Lobster Fishing with Crate to Plate

Want to fish with a real Maine lobsterman? Go sailing with Captain Dan on the Fisher Girl and learn the trade that has made Maine famous!

Sailors will live the true fishing experience as they navigate the rocky coast picking up traps. Watch eagles sunbathing on Flat Island while learning to haul traps and pack bait bags. Discover a harem of seals laying on a rocky key while emptying traps and banding lobsters.

Sailors will experience the beauty of ocean life while becoming an expert on all things “lobst-ah”. Learn how to correctly pick up a lobster, the difference between a hard and soft shell, or even how to “V-notch” a hen. Guests will practice the same environmentally conscious lobster procedures that have been a part of Maine life for over 100 years.

So join Crate to Plate and Captain Dan on a fishing adventure and discover Maine’s lobster in a whole new way!

For more information on how to schedule a tour with Captain Dan, please visit the Crate to Plate website.

Meet Captain Dan!

Crate to Plate may have begun in November 2009, but Captain Dan’s relationship with our lobster friend actually began in 1994.

A long time ocean lover, Captain Dan has been sailing since 1979. After graduating from college, Dan moved to Florida to start work in the corporate world. Six years later, Dan got his Captain’s license and began sailing around the world delivering and servicing yachts.

On a routine sail to deliver a boat, Captain Dan ended in up in Maine. Upon seeing the state’s beauty and possibilities, he decided to stay in Vacationland to discover the Midcoast’s rocky beaches, island speckled coast line, and its most famous export—lobster.

Deciding it was time for a career change; Captain Dan embraced his new state’s specialty and began lobster fishing in 1994. A self-taught fisherman, Captain Dan steadily grew his business to include over 800 traps located around the Northport coast.

Today Crate to Plate offers customers a full lobster experience including boat tours for those who would like to learn Captain Dan’s famous trade or the harvest of one of his many traps. Check out the Crate to Plate site for more information on Captain Dan and his lobster friends!

Lobster Roll Rumble – Maine Results

The Camden Harbour Inn recently participated in the Lobster Roll Rumble in NYC. Executive Chef Geoffroy Deconinck (nominated for Food & Wine's "People's Best New Chef Award 2011) developed an inventive, but true to Maine tradition, simple recipe that allowed the lobster to be the focal point of the Inn’s entry. He chose lobster from Crate to Plate to ensure the freshest catch.

Prestigious judges, including Martha Stewart and Kyle Maclachlan sampled 18 entries. Camden Harbor Inn placed second with 58 of 60 points. The third place entry had a total 40 points. Crate to Plate’s lobster was voted best tasting lobster.

We are also glad that the judges support our belief that lobster pulled from the waters of Midcoast Maine are the best; Lobster served at the peak of freshness yields the best results; Recipes that are interesting but that allow the quality and freshness of the meat to shine are true to food harvested at their peak from prime sources.

We are proud to have partnered with Camden Harbor Inn and Chef Geoffrey at this event. We encourage you to stop at Natalie’s the Inn’s restaurant and sample a winning lobster roll and lobster harvested the same day by Crate to Plate.

Photo by JosephCorradoPhotography

A New England Christmas

The holidays have, for some, become a political statement, a religious affront or a cultural slight. There are others who see the end of the year as the last celebration of the year; the last fling before the hard months of hunkering down for three months of cold, dark and waiting.

In large cities, like New York, Chicago and Miami, secular Christmas is about retail therapy, too much glitz and lots of faux glam. In New England holiday decorations are traditionally simple. It is the norm to see every window graced with a simple green wreath and a single candlelight that glows in the night. New England homes, for the most part, (yes there are tasteless pockets of blow up Santas and enough lights to heat Croatia) have been decorated in this simple style for generations.

Midcoast and Down East Maine add one element unique to the people who live and work here. Our town Christmas trees are built from lobster traps, festooned with fresh greens and hung with the buoys, each unique, of local fishermen. The tree topper, a lobster sculpture, shines over the harbors that are fished throughout the year and the seas that brought home too many for the last time.

