First lobster attempt tomorrow.

[Nathan Doty]

Never been before. My daughter and I are doing day 1 of the Florida mini season. Bag limit is 12 bugs per person, so a max of 24 between us.

So who wants to place odds?

 

[happy-diver]

Lobster fever

 

[AfterDark]

So how'd ya'll do? Did you hit your mark of 24?

Here in little RI we have lobster season year round. A license, light and bag is needed. After sunset when the beauties come out to feed we can grab up to 8 per day that measure 3+"; not sure what the length is these days, from the eye socket to the end of the shell, the tail isn't measured. Females with a notch in the tail and egg bearing females are not to be taken. The notch IDs the bug as a female old enough to bear eggs. The bonus is RI bugs have claws too with tasty meat inside.

In sept I don't take bugs they are molting during that time and have very soft shells. They mostly hide during that process anyway.

 

[Bubblesong]

Do you have secret lobster hunting spots? My favorite is Wegman’s Cove, followed by Stop&Shop Beach. I catch them already cooked!

 

[AfterDark]

Do you have secret lobster hunting spots? My favorite is Wegman’s Cove, followed by Stop&Shop Beach. I catch them already cooked!

Who me? Secret? Well there is one place that is a no miss; a diver will come out with at least enough to enjoy a meal if not the limit of eight. It's no secret the site is a bug haven, however not many divers are willing to dive there because it is a lot of work and fairly dangerous due to strong current and large, very large boat traffic. I've made hundreds of successful dives there without issue and have always been rewarded with bugs. The RI DEM is aware that some crazy diver(s) go there because they monitor it or did. We / I would be "interviewed" by DEM enforcement quite often when it was a regular dive. Where is it? It's a secret.

I really wouldn't want to be the source of someone not suited to dive there trying and having it end badly. I caution divers on SB about diving Beavertail Point this site has more hazards.

Where's the OP? How'd ya do? Your thread is being hijacked by damned Yankees!

 

[happy-diver]

Missing diver found dead during Florida lobster mini season

 

[Nathan Doty]

Where to begin... I've been hunting my entire life. I can line up on the biggest deer you ever seen and drop it with a single shot from 700 yards. I can pop an elk at 50 yards. Never break a sweat. Coyote at full sprint, quartering away at a 1/4 mile? Dead dog. I have a 10 foot gator on on my wall, took him live with a fishing pole. And scuba is just relaxing to me.

So you can take it to the bank when I say that when I go after a lobster... I'm sucking air like im finishing a 5 mile sprint...

Anyway dive 1, poor viz, mild current, peek under a rock and found a good sized lobster. I tried stick and net. It's having nothing to do with it. Total fail. But I can work it around with the stick and im a borderline ninja so I gave up the net and just grabbed it. It was big, angry, and carrying eggs. So I catch my first lobster, but I'm guessing I can't count it.

A few minutes later the dm catches my eye, pointing under a rock, time for round 2. Back to the stick and the net, fail again. I'm excited, lacking patience, and give up the net sooner than last time. A little stick work and #2 in my hand. It's just as big and just as eggy.

Seriously I thought net was easy and hands hard...

A little while later, we're low on air and up we go. Everyone on the boat was skunked, 0 attempted, female or smalls.

Dive 2, stormy, even worse viz, heavy current. We dive, find our first 2 asap, I don't even bother with net. But both feel too small so released. Im working too hard, breathing way too hard. I think the viz, being in a tight canyon, and exertion is starting to trigger some claustrophobia tbh. I signal up and we ascend to 30 for a couple minutes, I catch my breath and down we go again, but we get blown off the reef. The current is not being nice and it's just work. Before toon long there's not enough air to get where we need to be and actually go after something if we found it. Viz is too poor to sightsee, so I called the dive.

Several people caught that trip, but barely legal, 2 or 3 at best.

So dive 1 was good, caught every lobster I saw by hand. Dive 2 wasnt good. Im not sure how to score since I brought home 0 bugs, but caught some the hard way

 

[DBPacific]

Good luck here on out! I don't know how the Florida lobsters are but the Maine ones can pinch pretty badly. Tip: if you rustle your fingers in front of their shelter (not too close to their face), lobsters tend to get curious and come out a bit to investigate

 

[johndiver999]

You did better than I would have predicted. It is really important that "hunters" learn to manage their exertion level, their adrenaline and their breathing rate. It is so easy to get focused and mad and determined and to have your air consumption go up 2 or 3 fold and quickly run into a problem.

Catching lobsters, especially in a current, is not as easy as it might appear. It takes a gentle touch and quick reflexes and generally not too much brute force. It takes longer to learn to catch lobsters (well) than it does to learn how to scuba dive - I have no doubt about that.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Try it in California. You can't use a stick or net here, only hands.