Lobstah

From the April 17, 1987 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:

A monster lobster was landed this week by the 75-foot fishing boat Unicorn out of Menemsha. Capt. Gregory Mayhew and his mate Dominique Penicaud came ashore Monday with a 17-pound male lobster caught as a bycatch while dragging for flounder during a five-day deep sea fishing trip.

Captain Mayhew said it was the largest lobster he’d ever caught while fishing. After checking with his brother, Jonathan, they both confirmed that it was a record for the Mayhew brothers. Both are fishermen.

The lobster’s overall length is 20 inches. Its largest claw is a foot long.

Captain Mayhew said the lobster was pulled from a pile of fish caught in the vessel’s net 100 miles southeast of the Vineyard on Saturday. “We were by Hydrographer Canyon in 80 fathoms [approximately 480 feet] of water, dragging for fluke,” he said.

“It was a real surprise,” the captain said. After doing a tow, the net was brought ab oard in the regular manner and the cod end (which contains all the fish caught) was opened. All the fish fell on the deck, and at first only the claw of the big crustacean was seen above the mass of varying sea creatures. Mate Penicaud of Vineyard Haven was the first to see the lobster, which was uncovered as the men cleared away the good from the unwanted fish.

“We put him aside so he could watch as we picked through the rest of the fish,” Captain Mayhew said.

Greg Mayhew does not usually fish for lobsters. That aspect of the business is better conducted by his brother Jonathan, who goes offshore lobstering in the 53-foot steel-hulled Quitsa Strider.

But as Capt. Jonathan Mayhew admitted, “a lobster that big wouldn’t fit into a lobster pot.”

The boat came back on Monday and the lobster was sold to Louis S. Larsen Jr. of the Net Result fish market in Vineyard Haven.

Mr. Larsen said he will sell the lobster for $100, figuring that at $25 a pound for lobster meat, there was at least four pounds of lobster meat within the shell. The customer’s only problem will be finding a large enough pot to cook it in.

Mike Syslo, director of the Massachusetts Lobster Hatchery in Oak Bluffs, is used to getting calls from up and down the coast — fishermen and customers wanting to know how hold a lobster is. “I get a dozen calls a year,” he said. “It is the most often asked question.”

Without seeing the Mayhew lobster, Mr. Syslo said he could estimate the lobster’s age at 25 years. “You can’t accurately age them no matter what their size. Everytime a lobster grows it molts its old and since there is no bony material passed on you cannot age it. We can only ballpark.

“It takes seven years for a lobster to reach the legal carapace length of 3 3/16 inches in New England waters. We can extrapolate on a graph how much they will gain with each year. Offshore is different from inshore.”

After being told that the Mayhew lobster, a male, had an eight-inch carapace, Mr. Syslo made his 25-year estimate.

Most lobsters are caught as soon as they reach legal length in inshore waters, Mr. Syslo said, but out in deeper water, a few lobsters can get away without ever encountering either net or lobster pot. “A lot of these big lobsters are too big to get caught inside of a trap. They can only get caught in a fishing net.”

Mr. Syslo described the ocean bottom where this lobster comes from as sandy and rocky, “In submarine canyons it gets quite deep.”

Because of the lobster’s size, Mr. Larsen had to use two rubber bands keep its claws closed while it sat in his tank with all the smaller lobsters.

In addition to the large lobster, Capt. Gregory Mayhew caught two strange fish on his recent outing, one looking like a trumpetfish and another like a large shrimp. “I froze them and I’m taking them over to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to find out what they are,” he said.

Of the catch, Captain Mayhew said: “This is nice. It breaks up the monotony.”

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Tisbury Great Pond was closed last Saturday to West Tisbury and Chilmark oystering as a result of the excessive rains.

Ray Houle, West Tisbury shellfish constable, said: “It was because of the high water and low salinity.”

On Wednesday a crew opened the pond to the sea. Frederick Littleton, shellfish constable for Chilmark, said he’d never seen the pond so high. Prior to opening the pond, Mr. Littleton said, the parking lot at the pond was underwater.

Both shellfish constables emphasized that the step was taken conservatively, and was unrelated to state closures that have taken place in the warmer seasons. No pollution had been detected.

Mr. Littleton said: “It is only temporary, until the pond cleans itself out. With all the rain and subsequent runoff, the rain had washed all the farmer’s field.”

He said both towns have turned out a quality product. Edgartown fishermen are still working their pond. Edgartown Great Pond was opened more than a week ago to the sea.

 

Compiled by Hilary Wallcox

library@vineyardgazette.com

This article appears in April 17, 2026.