Lobster Wars

[captbones]

Has anyone seen this show on discovery? I am far from an expert or even a novice when is comes to this type of fishing but I caught an episode last night, thinking it would somehow replace deadliest catch. What a joke! It's pretty comical to see these captains bitchin and moaning about each other though. The one thing that really turned me off and made me think these guys are a bunch of knuckle heads, is the fact that they have no respect for the ground they are harvesting (or so it appears). If I recall on the deadliest catch the fisherman were pretty adamant to not lose any pots even if they were someone else's due to the fact that they will continue to catch and kill through the years. Essentially protecting they're harvests. I got from the show last night that cutting buoys off pot strings was fairly common in turf wars up there. This makes no sense to me at all considering that the strings had up to 40 pots on them. Now I don't know if these pots would continue to catch and kill as the others do, but it doesn't seem that this is a responsible way to protecting the fishery! Can anyone educate me about this type of fishing to clear the record or no?

[BrothaBob]

I saw the same show last night......amazing....

Is it just me or did half the people working the boats seem like crackheads?

[clt_capt]

Lobster Wars certainly doesn't have the appeal of Deadliest Catch.

those Lobster guys are pretty cutthroat and they are all yankees

It looks like a tough job, but there are a bunch of crackpots out there.

[anthony]

I agree that they looked like a bunch of idiots last night. I do believe they retrieve their gear though...they can mark it on their bottom machine and send down a grapple or something to snag the gear and retrieve it...to much money to leave at the bottom of the ocean. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I've talked to a local lobster fisherman before who has had to do that on gear that has been lost due to boats tying up to it at night and pulling the balls and high flyer loose from the gear.

[Capt. kapoc]

I'm not going to say that their right or wrong but it is like the same thing we delt with longlining for grouper in the gulf of mexico. As far as the gear on those perticular sets their is a high flyer on either side with a radar reflecter. At the very least once at the location where the string was set they have it plotted in their plotter with the direction of the set to the wpt of the second bouy so they attach a 30-50 lb grapple and drag acrocc where the set was strun and pull it up and go back to biz. it takes a little time and screws up the gear but it happens. Think about the last time someone rolled up on another guy that was bottom fishing on a little known wrech and got his #'s stole it is kinda like that. No worries the post will be recovered the only ones that have a chance of being lost are the ones that are dragged off by large comm boats IE: sqidders, tankers stuff like that. But if i rember right they are supposed to have a sacrfical binding on the doors that with prolonged exposure will biodegrate to make it just another harmless peace of junk on the bottom


Capt. Mike

[Bird Dog]

Lobster Wars definitely doesn't compare to Deadliest Catch.

Watch Tuna Wranglers on the Discovery channel next time it's on. It's filmed out of Australia. I've only seen it once and I thought it was a great show.

[trollman]

man you hit the nail right on the head.

i have fished and traveled all over the world and i have never seen a bigger bunch of knucklebrains than up here in New England. i am NOT talking about ALL of us up here, but there is an undercurrent of this type of attitude amongst certain pockets of the fishing community.

almost all of the people here at SFC are willing to share info on catch, rigs, etc, for the comaraderie and good of the sport. but in a few circles people act like this and it is a stupid, greedy, selfish, asshole attitude. i hate it and when i see it or experience it i react negatively to it. i do not know the cause but i have a few theories.

bottom line: stay away from these insecure dopes, they need to always be cutting others down to prop themselves up, like drowning bastards.

but it is definitely a new england thing because i see it nowhere else in the world.

[Bluewater Sportfishing]

Ii didnt watch the show but I can say this as its a fact...the pots on the floor will still fish but, if you ever saw underwater footage of the pots fishing then you would see lobsters walking in and out. the ones they catch are the ones that just walked in....for the most part. once there in the end of the trap however they cant get out. From what I saw the lobster mainly stay in the kitchen then walk right back out again. that is the main reason why the lobster fishery has stayed so healthy for so many years now.

[captbones]

Thanks for all the great info and opinions. I am glad to see that these anglers are retrieving those lost pots. As I said I don't know a damn thing about this fishery but feel a little more educated thanks to you guys. As for the yankees I can say those guys are surely a little off being born and raised in Vermont.

[fmoore]

I think the funniest part was when the cameraman asked one of the captains (can't remember what boat) where they were. He said I can't say that, it's like opening my wallet. This was filmed in December. It's now August. Holy crap, like I'm gunna go in in my 20'CC, in the middle of December, and say, "Hey Dad, lets set a few strings out on Georges, lobsters are going for $5.50 per pound."

Bottom line: It makes very interesting TV IMO. I like to look at not the crackheads or the asshole capitans, but just how they fish for lobster. Even though I will probably never set a trap in my life, I think it is interesting to see how it's done, and learn more about our fishery in New England.


Just MHO

Fintan