This ‘Lobster King’ was actually caught back in May aboard the Maine lobster boat Big Dipper by Ricky Louis Felice Jr., it didn’t manage to make headlines though until this week when the lobster fisherman uploaded a pic of the 3-foot, 20-pound lobster to his Facebook. Once that pic of the lobster hit The Book all hell broke loose, and every news outlet in the Northeast picked up the story of Ricky Louis Felice Jr’s enormous lobster.
Weighing in at 20-pounds this delicious crustacean would’ve fetched a ridiculous amount of $$$$ on the open market, but that wasn’t the fate of the Lobster King. Recognizing how unique of a lobster he had on his hands Ricky returned the 20-pounder back to the ocean to continue his reign over all the other lobsters that don’t weigh 20-pounds.
Here’s Ricky holding his catch-of-a-lifetime, the photo that has since gone viral:
Dennis Hoey of Maine’s Press Herald has more details on this gigantic lobster:
Felice was working as a deckhand on the Big Dipper, a lobster boat based in Friendship, in late May when the crew hauled up a trap with the behemoth cowering inside.
Though the hardshell lobster was caught more than a month ago, Felice said he decided to post its photograph Monday on Facebook after his friends urged him to.
“He was huddled over in the corner (of the trap), all balled up. Lobsters are very territorial and I don’t think he liked the fact that there were five lobsters inside the trap with him,” Felice said Monday evening. “His whole body was inside the trap. He was the biggest lobster I’ve ever seen in my life.”
The three-man crew of the Big Dipper, which is captained by Isaac Lash of Friendship, each posed for a photograph with the big crustacean before tossing it back into the Gulf of Maine.
“He was a monster. Gladly threw him back with hope of catching him again,” Felice wrote on his Facebook page.
According to Lash, the 43-foot Big Dipper had been fishing in late May in waters south of Monhegan Island when the crew pulled up the trap with the lobster inside. Despite its large size, scientists say lobsters have the ability to cram their bodies into tight spaces.
I have to admit I’m all sorts of jealous that this dude was able to hold such an insanely large lobster. The largest one I’ve ever gotten close to was this one from a seafood market in Chinatown last February. I was there buying lobsters the guy was pulling out 1-pound bugs, I told him I wanted something larger. Then without even batting an eyelash he stuck his hand in the tank and pulled out this ridiculous 15-pounder (I obviously cropped myself out of the photo):
And as awesome as the 20-pound lobster above is, it’s not even close to being the most famous lobster caught this Summer in Maine. Just two weeks ago this 1-IN-50 MILLION LOBSTER was caught, making headlines worldwide.