Along with the shortages of fresh bait for lobstermen in recent years have come some new alternatives. One can currently purchase leather bait that needs a week to start “putrefying” and lasts about 6 weeks. The smell is pretty bad, but the leather bait seems to work well.
Now, from Coastal Creations of Oxford, Maine, comes Lobster Pot Brownies. Co-owners and developers Stuart Littlefield and John Bryant have used their extensive chef and engineering experiences from the Good Scents Company, Inc., to create a product bound from fresh “Herring, Pogies, and/or Mackerel” plus flavorings and oils. Brownies are packaged into three- by three-inch blocks that remain shelf stable for six months or longer.
The smell is akin to cat food – and when I brought the Lobster Pot Brownies package into my house, my cat tried to open it.
Generally, I use a combination of hide (leather) bait and herring. In my opinion, herring is the best. But if you can’t pull traps for a week or more, it’s nice to have something in the trap to keep attracting the lobsters. So I tried all these baits in varying combinations.
The Lobster Pot Brownies generally worked as well as the hide bait – although the hide bait did seem to last a couple of weeks longer. About ten percent of the Brownies completely disintegrated in a little less than two weeks, which is within acceptable range for most products and could also be explained by higher currents in the areas where I fish.
There was a claim that this bait “repels crabs.” I, however, saw no real difference in my traps – which isn’t all bad because I at least know the Brownies were attracting something. The cost of Brownies, incidentally, is about 25 percent more than that of the hide bait.
Mike Herbert works at the Island Institute and fishes a few traps off Islesboro.