Maine fisherman launches ‘Catch Your Dinner’ tour

COREA, Maine (WABI) - Four years ago when someone suggested to Capt. Dan Rodgers of Corea that he should start a side business taking folks from away lobstering, he wasn’t sure if it was something people would really want to do.

A commercial fisherman for over 30 years, Rodgers, who owns Bottom Line Fisheries, decided to give it shot. Now, tourists and locals alike climb aboard his 46-foot WesMac all summer long to “catch their own dinner.”

If you’re from away, any tour that includes a boat ride, seals, and Maine’s second tallest lighthouse is bound to be fun. But throw in a chance to haul a lobster trap under the guidance of a real-life commercial fisherman, and the tour becomes more than just a good time on the water.

“Tours are basically set up to teach them the ins and outs of actual lobster fishing,” said Rodgers of Bottom Line Fisheries. “We haul five traps to allow people to do what we’re allowed to have them do with as far as taking lobsters out of the traps, banding them, and get in as much hands on experience as they can get.”

Rodgers’ commercial fishing boat is the perfect classroom for Lobstering 101.

“A lot of people think they know how lobsters are caught, and some do.” Dan Rodgers said. “A lot of them have no idea what it entails. Our conservation level is super high. I really enjoy telling people that.”

Other than maybe becoming a sternman, there might not be a better place to get educated behind the basics of all things lobstering. And, there might not be a better teacher than Rodgers. Put simply, the man’s a natural.

“He’s wonderful,” said Coleen Manley, of North Carolina. “He loves what he does, and you can tell it, so it just makes it so enjoyable for everybody. I just think it’s great when somebody loves what they do,”

“It’s super funny for me to be able to teach someone something because I don’t feel like I can teach my own kids anything,” laughed Rodgers. “But yeah, I just like to talk, so that helps.”

“I was a little intimidated at first with the spikes in the back of the head,” said said Jovin Petritsch of Pennsylvania, whop was getting ready to eat his very first lobster. " One actually poked me and drew a little bit of blood, but come dinnertime, I’m gonna have the last laugh.”

Jumping on a lobster boat and fishing with a commercial lobsterman can be an eye-opening experience for folks from away.

“I think about the little bit that we did with five or six traps, and to think that they’re hauling hundreds in a day is just amazing,” Manley said.

But, according to Manley, it sure does make for a good story when they get home.

“You’re not going to believe what I did with a lobster!”

The “Catch Your Dinner” tour runs until Labor Day.

For more information, visit lobster.tours.

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