Lobster fishing

The west coast is often associated with pleasant things such as the sea, boats and good fish. Fish also includes shellfish, which also includes lobster. Although I grew up on the West Coast and consider myself well versed and experienced in eating seafood, I don't have much experience eating lobster.

Lobster catch among cobs and cuttlefish

One day last fall when the lobster fishing season had started, a good friend of mine needed help lazing his lobster cages. Of course it sounded exciting, I thought, so I immediately agreed to help with this. So, we set off in his little boat from the old jetty, out towards the cobbles at the far end of the archipelago where the lobster cages had been for a few days. Once there, I pulled up the approximately 20 kilo cages, cage after cage. Some had lobsters in their cages, others were empty. It had to be measured and arranged and in the end there was only a few lobsters left in the boat that we could take home. So it wasn't a successful lobster-catching day, but it was all the better for crab. Because there were many crabs that also found their way to the good food that was baited in the cages. So there was also a bunch of crab brought ashore this day.

But, the great thing about our trip was that you got to share the excitement of pulling up these cages and seeing if there was a catch. As well as being out at sea, where you could only think about it now and then. Then everything else on land was blown away. No stressful phone calls or other must-haves.

The ride home went smoothly and we parted ways to get back into the routine of everyday life.

Lobster dinner all natural

A few weeks later and probably several boat trips out to laze their cages, my friend contacted me and my wife to invite us to a lobster dinner. It turned out that he had had better luck with the catch on the later boat trips and that they now had a number of lobsters that needed to be eaten. Once the evening came and our stomachs prepared for dinner, we wandered over to the neighbor, curious about the evening.

I've eaten lobster au gratin and cooked in many ways, but never basically completely natural. I have liked lobster before, but, what a taste journey we got to experience this evening. Being able to eat lobster that was fished out of the sea just a few hours ago, cooked in lightly salted water and with some secret "Bohuslänska spices", was something that had never been experienced before. We then ate the lobster almost completely natural, with a few accessories of a dressing, as well as a spicy mango salsa.

We were taught to find everything edible on a lobster. When I felt ready and thought I had eaten everything edible, they showed me how to find food behind the legs, in the legs and in the shoots. We sat for several hours with this half lobster and were very full. It is clear that the good wine and nice company did their part as well. This was an evening I will soon hide.

So, it is really recommended to get out to sea, pull up lobster cages, cook and then eat your catch. Obviously it's great if there's lobster for everyone, but supplementing with crabs sure works that way, too.

Rules and requirements for lobster fishing

Lobster fishing takes place in the autumn, from the end of September to 30 November. There are a lot of rules around fishing for lobster, which you can read about at The Sea and Water Authority.

Since fishing is carried out so far into the autumn, winter is quickly approaching. You can often see this when you drive around among the small communities in Bohuslän, where the lobsters have been left in the boat or on the jetty. But, it's just charming and Bohuslänsk, I think.

Fishing for lobster and then eating it in the fall is also proof that Bohuslän has quality even outside the hot summer months. So, it is recommended to visit Bohuslän also in autumn, winter and spring, because you often get great experiences even then. Please visit our page with winter pictures of Bohuslän during the cold months. Also, read about Hunnebostrand, where the lobster academy has chosen to locate its seat.

Bp#9