Captain John Ready

Captain John Ready

Boat Name: Miss Susan

With a bucket of bait in one hand and fuel in the other, I walk down the rocky beach to my small skiff waiting at the ocean's edge. The boat skims gently through the glassy surface. I am headed for the familiar green and white buoy bobbing in the running tide, which I eagerly grasp. As the trap surfaces, I anxiously wait to see its daily treasure. My hand reaches in the trap between the snapping tails and crushing claws to measure my first lobster. I am in my element!

This scenario started when I was 8 years old, eagerly getting up at 4 a.m. to go lobstering with my Uncle Ted. We fished traps in Casco Bay from Portland Head Light to Two Lights Lighthouse. I am so grateful to him for teaching me not only how to lobster, but sharing with me his love of the lobsterman's life and respect for the ocean.

I lobstered all through high school. While my friends were getting jobs at restaurants or mowing lawns, I was lobstering. While in college, I built lobster traps in my dorm room at Northeastern University. I entered their business plan competition with the idea of "Lobster to Your Door", which not only won me a prize, but helped me start my own business, Ready Seafood.

I feel as excited today when I climb aboard my 40-foot offshore lobster boat Miss Susan, as I did when I started in my 16-foot wooden skiff. Of all my business endeavors, I have never experienced the passion that I feel when I am lobstering.