September 24, 2020 — By the end of summer, the tourists leave, the breezes get cooler, and Maine lobstermen hunker down for the harder yet sometimes more fruitful months of fishing only for lobster.
During the summer, “catch landings are probably down. But we can gain quite a lot in October, November, and December,” says Mike Dawson, a lobsterman who fishes off the coast of Maine. “August was kind of slow. Not an overabundance of lobster.”
State lobstering rules are eased each year starting Nov. 1, at which time lobstermen can fish 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the summer months, when congestion on the seas is high, lobstermen can’t haul traps on Sundays and there are restrictions on the hours lobstermen can fish.
Dawson, who had been fishing for bait fish called pogeys during the summer to supplement his income said that has wound down for the year. The pogeys have disappeared from the area, migrating to new feeding grounds, he said. So now Dawson says he plans to concentrate on lobstering throughout the fall and winter.