In Our Words Canadians Reading Together

They spent a day painting and cleaning the boat and as well they had made a trip to the local fish-plant for more bait. John could remember the first time he had gone on this trip with his dad. He assumed that they would go there and park at a loading dock and load some boxes of the bait on their truck. Well this turned out to be his baptism by fire! The bait was redfish (sea bass). They arrived at the plant and made their way through a number of alleys between the buildings. Soon they were in front of a door with a sign that simply said “Bait Sales”. He would never forget the sight that greeted him when they went through that door. The first thing he was aware of was bloody water that went up past his ankles. The second was four conveyor belts that seem to come from nowhere. This room was the last stage in the process of preparing fish to go to market. Below the end of each belt was a large plastic bin and from each belt dropped fish-heads and spines, all that was left when the processing of the fish was complete. John’s dad knew the man who was in charge of this day so he knew they would do well. They were here for the heads, which would supplement the mackerel they were catching.

On most days you were told to shovel the stuff into bins and you had to take what you could get, but if you knew the person in charge (his main job was to replace the bins when they filled up) you could take your time and pick out only the heads. When they were finished they would take the bait to the local lobster pound and put it in a giant freezer room with the mackerel. John’s dad knew the man who owned the pound and he charged for this service but they were allowed to keep their bait here for free. In exchange they sold him all their lobsters.

The last job they had to do was something completely different for them this year. Until now they used bait bags in the traps. These were small mesh bags that held the bait and could easily open up if they were not tied properly. It was just the other day that John’s dad had come home all excited about ‘baitboxes’ that his brother Buckey had made. These were wire mesh and were 6 X 4 inches high. They had a lid that was attached to the box and closed with a bungee cord to ensure a tight fit. To understand how these would be used you have to know how a lobster trap works. The traps used nowadays are 4 X 2 and are 2 feet high. They are made of plastic covered wire and have a large brick attached to each end for extra weight. The trap is separated into two compartments. At one end is the ‘funnel’ which joins one compartment to the other. This is made of mesh which is attached to all four sides of the traps and tapers into an O ring at the top of the trap. In the other side of the trap is a steel spindle over which the bag of bait is placed. The lobster smells the bait, crawls up the mesh and falls into the other side of the trap from which it cannot get out. John, his brother Simon and his dad spent four days making the baitboxes. When they were finished they had five hundred of them. This meant that when they set out to check the traps they simply took one box out and put another one in. The boxes also meant they would not lose any bait. If a baiting opens up inside the trap, the lobsters don’t have to enter the trap to get the bait.