CRAZY Working/ Hauling today! (Longer day than usual)

Today was crazy, because we were going to be hauling more buoys than yesterday. Even more, about half of the buoys that we were hauling today were double traps! That means that there are 2 traps, attached to one buoy. One trap comes up first. Then, you slide it over, and continue to haul and the other trap comes up. Today, we didn't just put herring bait bags into each trap, we also added a
Rockfish to each trap. Rockfish, are found in the coast of  Alaska. They are shipped here on dry ice and they are really big fish. They look like this.

So, we were hauling double traps, we had to add a Rockfish to each trap, there were 2 traps perr buoy, we needed to fill bait bags also, and also band lobsters. Since we got 2 traps per haul, Uncle Art, did one trap, and i did the other. Usually, on the regular day, we would haul only 1 trap per buoy, and Uncle Art would take the lobster out of the trap, and i would take out and refill the bait bags. But now that there's 2 traps, i have to take the lobster from one trap. I took the lobster out, measured them, and then did the bait bags. It was a lot of work. We got done at about 3 because we had a lot of work to do. I was pretty worn out after that i was glad to come home and chill.

We found a tiny sea-star in a trap one time and i got a picture of it. It was literally, smaller than a Quarter. We also, found more crabs. They can pinch you harder than lobsters, so be careful!

When we were hauling the double traps, there was a TON of seaweed on each line and Uncle Art would have to pull all of the seaweed off of the rope before we could get the trap up onto the boat. There was literally so much of it! The people at the wharf call that, "Gorilla Hair" The seaweed on the traps look kind of like this.

I found out that Uncle Art try's to let each trap sit for 5 nights. The thing that you use to measure the lobster is metal, and you measure the lobster from its eye socket, to the back of the carapace (back shell of the lobster)

Somthing other than lobstering, after i was done working, me and Uncle Art, went to walmart and got some waters, because we needed more, and some more bread, cheese, and cream cheese for the bagels that we got last time. I also got some cool snacks.

Im going to end this post with a cool picture of me holding a Rockfish in one hand, and a bait bag, in the other hand. Be sure to check out my "Learner Posts" that are near the top of my blog page.

-August 6, 2015

Another Hauling Day - August 5, Wednesday

Today, was another working day. We hauled traps and we got finished pretty early, at about 12:30 A.M. Today, we didnt have any bait bags ready, so i had to fill bait bags along with banding the lobsters and hauling the traps. It was constant work, i usually never had time for a break. It was work, and i was tired after we got done. I felt a little sick throughout the day, but i just kept my mind busy so i didnt think about being sick. The smell of the fish was what got to my head the most. I needed some fresh air sometimes.

The most lobsters that we got in a trap today, was 12. We hauled 100 traps today, and got about 550  LBS. My Uncle Art, has about 500 traps out there as of right now. We keep bringing new traps out each day, and he says he wants to get 650 traps out there. He says that a good trap, costs 80$. Some of the traps that he has, are really good, they are black and orange and they are really well put together. The lobster traps work so that the lobsters can crawl inside of the trap, but then they can not escape. There are entries that go into the trap, and the entries are elevated so the lobster drops a little when he enters the trap, but then he cant escape.

One thing that i noticed about the lobsters, is that, on the inside part of their claws, they have little white bumps that are like feelers, so if anything touches the inside of their claw, they will clamp down and try to get whatever was there. If a lobsters claw wont close, i touch the inside of their claw really quick with the bander, so that it will close and i can put a rubber band on it. Lobsters go through a process called sheeding. Lobsters shed their shells, and it takes about a half an hour for them to do so. After they have shedded their shells, the lobsters are incredibly soft, and you can not pick them up or it will hurt them. It takes about an hour for it to form a new shell. We got a lobster that just shed its shell in one of our traps today.

The left, is the lobsters shell that it shed, and to the right, is the new lobster, that is very soft, and we had to through it back, because it was so soft and very, very fragile.

Learn more about sheeding: Lobster Shedding in a Nutshell



Here is a picture of me, holding a giant crab that came up in one of our traps today!

-August 5, Wednesday

Hauling day - August 4, Tuesday

Today, we just did the normal thing, and hauled traps. We got about 700 LBS. of lobster at the end of the day.  We got so much, that we needed to switch to putting the lobster inside of a smaller crate because the lobster holder was already full. The beginning of the day, was a little weak with getting lobsters, we didn't get that many per crate. After that, we started to get better, and better, and better! At one time we got a lobster trap that had 14 lobsters inside it! Then, the next one had 13! I was banding lobsters for a long time!


 Today, it was really foggy, so it was hard to see the next buoy. It was also high tide. Uncle Art, found that a lot of his buoys, were caught up in another buoys roar, and he blamed it on all of the "non lobster" boats, because they go through the buoys and tangle everything up.

This is a picture of the thing that holds all of the herring and the filled bait bags.

That above, is a picture of the thing that we use to put the bait bags, inside of the lobster traps. It has a little hole at the end of the stick, so its just like a giant needle. First, you take it and you stab it through a bait bag, then, you put the string through the end of the stick (while the stick is still through the bait bag) and then you pull it back, and the string should come right back to you, through the bait bag. Then, you can wrap the string around the other side of the cage, keeping it inside.

Near the end of the day, it started to rain, and Uncle Art got me a rain coat. I didn't need it that much because i was banding lobsters at the time, but i did need it when i was filling bait bags. The fog seemed to clear up after the rain was finished. Near the end of the day, i felt a little sick, so i went to wait in Uncle Arts truck, until he finished about 2 hours later.

