A lifetime harvesting the resources of Great Bay - New Hampshire ...

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I loved to listen to his stories of Great Bay’s past. John was the fertilizer I needed. When I was growing up, it was a neighborhood tradition to see who could construct the best smelt shanty. Those shacks were hauled down to Depot Road in Stratham, N.H. I remember one even had bunks. At that time, Great Bay was the hotbed for winter smelt fishing. The smelt camps in Greenland and Newington were in full operation. Over the years, ice conditions and slow fishing caused the shanty city to move to the Squamscott River. We are seeing a reversal of that trend now, as Great Bay once again boasted some of the best area smelt fishing this past winter. During my teenage years, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department tried to establish a coho salmon fishery in Great Bay. I remember standing on the shores of Moody Point in Newmarket, before the blades of development had transformed the land, and watching those silvery salmon jumping clear out of the water. The end came for many salmon in Wheelwright Creek. I remember being in awe of the size of those red salmon as they spawned and died in such a small brook. ©David O’Hearn photo Author Dave O’Hearn with two “keepah lobstahs.” On the Water It’s hard to be a man of the bay without a boat. So, after much pleading and negotiating, my “better half ” gave in, and I purchased a 17-foot center-console craft in 1990. I soon learned the ins and outs of launching and retrieving my boat at Chapman’s Landing in Stratham. This, in turn, launched a new chapter in my career as a Bayman. Some of my fondest memories are of catching alewives in the headwaters of the Squamscott River. From downtown Exeter, I would motor to Adams Point with a live-well full of those little silver fish. The striper fishing action was hot. I remember using those alewives as bait was like feeding candy to babies! Late summer brings the menhaden or “pogies” into the Great Bay. Menhaden are another favorite food of the striped bass. Last year was very special. I got to share a couple weekends with my son live-lining pogies for striped bass at Adams Point. It was definitely quality time. Having my own boat gave me the ability to explore and harvest the clam flats of Great Bay, something I love because from an early ©nhfg / victor young photo Wildlife Journal • July/August 2009
In longstanding tradition, Baymen meet on the mud flats of Great Bay on a September Saturday for the first day of clamming season. ©David O’Hearn photo An engine chugs across the Stratham-Newfields railroad trestle over the Squamscott River near Great Bay. Previous page and below: Still stunning today, the expansive view of Great Bay from the fire tower in Stratham Hill Park inspired the author as a boy. age, I had acquired a taste for softshell clams. There is a Bayman tradition that continues to this day – all the “old salts” like to meet at the flats on the first day of clamming each September. It is a good place to share a beverage and catch up on each other’s activities. The oyster tongers are there too. If we’re lucky and the water is clear, we can pick a couple gallons of oysters right off the bottom. This is a day I look forward to each year. Lobstering Like any good tree with strong roots and a straight trunk, branches started to appear – my interest in the bay deepened as I discovered new possibilities. Two of my good friends, Joe Daley and Mark Dolloff of Newfields, N.H., were trapping lobster in the Great Bay estuary. After a couple adventures on their boat, I knew this was something I had to try. Who would have thought so far from the ocean we would have American lobster? The nursery of Great Bay plays a special role for the lobster. Each spring, lobsters migrate from the ocean into Great Bay to shed or “molt” their shell. The lobsters come for the mud that dominates the floor of the estuary. After a lobster sheds its shell, it is very vulnerable to predators. Lobsters use holes in the mud to hide in while their new shell hardens. Great Bay is a good place to see the difference between a hard shell (recently arrived from the ocean) and soft shell (new shell hardening) lobster. A hard-shell Great Bay lobster is quite a delicacy. I started with five traps. Those five traps grew to ten, and then to twenty, in the first few years I trapped. I had outgrown the center console and started searching for a genuine lobster boat. In 1997, I purchased a 1972 18-foot Norton, originally made in Hampton, N.H. I equipped it with a 75-horsepower Yamaha. Then things came full circle – a boat slip became available on the Squamscott River. The USS Coalman had found a new home. ©David O’Hearn photo Call of the Bay It is hard to describe the feeling I get each time I pass under the Stratham-Newfields trestle into Great Bay. The first thing to come into view is Mount Agamenticus in York, Maine. As I bear left in the channel along Black Bank, the Labonte Farm and the mouth of the Lamprey River come into view. When I reach the point where the Squamscott and Lamprey rivers converge into Great Bay, I can see the Stratham Hill tower. It makes me chuckle, thinking there may be a young boy or girl at that very moment, standing July/August 2009 • Wildlife Journal
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A lifetime harvesting the resources of Great Bay - New Hampshire ...

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