Bait Alternatives: Old and New
by Brenda Tredwell

The Veazie Dam, currently the first dam on the river, is slated for removal to enhance passage for 11 species of native sea-run fish, including alewives. Turbines from this dam will be recycled as part of the plan to maintain essentially all current energy production on the lower Penobscot River. Photo: Bill Curtsinger, courtesy of Penobscot River Restoration Trust.

Lobster was once so abundant it could be caught wading in shallow water along the coast. Storms would cast the crustaceans onto the shore and they could be foraged with little effort. After 1870, the evolution of the lobster trap allowed lobstermen to fish in deeper water. The advent of the trap, however, caused a new dilemma: BAIT.

Fish cuttings, halibut, cod or hake heads, sculpin and flounder were used until herring placed in net bait bags were found to work well. The weir and seine fisheries provided ample supply. As the sardine industry flourished in the late 1800’s, so did ready supply of discarded heads tails and offal from coastal factories for use as bait, providing spin off income for cannery owners. Red fish, pushed onto iron pins and secured to the bottom of traps, were also good for bait. By 1880, 104,500 traps were being fished by Maine lobstermen, all needing bait. By 1930, there were 120,000 traps regularly fished. Technology enabled more traps to go into the water, which were hauled more efficiently with an engine and hydro-slave. As sardine factories closed, so did an option for by-product bait. Competing with the fishermen for cuttings from the groundfish industry were producers of animal feed and fertilizer. Bait supply fluctuates, that is a consistent fact.

An innovator named Ted Prudden began field-testing synthetic baits. Missing no suggestions from the fishermen he talked with, he tested results for a white coffee mug and a tin soda can as lures. Each hypothesis was tested against traditionally set and baited traps. His kerosene soaked brick didn’t catch any more lobster than the intermittently flashing light installed in traps with a bait bag. Prudden experimented with cotton wadding soaked in herring oil and other pungent lures, altering texture and color. Finally, Prudden’s company, Lob-Lure, ran out of funds in 1949.

A photo of the Great Works dam in Old Town, currently the second dam on the river slated for removal. Photo: Heather Perry, courtesy of Penobscot River Restoration Trust.

The Lobster Puck is the newest innovation in artificial bait, available through Bennett & Sons Bait, Kennebunk, ME. The enzymes from horseshoe crabs and herring, combined with oils and salt, permeate the biodegradable disc developed by Paul Popeye Turnage, inventor of a similar lure used in the sport fishery to catch bass. No salt or refrigeration is needed. The puck will stay fresh for a year sealed in the manufacturer’s packaging. University of Maine researchers began studying artificial bait in 1988. Experiments were conducted involving amino acids set in a plaster of paris for bait. After poor results, fish meal was added to the amino acids, which were set in polymer. South Addison lobsterman Herb Comeau field-tested both prototypes.

In 2004, after debating the issue of artificial bait, the DMR’s Lobster Advisory Commission asked that artificial bait be phased out after anti-littering concerns and long term effect on lobsters were brought up. The decision seems to have reversed, as artificial Lobster Pucks were represented by Bennett & Sons at the 2007 Fishermen’s Forum in March.

Alewife Restoration Project - A Once Plentiful Bait
The Penobscot River Restoration Trust is buying three dams on the Penobscot river from PPL Hydro Electric Company. PPL owns nine dams on the river. The two lower most dams, slated for removal, are the Great Works Dam in Old Town and another at Veazie. A nature like bypass stream will be built, rather than a fish ladder. After the great Works and the Veazie dam are removed the Milford dam will be the first or lower most, on the river. A fish lift will be built there to replace the ladder. A lift works like an elevator and does less damage to shad scales than the rough trip up a fish ladder. The third dam purchased is the Howland dam. This will give fish access to the historically important Blackman and Pushaw streams.

The Penobscot River Restoration Trust is working to restore 11 species of native fish to inland waters. Members of the Trust include the Penobscot Nation, and six conservation groups, in collaboration with PPL Hydro-Electric Corp. While waterpower companies’ interests have traditionally conflicted with those of fishermen, PPL says it will offset the loss from decommissioned dams to ensure there is no loss of energy production at the power source.

“On Penobscot Bay, a lot of the lobster bait is imported from Gloucester and other parts of Maine,” explains Cheryl Daigle of the Alewives Restoration Project “Formerly, there were 4-6 million alewives in the river. Now, there are only about 1,000 alewives coming up. By improving access to the spawning territory the project could support another 4-6 million alewives.” According to Daigle, the Restoration Trust purchased three dams on the Penobscot. There are two decommissioned dams, which were removed—The Great Works in Old Town and another at Veazie. At The Rowland Dam, there is a fish by-pass. At Milford dam, a fish lift will replace the fish ladder. The Blackman and Pushaw are two historically important streams below Veazie. Five years after the Edwards dam was removed there were 2 million alewives passing. Salmon came to the river one year after the dam came down. The potential results of restoration is huge.

“Herring are what drive the food chain on an ecological level,” says Jeff Reardon of Penobscot River Restoration Trust, whose goal is to “take a big river with a lot of habitat and put it back into production by restoring free swim passage to the lakes and ponds, which are the spawning areas for blue-back herring, shads and alewives.” Reardon says the best opportunity to restore salmon and other species to the coast of Maine is to get running. The project is similar to the one on the Kennebec. After the removal of Edwards Dam, the alewives came right back.

The first statewide river fisheries restoration project in Maine began in 1867, when a decline in the cod fishery was attributed to a reduction in shad, alewife, and forage fish stocks, all of which spawn inland. Since colonial times, laws were installed to prevent blockading waterways essential to spawning, and periodic moratoriums were set against taking alewives.

Bill Coffin of Coffin & Sons Bait, Jonesport, had a father who tended weirs. Weirs, once very common along the Maine coast, were the primary means of catching herring when they poured into bays and coves. Unlike the trawlers that scoop several species, keep the herring and throw away the dead bycatch, schooling herring alone filled the weirs. According to where you are along the coast plays a part in what works for bait, Coffin said—coffee mugs and blinking lights excluded.