8 hours ago, johnnyd said:
Lobsters pour into the Gulf of Maine to molt. They get into the shallows and hide in the rocks and shelves, then shed the hard shells that they've outgrown. Lobstermen string baited cage-traps marked by bouys in a depth of around ten feet, they check on them every 3 or so days, pull any lobsters and rebait the traps. During molting season (summer) most harvested lobsters have a shell so weak you can break them open in your bare hands.
Starting autumn, they are strong enough to move back to deep water. Trap lines go much deeper - like 100 foot - in the winter, and you have to steam out there for miles. Those lobsters are much more expensive, and the shells are like stone so you need those crackers to open the claws. So summer is the time to eat them here - plentiful and cheap. I've had, maybe, two a week this summer and the corn is just coming in. I make a corn chowder and plop a whole lobster-worth of meat in the middle. Freaking heaven, I tell you. Stay tuned to this channel - should post in a couple weeks. 😀
63 years in and I still learn something every day. Thank you for that clear and succinct information. If I had a fainting couch, that's where I would be right now, thinking of your corn chowder with a "plop" of fresh lobster. I have had too much disappointing lobster (although I have had some good ones) that I am leary of buying or ordering it. I had great lobster in Nova Scotia and PEI but they are clear across the country so we don't get there often.
