Equipment we used:

Wooden Cradles:

The boat rests on a wooden cradle and has been hauled up to the summer parking lot for the winter.

In the off-season, boats were hauled from the water and stored on wooden cradles. Come spring, boats in their cradles were hauled onto the shore, usually by Jack Conroy’s tow truck, and floated out of their cradles at high tide. The cradles were weighted down with sandbags before the tide came in. To release a boat from its cradle men would push from the boat with oars or poles. It was much harder to put a boat into a cradle in the fall. During the summer cradles were anchored on the marsh behind Bayley’s Lobster Pound and, although somewhat waterlogged, sandbags were needed to help sink the cradles when boats were hauled. For many years, there were wooden pilings up river from the pier near the channel where some men used the pilings to hold cradles in place while running boats onto them. Often it took more than one attempt! At low tide, Jack Conroy would use his wrecker to winch the boat and cradle up to the Co-Op gravel parking lot. Because of the weight difference in the fall, Conroy often had to attach an oil truck to the front of his wrecker to keep it from dipping back. There was a tremendous strain on the two steel cables of the wrecker’s winch. Each year, everyone was afraid they would snap! Yet, each boat was brought to the parking lot for the winter. It was common for powerboats to be hauled in their cradles to the fisherman’s house, where he would have easy access to repair and paint his boat the next spring.

Equipment we used

Bait

This bait sponger was a homemade item used by lobster fishermen consisting of a wood handle and stainless steel rod. A notch was made in the rod using a hacksaw. The lobstermen would push the rod through the eyes of filleted fish onto the bait line of each trap. The line was nailed to the bottom of the trap and tied to the top holding the fish in place and the door shut. This was in use until herring bait replaced it.

In early days lobster fishermen would hand-line sculpin or mackerel to use for bait. Later a bait man, Mr. McCabe, brought filleted redfish from Portland to our river. He had a special dump truck fitted with two tanks to hold the filleted fish, which he sold for 50 cents a bushel, cash only. Many waited for the bait man at the shore or at the Co-Op where they gambled upstairs. Mr. McCabe announced his arrival by tooting his truck’s horn. Bait was dumped into a punt a bushel at a time, rowed out to boats, put into barrels and salted. Bait was delivered once or twice a week; most men bought 4 to 6 bushels. One to three whole filleted fish were used for each trap. Baiting was accomplished by using a “sponger” to thread a bait string through the fish’s eye sockets. The sponger was a steel rod with a wooden handle and a hook at the end for the bait string. The line from the middle bumper of the trap was laid into it and then the bait would slide into the trap. The bony skull of the fish held the bait on the line while the oily redfish attracted the lobsters. Other oily fish, such as pogies, were also used.

Alewives were the fish of choice for bait when they “ran” in late May and early June, because lobsters were attracted to their oils. We would dip-net them by the thousands as they migrated up the rivers to spawn in fresh water! It was not unusual to have anywhere from three to seven fish at each dip of the net. Before the 1956 Pine Point Road overpass was built, the best place to dip-net alewives was across the street from Snow’s factory

Equipment we used:

Hauling Winches:

Once boats had engines, winches were used to haul traps. A belt attached to the engine’s shaft pulley operated the winch. It was not unusual for rope to get caught in the winch and the only way to stop it was to shut off the engine and hope it would start again. This could be dangerous, especially during the summer months when good fishing was close to ledges. It was also dangerous because the glass bobbers had to be brought up through the top pulley mounted on the hauling side of the boat. When hauling a trap, the propeller was stopped, the rope was then hand-pulled for a fathom or so and then rewound on the winch. Pot haulers operated by hydraulic pumps have replaced winches. Once the rope is set in the hauler’s groove, it’s essentially a hands-free operation to haul the rope and bobber into the boat.

Equipment we used:

Bobbers:

Initially, bobbers were sealed glass bottles, usually beer or soda bottles, tied onto one-fathom lengths of rope fastened to the main line. Cork, such as used on nets, was also used. Styrofoam floats have replaced these earlier bobbers because they are safer than glass bottles.