Slightly sad, but he had a noble send off

[AJ.]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Along side wrecks is a good spot for lobbys. Biggest beast I ever had was a 14 pounder which was walking across the seabed as I descended to the wreck, I just dropped on it & bagged it. Fed us for 3 days, 1001 ways with lobster I think the dog even got a look in.

PS, Sorry Bigwuz, thread drift & I can tell you're getting tetchy

Yep, wrestled a monster a few years back off a wreck in scapa. The litter picker was a formidable weapon for lobsters and helped keep some distance barely fitted in the mesh bag we used for getting scallops!

[willk]

I've met two animals like this over the years. I described them to others as "as big as Jack Russells with claws". We are obliged to leave them in peace here, but I would never have had it any other way - image the eggs a mature beast like that produces! It will never fit in a pot - it's free to reproduce itself, a prime example of it's species - a true king of Crustaceans...

...and then some tw@t eats it

[Peter_C]

Originally Posted by willk

a true king of Crustaceans...

...and then some tw@t eats it

At least it got eaten. We have a couple of trophy hunters here, that just like to kill, but don't eat fish or abalone, so they gift everything. It does get eaten, but not by the people doing the hunting. They call it a "sport" and like to use terms like slaying. Abalone are a snail, and don't more very fast, so not really sporting in my book. Don't get me started...I am all for sustainable take, and have many friends who hunt, cook, and eat their fresh kills.

I have a photo, of a an older photo from the early 1900's, taken by fisherman on the Pacific coast. It shows a catch of fish like I have never seen in my life, and I scuba dive fairly often. All the BIG old fish have been removed from the ocean...kinda like our "Old Growth Forests". An incredible site to see when you are lucky enough to see a GIANT.

[Linnhe Lascar]

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

one person so far has struck one of the gold nuggets as far as placement is concerned

Go on Bigmuz, do tell ... I've been dropping pots in Loch Linnhe for 15 years and caught every shade of crab under the sun, plus langoustines, but never a single lobster! Paul at Linnhe Marine says that there aren't any lobsters northwest of about Shuna, but I can't see why they should be that fussy and I've tried all kinds of bait and all kinds of habitat in my search for one. It's getting to be a bit of an obsession so all tips gratefully received!

[A1an]

Originally Posted by Linnhe Lascar

Go on Bigmuz, do tell ... I've been dropping pots in Loch Linnhe for 15 years and caught every shade of crab under the sun, plus langoustines, but never a single lobster! Paul at Linnhe Marine says that there aren't any lobsters northwest of about Shuna, but I can't see why they should be that fussy and I've tried all kinds of bait and all kinds of habitat in my search for one. It's getting to be a bit of an obsession so all tips gratefully received!

I'm led to believe that there is too much fresh water entering Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe for Lobsters

This pearl of wisdom came from a prawn fisherman on the loch.

[diver 1]

While sole fishing in Poole Bay last summer with small fine wire hooks and ragworm baits my mate hooked this 7lb lobster.

Was a big surprise to all of us on board. Never seen one caught on rod and line before

[Linnhe Lascar]

Originally Posted by A1an

I'm led to believe that there is too much fresh water entering Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe for lobsters.

Surely the little blighters aren't THAT sensitive??!! I catch bucket loads of brown crabs, velvet crabs, spider crabs, you-name-it crabs ... and plenty of langoustine (well, I did until one of the commercial boys noticed where we were dropping our pots and came and laid a string right across it - they're almost wiped out there now ). And we catch all the usual sea fish, cod included, and even squid when we're in luck! (Plus the odd conger in the langoustine pots )

So how the Dickens can the water be salty enough for all that lot but too fresh for Larry the Lobster? I'm off for a quick Google!

[Linnhe Lascar]

diver_1 - that is HUGE! If I caught one that size I think I'd motor back and nip up to the house for an air rifle! (Actually not sure it would be able to get into our pots.)

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Linnhe Lascar

(Plus the odd conger in the langoustine pots )

Good eating is conger, very underrated

[Bigmuz7]

This is primarily for an answer to this question
from

Linnhe Lascar

anyway

Originally Posted by spartacus

In my experience, lay them near rocks and kelp. Lobsters don't like to go walk about on the sandy bottom

Speaking as a west coast 'sometimes' fisherman.... Yes and no ... You must set in a tidal area ,, but due to coastal variation .. it could be on a rock face , or on the bottom, but you may lose the pot if the tidal sweep is too savage

If you set in a bay bounded by rock .. especially on the west coast , this is good .. but one mistake you have made is that they 'do' like sand ,, small patches in amongst tangle are best .. if you can find small holes in between tangle .. drop a pot with some mackerel bait .. and you will have something usually As scavengers , lobsters will pick off the easiest prey .. but they are hiders and like to remain hidden before exposing themselves

Originally Posted by Boatnomad

. Deepwater rock channels and headlands are best.

This is the gold standard for lobsters ... (on the west anyway) Deep water rock channels .. if they are scarce .. heres where you will find them , but it must still be tidal although generally never exposed

As a good mariner, you would be expected to know your coast well enough to know these areas

The higher flow of water brings them food ? simple

Originally Posted by willk

I've met two animals like this over the years. I described them to others as "as big as Jack Russells with claws". We are obliged to leave them in peace here, but I would never have had it any other way - image the eggs a mature beast like that produces! It will never fit in a pot - it's free to reproduce itself, a prime example of it's species - a true king of Crustaceans...

...and then some tw@t eats it

I have some sympathy with ye fella .. these are some very old crustaceans ,, and I has a certain affinity for them and their age .....I never lift or keep any lobsters with eggs .. that said in defence of the lads ,, the older monsters probably get past an age of reproduction, much like the rest of us

Originally Posted by Linnhe Lascar

Go on Bigmuz, do tell ... I've been dropping pots in Loch Linnhe for 15 years and caught every shade of crab under the sun, plus langoustines, but never a single lobster!

HTH fella

[Linnhe Lascar]

Good tips there. I'm going to hunt out some rocky spots, going to have to put a bit more imagination into it I think (I basically drop in the area SW of Corran narrows because it's an easy run from my home mooring and there's a good supply of big brown crabs ... but I'm going to study my charts a bit harder!)

Thanks again

[Linnhe Lascar]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Good eating is conger, very underrated

I've got a great recipe for conger

Skin the conger, put it in a stew pot, bottle of white wine, three potatoes, 16 carrots, little chicken stock, bunch of fresh thyme, paprika, and one old sea boot. Put the whole lot in the bottom Aga for 3 days, get it out, check the consistency (add more wine if it's got too thick), throw the conger away and eat the seaboot!!

[Poly]

someone told me that it you use old bait you won't catch lobster, they are picky and like their food fresh! He also said that once you have used a pot with old bait it is ''tainted" and will ''smell" of the bait to less likely to catch lobster in that pot even with fresh bait.

[A1an]

A friend of mine uses cat food as bait, very frowned upon but its nice and clean.

He uses small tins pierced with a nail a few times, the smell/juices leak out and the small crabs don't eat all the bait before the big boys come along.