Captain Dan has worked as a commercial fisherman for over 5 years. Working on four different boats for 3 different captains and in four different fisheries, ranging from 15 to 60 miles offshore. Below are pictures and descriptions of the three fisheries.

Black Sea Bass is a pot or trap fishery, meaning that is the method used for harvest (a bass pot, or trap, pictured below).

The Black Sea Bass fishery is (or was) a fun one. We would attach 20 pots to a “ground line” which would be anchored on each end and then up from each anchor we would have “flag lines” that are connected to buoys or flags.

Lobster Pots or traps are done in a similar fashion, with just a few minor differences. The flag lines would be much longer, due to fishing in deeper water. The strings are longer (more than 20 pots, somewhere around 40 pots). The anchor weights would be much heavier. The boat I worked on used pieces of railroad track, cut into weights of about 80 to 150 pounds. We called them Choos (below), I guess as in Choo Choo trains.

The other difference between Bass and Lobster pots is bait. The boat I worked on did not bait bass pots, but I have heard of people baiting them. Instead, the bass pot made an attractive “cave” type atmosphere that was a good place for the bass to hide from bigger fish that wanted to eat them. Lobster Pots were usually baited with either bunker or skate.

Another major difference between a Bass pot and a Lobster pot is how the pot functions. The “funnel” on a lobster pot (above yellow) doesn’t have to be quite as elaborate as that of a bass pot. What I mean is the lobster crawls into a pot and falls in, I don’t believe that they can swim with any great accuracy for the direction they are traveling. Although they have been known to escape the trap, it not very common. The Bass pot funnel has to have a flap on it, like a check valve, that lets the fish swim in but not out. Because of this flap, it seems that a bass pot can be used as a lobster pot, but not vice versa.

The third fishery, is actually my favorite, but it is under serious micromanagement from the fishery management organizations. The monkfish (aka goose fish, head fish,. toad fish, poor man’s lobster) is a migratory species. For the waters offshore of Chincoteague our season starts around Thanksgiving and runs until about mid June. It’s a gill net fishery and they are caught anywhere from 5 to 40 miles offshore.

So those are the three fisheries I’ve worked in, and a basic description of each. What you don’t understand from my description, maybe these videos will show you.

Fishing Videos

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