How to Find and Use Old Lobster Traps in New England

If you have ever been cruising along a craggy New England coast line or perusing some maritime-themed antique shop, you have probably come across an old lobster trap. These things are eccentric works of art in themselves, and used to be built mostly be the fisherman themselves. They are often made out of smooth, lighter wood and shaped into a long, rectangular, and latticed cabin. The interiors are a series of nets made out of thick fisherman’s chord in which you can find all sort of accidental fragments from the ocean floor. You might even find some crustacean who never found the exit. Here are some tips on where to find these treasures and how you can put them to use.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Automobile
• Sandals
• Water

1. Because coast lines are some of the most heavily visited and traveled areas--especially in New England where the beaches are few and far between the jagged rocks--the first thing you have to know about lobster trap hunting is that it can take some time and effort. This means sometimes driving past typical beach fronts to more residential or outlying tidal areas. Be careful though, as you don’t want to be caught trespassing.
2. Sitting on the bottom of the ocean and being subject to the cold, tumultuous waters of the Atlantic, these traps take a lot of abuse. The ones that wash up on the beach are probably the traps that were passed over or lost by a fisherman on his daily route, so they have been soaking for months or maybe even years. This means that the traps that make it all the way to the beach or tidal pools are probably in a battered state. If you find a piece of drift wood or netting that looks like a part of an old trap, keep looking, because the rest of it might not be far off. Finding a whole, in-tact trap is pretty rare, so consider yourself lucky if you do. Of course, there is always reconstruction.
3. So once you have this old lobster trap, what are you going to do with it? Well, many people just set them on a mantle or hang them on a wall as a decorative objects unto themselves. Some others add nautical-themed embellishments to the wood. Be careful when putting nails into this old drift wood though, as it is very fragile from all the soaking and drying it has done. If you ended up with just fragments of a trap, these can be used separately as additions to other sculptural or mixed-media projects.
4. One of the coolest lobster traps I have ever seen was converted into a coffee table. What they did was reinforce the joints of the trap and cut a custom piece of glass to lie over the top. When they were finished, you could see down into the netting and alls its miscellaneous catches (some natural, some placed). Cutting glass can be expensive though, so you might try visiting a local thrift shop and using a piece of glass that has been already cut for another table. If the glass is heavy enough, it will sit over the top of the lobster trap without issue.