The decorations don’t go up until Thanksgiving weekend. What a concept! We avoid the disconnect apparent in stores when Christmas decorations appear before Halloween. Thanksgiving Friday the children line the harbors to see Santa arrive by boat. As dusk falls scarves are rewound for warmth and the tree is lit. It is a moment reminiscent of Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus. Marvel and delight permeates town as the tree a monument to community, the celebration of the holidays, Yankee ingenuity and the fishermen who risk their lives every year to bring lobster to tables across the county radiates through the night. It is a beacon of hope, wonder and respect.

Whatever your feelings about the holidays step away from the noise of it for a moment and celebrate it in a way that is true to your heart. It doesn’t have to be the inundation of commercials or painful trips to malls. Find someplace that celebrates the season with simplicity and honors its community. The simplicity is peaceful and true.

Lobstering with Captain Dan

We have had an unbelievable summer. The weather has been consistently sunny and in the 80’s since May. It’s been so good we didn’t have our normal fifth season, mud, this year. Whether it has been the long hot days, the calm seas or a secret of Mother Nature our catch has been very good. We normally throw back as many as we keep. Not this year; for the most part there were consistent catches of 5 – 6 lobsters in each trap, most averaging 1 ¼ to 1 ½ lbs per lobster. Now we did see a brief slow down with the approach of hurricanes Earl and Igor. But the threats were more than the impact and the lobsters are returning.

It is important to note at Crate to Plate your catch is lobsters not pounds. A half season harvest of 20 – 30 lobsters is 30 to 45 pounds. That is a party. So come see us. Fall may be upon us, but it is still a great time to put on your boots, roll up your sleeves and join Captain Dan on the Fisher Girl. There is nothing like the first hand experience of hauling up a trap. Come see how lobster are caught and more importantly sustained.

Image by Annie Higbee of imagewright, on behalf of Meandering Maine.

Lobster in Maine is Great!

You may have heard a lot of negative press out of Massachusetts regarding this year’s catch but that is in Massachusetts. Maine harvests 80% of the annual lobster harvest and not because we are lucky or that Maine is a better habitat for lobster. It is because Maine lobstermen have for generations fished with an eye to the future. They never keep below weight, female with eggs or over large species because canny frugal Mainers know that what isn’t protected today won’t be available tomorrow. Lobstering is not sport it is a way of life that father’s have taught sons (and now daughters) since the first settlement. For many it is the desired livelihood of the future. To ensure that future every fisherman on the water in Maine is a conservationist.

Teach a Child to Eat a Lobster…

We live in an age where we believe children will only eat white food. Not just white food, but white food with no flavor. What was the last white food you saw growing in nature? There are a few that beneath their skin have white hearts but they are not foods served to children. We imagine what a child will or will not eat. The decisions made on his behalf will either stifle or educate his palate. As these children mature they no longer know if the memories and likes or dislikes they have are their own or if they are remnants of what they have been taught.

Even if parents are adventuresome eaters they often don’t make the leap to allow their children to try new flavors and textures. Our food choices for our children are sometimes based on perceptions rather than reality. Take lobster as an example. We assume they will be afraid of the way it looks. In most cases not true. Children have imagination and are fascinated by the prehistoric nature of lobster. They see a compatriot of dinosaurs and other creatures from story books. They view them with a mix of horror and thrill. It is a sea creature that the child can feel an authority over.

Every year at the Lobster Festival in Rockland, six to ten year olds compete to see who can eat the most lobster. They attack the shells like young warriors and eat the meat with gusto. They leave the stage with a sense of victory over nature and with the thrill of shocking the audience with their own audacity. They know there are adults in the crowd who view their success with wonder. They hear the whispers, “Can you imagine a child that eats lobster?”

Yes, imagine. A child will eat lobster, not only eat it but enjoy it.

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