The basic lobster pot is divided by twine netting into two chambers: the kitchen and the parlor. Leading into the kitchen from the outside of the pot is a conical tunnel of netting called the head.
Inside the kitchen hangs a bait bag filled with an aromatic blend of fish heads and carcasses, although cowhide has proven itself an effective lure as well. In fact, cowhide is often favored these days because a strip can last for two to three weeks.

The lobster is attracted to the 
bait and crawls up the netting backwards and tumbles into the kitchen, 
a maneuver I myself have performed on occasion, late at night in search of 
a pork chop.
Theoretically, the lobster could swim back out the way it came in; however, instinctively, it likes to keep its feet on the ground, so instead it crawls back up another tunnel of 
netting called the inner eye and 
tumbles into the parlor. Larger 
traps may actually have two parlors.  
Once in the parlor, there’s no 
escape, unless the lobster is undersized, in which case it can leave through a small escape vent.

There is, however, another exit called the ghost panel that can be 
used in the event the trap becomes separated from the line or warp 
connecting it to the buoy on the 
surface. A pot separated in such a fashion is said to be ghost fishing. 
In order to prevent the lobsters 
caught in such a trap from eventually perishing, this ghost panel is held in place with biodegradable hog rings that deteriorate over time, thus opening the door and allowing any trapped lobsters or fish to escape. These rings are aptly referred to as ghostbusters.

Ray Gale, a lobsterman from 
West Tisbury, says that many of the old-timers believe that pots made from wooden slats probably fish a 
little better than newer ones made from steel wire or plastic, but wooden pots are rarely, if ever, used today 
for anything other than coffee tables. 
The problem with wooden pots, 
Ray explains, is that they are more 
expensive, they are heavy, especially when waterlogged, and they are 
susceptible to worms.

Ray is old-school: he assembles 
his traps himself and ties all the 
twine netting by hand, a process 
that can take between two to three hours per trap. But Ray is clearly the exception. Most lobstermen today 
buy pots that are for the most part preassembled.