Good Omens

Lobster season is off with a bang! We set 150 traps in the past two days. Yesterday Cap's son pulled up alongside us to report that they saw Air Force One fly overhead when they were out hauling. Obama must have been on his way to Portland. Cap speculated that he might have flown into the Brunswick Naval Air Base, since he probably wouldn't fly this far north if they were landing at the Portland Jetport. Unfortunately, Cap and I were in at the dock when the presidential sighting occurred and missed out. I like to think of it as Obama blessing the commencement of lobster season, even though he wasn't aware that he was doing it. I imagine other fishermen who witnessed the fly-by were shaking their fists instead of marvelling. The gov'ment is blamed for just about everything around these parts.

The fog was so thick out there today that we couldn't see land all day. Even on the steam home, when were were but a stone's throw from the mainland, the rocky shore wasn't discernible. Cap had to use the radar and the chart on his computer to find our way home. He showed me how boats and marker buoys appear on the radar screen. I learned that the size of a mark on the screen doesn't represent the size of an object in real life. Different materials (metal, wood, fiberglass) reflect the radar frequencies to varying degrees. For example, a wooden lobster boat only showed up as a pin prick compared to a well-defined streak that represented a metal marker buoy. I found this interesting.

At one point this morning I looked up to see the makings of a rainbow. I say "makings" because it wasn't actually a rainbow. It was an iridescent arc of white light opposite the hazy sun. The light wasn't refracting so it wasn't a colorful arc, but the illuminescence was pretty. I pointed it out to Cap and he said "Maybe we should set some traps over there!" Another good omen.

Today we hauled a pair to reset it after a half hour. Low and behold it had a keeper in it! That was inspiring after hearing pretty dismal reports of the catch lately. We were off in deeper waters today (40 fathom or 240 feet), so it makes sense that we will catch some lobster out that far (10-12 miles off shore). I ate it for dinner; first lobster of the season. Boy was it good! I was starting to get tired of shrimp. It's the first reward I've had for two weeks of hard work. I've gotta say, it'll be nice to start hauling again and see a paycheck!

These "good omens" might seem like trivial consequences that are irrelevant to lobstering. Frankly, at this point I'm looking for any sign of hope, given the dismal reports of the catch lately. The price at the dock is only $4.50/lb, whereas it should be $8 or $9 this time of year. We will only be fishing 400 traps and the catch will be lower on average than it was last fall. Luckily, lobsters are hardier than shrimp and can be left to accumulate in a trap until the bait's gone. Therefore, we will let the traps set for a week and make it worth the steam out. We will probably only be hauling 2 or 3 days a week and building traps on the "off" days.

Spring fishing will feel like a breeze compared to shrimping, once we get all of the traps overboard. Cap and I both have sore arms and backs from handling traps. Shrimping was good conditioning for lobster season. My upper body is stronger than ever. I have the strength now, but I'm looking for a resurgence of inspiration. It is hard to find gear work and trap setting inspiring. I think once the sun comes out and we start hauling again, I will remember why I'm out there.