Cape Breton's Magazine

to put bait on right fresh. It's better the next day." A group of crates and boxes are set up in the centre of the boat. (Next page.) They include the measuring box (a smaller box set up on top of a crate) where each lob? ster goes when taken from the trap. Then there is a crate for the canners (lobsters measuring 2 '/4 inches) and a crate for the market lobsters (anything over 3 3/l6 inches. These measurements ARE NOT for the entire length of the lobster, head to tail; rather, they indicate the length of the carapace, the solid shell covering the head and thoracic area. The size limi-*" ? markets is the same all over Cape Brec: ;~ but in some areas the size of canners al? lowed is 2i inches.) There is a crate of today's bait (day old or better) and a box to receive old bait that is removed from the traps. Johnny: "We take the bait off (the spindle, out of the trap) every sec? ond day and put complete new stuff on. The next day we add to that. Then the next day again we take it all off. For instance, one day we put two pieces • two halves of mackerel • on. The next day we put one piece on. The next day we clean them and put two pieces on." (Why do you keep the old bait and not .just throw it overboard?) "The traps won't fish if you throw the bait back m the water. The lobsters just gather around that bait and won't bother going m the trap. That's the reason I do it. Some of the fishermen do throw it out. But I think the cleaner you keep the area where you're fishing, the more lobsters you'll get. We take it right into the land- wash and dump it where it will wash a- shore."