Here is a picture of the lobster holder. It is the same shape as the bait holder.

When i am done banding a lobster, i send it on its back, down that tube so that it can reach the lobster holder and so that i do not need to walk anywhere to put the lobster in it! 

-August 4, Tuesday (Im posting this wednesday, but this was Tuesdays day)

Working Day - August 3, Monday (Much Lobsters)

Today, i got up at 5:40 A.M. Today was a work day. We had a lot of bait bags already bagged and ready to be put on traps today because we did them yesterday, but just in case we didn't have enough bait, we got one more tray full of herring, just in case we needed to fill up some more bags. Today, i just helped Uncle Art, haul traps, bait the traps and I banded all of the lobster. We brought aboard Cheddar Cheese Crackers and Waters for snacks/lunch. At the end of the day, we had hauled 640 LBS. of lobster! That is really good! Uncle Art got a picture of me holding some lobsters.

My Aunt Pennie, has some small chicks, that she is taking care of for her friend for a week. We keep them in containers with food and water. They are so small. I took some more pictures of the house. There is a huge back yard with a willow tree and a fire pit and scarecrows. Yesterday, i gave the willow tree a haircut with the shrub sharper. There is a huge amount of grassland and a little pond way back behind Aunt Pennie's house! There is also a baseball diamond and a playground in the distance!

-August 3, Monday 3:26 P.M.

Bait Bag Day - August 2, Sunday

Today, i got to sleep in again, and after i got up, i had some breakfast. Then at 10 A.M, we went down to the lobster boat so that we could finish putting all of the remaining herring that we had, into the bait bags, so that we wouldn't have to do it tomorrow. Tomorrow, we are going out to haul traps. We are going to have short days from now on, probably days from 5 A.M. till Noon!

This is a picture of a lobster hauler. It has one big wheel that hauls the trap. You wrap the rope around it and it electrically pulls the trap up. There is a metal poll that helps by pulling up the rope so that the rope doesn't scratch your boat when you are hauling it.

-August 2, Sunday

Chill Day - August 1, Saturday

Today, i slept in until 9:30 A.M. This is my chill day until we go back out to work and haul on Monday. I got up, and i just went down and started to watch some shows, and play the Xbox because that's really fun. I got to make some mac-&-cheese for lunch! That was very delicious! Uncle Arthur made me dinner, it was like a chicken patty and curly fries! Then i went back to play Xbox. 

To-marrow, we are going to go and fill bait bags so that we don't have to do that tomorrow when we are hauling traps!

Yesterday at 6 P.M, Me and Uncle Art went to Applebee's for dinner. I got a corn dog, and a caezer sallad, and he got steak and mashed potatoes. We both got lemonade. After that, we went to see Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation! IT WAS AMAZING! It was so awesome! I recommend go seeing it!

- 8:54 P.M. - August 1, Saturday

2nd Day - Thursday, August 30

Today, i had my 2nd day as a lobster man. Yesterday, i spent my time filling bait bags with bait so that we would not have to do that while we were hauling lobster traps. Today on the boat, we would haul traps.

Every time that we hauled a trap, we needed to do 3 things to it before we could send it back down to the bottom.

1. We had to take the old bait bag out of the trap, and empty the dead fish from it off of the side of the boat, so that we could reuse the bait bags. (we reuse the bait bags)
2. We had to take the lobsters out of the trap, and see how many that we could keep. (Some lobsters are to small to legally keep, so we measure them)
3. We needed to put a new bait bag in the trap by running a string through the middle of it, and fastening the string to either sides of the trap so that it would stay.

For one lobster trap, sometimes we get 3 lobsters, and sometimes we get like 7-8. The most lobsters that we got in one trap today, was 11 lobsters! Every-time that we haul a trap, we put a new bait bag inside of it, and since we already had made the bait bags yesterday, we didn't have to fill them as we were going today. Each lobster trap that we haul, i usually take out the old bait bag, and put a new bait bag in. My Uncle Arthur, is the one, who takes out the lobster and sets them into boxes for me to band.

After each trap that we haul, i usually have lobsters to band. There is this cool tool, that you put it around a rubber band, and it stretches out the rubber band, so that i can band the lobster with only my right hand, and hold the lobster with my left hand. (we don't use regular rubber-bands, we use special black ones that are smaller). I have to cross the lobsters claws and hold it a certain way so that the lobster cant clamp my fingers off! Lobsters have 1 claw that is used for grabbing things (usually its right claw) and another claw used for crushing things (usually left claw).

Here is a picture of a bait bag. It has a sealed bottom, and a top which can be opened and then closed again by tightening the string. We put the fish inside of the bait bag, and then we tie the top of the bag shut. 

The lobster trap, is designed so that when the lobsters enter it, they cant get out. The lobsters enter the 2 holes on the left side of the picture, where the bait bag is, then, they can eat the bait, and then they go to the right where they stay until we haul the trap up. Sometimes, there are crabs in the cages, so we just toss them back in the water. 

Older lobster traps, were curved, and looked like this.

We would band the lobsters with this tool. It would be pulled shut by a rubber band, and i would put a rubber band around the ends of it, and open it and it would open the rubber band so that i could put the rubber band on the lobsters claws. The rubber bands were easy to put on, because they were so small, but they were really strong.

At the end of the day, i had banded 840 LBS. of lobster, and i was working from 5 A.M. to 3 P.M. I was so happy to go home and rest.

-7/30/15 - Tuesday