Stupid newbie question.

[Handymansd]

Answer for Question #2

When bugging, most any kind of bait will work... to an extent... There are really only two criteria you need to have:

1) The smell... Lobsters like to "smell" their food and that is what attracts them into your nets... I have experimented with many different baits and the more oil and "fluids" that bait emanates the better. I like to use oily fish like mackerel, salmon, and barracuda left over from earlier in the year.
2) The second goal is to keep the lobsters in your net once they arrive there, awaiting your "pull". Lobsters are notoriously non-picky eaters... a day old fish or a year old chicken... it does not seem to matter to them. I consistently pull up bugs that have to be pried off the bait cage as they were not done eating yet...

So if you can make a year old chicken smell good to them then it might just work but I would recommend just catching a bunch of mackerel before it gets dark and stuffing your cages til it is leaking out the sides, take as many macs as you can carry and before you get finished cleaning up after hooping re stuff your cages and throw them into the fish freezer for the next trip, then all you do is zip tie them to your net bottom and toss the net! I also have a friend that runs a meat dept. at a local grocery store and he kicks me down all of his dated salmon which works very well too.

That is my method and it seems to work pretty well for me.