About five miles out from shore, Brian Matias is in search of a relic from Long Island Sound’s once-vibrant lobster fishery along the muddy bottom.
His boat, the Golfino — “dolphin,” in his family’s native Portuguese — motors along near a submerged reef that he says was once frequented by lobstermen working out of Bridgeport. Beneath the waves, a nearly quarter-mile-long line attached to a series of grappling hooks is being dragged along the mud in search of today’s catch.