CUTLER, Maine – As the 32-foot Young Guns lobster boat made its way back into Cutler Harbor shortly after noon on Aug. 30, the crew made ready to unload their catch under a blue sky. There was barely a ripple in the harbor.

Jordan Drouin, 17, brought Young Guns alongside the float at the Little River Lobster Co. wharf, and he and his stepbrother, Colbath Warner — Maine’s youngest commercial lobster fisherman — busied themselves unloading the morning’s catch. A visiting cousin from out of town had joined them on the boat that day.

“Could have been better,” said Drouin, noting the 200 pound catch of the day.

The teens have grown up in Cutler, a Washington County coastal fishing village noteworthy for Little River Lighthouse on Little River Island. They are the sons and grandsons of fishermen.

Warner, 16, whose distinction as the state’s youngest commercial lobsterman was confirmed by a spokesman for the Department of Marine Resources, first spent time on a boat when he was about age 7 or 8. He recalled that he was probably around 10 when he began lending a hand. The stepbrothers have helped on their grandfather’s boat and also their father’s boat.

The brothers are students at Washington Academy in East Machias; Warner is a junior, and Drouin is a senior. Beginning the season in late spring, the two fish through September, working after school and on weekends. The season will often determine the location of the traps, with lobsters moving closer to shore as the water warms in the spring and summer. During the summer, they normally fish Monday and Tuesday, take off Wednesday, and haul again Thursday and Friday. In the winter, they take their traps and gear out of the water.

They obtained the boat, Young Guns, powered by a John Deere 220 hp diesel engine, in spring 2012 for $64,000. They are the third owners of the boat, built in 2002. They painted the bottom and added a stern table.

Read the full story at the  Bangor Daily News>>