MLA Jr Harvester Poppy Holden

Poppy Holden, 8, of South Portland, has a student lobster license and ten traps. She also has an able-bodied crew: her sister Banks, 6, her other sister Hadley, 4, and her father, Luke Holden, age 42, founder of Luke’s Lobster. She fishes from the aptly named Sea Sisters, a 16-foot Carolina skiff, and sells her catch at Luke’s Lobster’s Portland Pier, operated by her grandfather Jeff Holden.

Photos courtesy of L. Holden

You can say that lobstering runs in the family like a steady stream.

Poppy said she started lobstering with her dad when she was around two years old. She doesn’t remember much about the early days, other than she took a shine to the lobsters and enjoyed being in the dinghy.

Since then Poppy has learned a good deal. She likes banding lobsters, something a novice might consider a little frightening. “When you know how to hold them it’s not scary,” she said firmly. She has learned to drive the boat but is not yet allowed to do it on her own.

Each day she’s out she looks forward to hauling her traps because there’s usually something unexpected inside. “I like opening the trap and seeing the fish and crabs and other things,” she said. She is not fond, however, of the smell of bait. “Stinky old fish!” Poppy said.

She doesn’t mind working on buoys and gear, in part because she has such colorful traps and buoys. “My traps are purple. And I have teal and purple buoys,” she said. Even the Sea Sisters’ bottom bears the vibrant purple color Poppy loves so well.

The first time Poppy and her young crew went lobstering, they made $120. Her mother, Laisee Holden, thought Poppy would want to go buy some ice cream, given that it was summer, but to her surprise her oldest daughter had grander plans. “She said she wanted to buy a thousand hotels,” Laisee recalled.

Even though her days are not as long as other lobstermen’s, Poppy understands how tough lobstering is. “It is hard work. I get tired at nighttime. But I want to keep on doing it,” she said.