$15,000 Florida Lobster Challenge

[Tom Winters]

The not doing planned decompression dives kinda knocks me out.
Also, the thing in the rules about lobster autopsies - I don't want CSI-Jupiter kicking my door in at 5am and dragging me out of bed to answer questions about putting a weight belt and wet t-shirt on a 3-pound lobster.

 

[Johnoly]

I don't want CSI-Jupiter kicking my door in at 5am and dragging me out of bed to answer questions about putting a weight belt and wet t-shirt on a 3-pound lobster.

Cleaning off the monitor spit now..


I'm guessing no matter how much lipstick I put on the fat pig, it still won't cover up the freezer burn marks.

I'm more worried about the Jacksonville boys who actually do have access to potential 16 pounders.

 

[Scott L]

The not doing planned decompression dives kinda knocks me out.
Also, the thing in the rules about lobster autopsies - I don't want CSI-Jupiter kicking my door in at 5am and dragging me out of bed to answer questions about putting a weight belt and wet t-shirt on a 3-pound lobster.

What kind of profiles are you diving in the pursuit of lobsters? I may want to tag along one day as a paying guest...

 

[Rhone Man]

There was a DAN article a couple of months back pointing out the disproportionate number of diving accidents during the FL "mini season". Having done a few stupid things myself catching bugs before, it didn't come as a huge surprise to me.

Edit: sorry, that was a very indirect reply to Valhalla's post about profiles.

 

[Scott L]

There was a DAN article a couple of months back pointing out the disproportionate number of diving accidents during the FL "mini season". Having done a few stupid things myself catching bugs before, it didn't come as a huge surprise to me.

Edit: sorry, that was a very indirect reply to Valhalla's post about profiles.

Good point and well taken. I got narc'd on the fist day of mini season this year at depth and it is a concern and why I will be pursuing a trimix cert of one sort or another soon...

 

[drbill]

Wouldn't we all be amazed if we knew how much lobster weighed back when Columbus or Ponce de Leon first visited that region.

Here on the West (er, Left) Coast, we try to encourage that people take pictures of large lobster they catch and then release them since they are responsible for the greatest per individual reproductive capacity. I didn't read the tournament rules for this one, but hope after catching and weighing them, the big ones (especially females) are released to serve as breeding stock.

 

[Scott L]

Wouldn't we all be amazed if we knew how much lobster weighed back when Columbus or Ponce de Leon first visited that region.

Here on the West (er, Left) Coast, we try to encourage that people take pictures of large lobster they catch and then release them since they are responsible for the greatest per individual reproductive capacity. I didn't read the tournament rules for this one, but hope after catching and weighing them, the big ones (especially females) are released to serve as breeding stock.

An excellent point especially considering that larger lobsters are not nearly as desirable from a culinary standpoint. Perhaps the lobster are bigger near the St Lucie nuclear facility just north of here. LOL. Around 6 years ago a diver got sucked in one of its intake pipes off-shore if you can imagine that horror. It was a happy ending by the way...

 

[Orlando Eric]

Largest I have ever personally seen was 13 lbs and some ounces. Often during the miniseason contest 9 lbs are weighed in. The huge ones are not as common but there is one every year taking top prize. We have a commercial fishing fleet here with third Generation Captains. I have seen several five to six pounders way back in the reef and could not wrangle them but did get a fiver last year however he left his legs under the ledge. The guys tell me the over ten pounders are caught in less than 20'of water. They wrangled them out and go UCF on them. Once the lobster wraps his legs around (completly) they settle down and you take them to the boat crew for help. They dive twenty feet using a boat at idle and a towed sled see good spot let go and investigate. They do this all day. Do not see a reason for no Deco dives if trained but it is not a issue as they big ones are shallow.


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[Scott L]

Largest I have ever personally seen was 13 lbs and some ounces. Often during the miniseason contest 9 lbs are weighed in. The huge ones are not as common but there is one every year taking top prize. We have a commercial fishing fleet here with third Generation Captains. I have seen several five to six pounders way back in the reef and could not wrangle them but did get a fiver last year however he left his legs under the ledge. The guys tell me the over ten pounders are caught in less than 20'of water. They wrangled them out and go UCF on them. Once the lobster wraps his legs around (completly) they settle down and you take them to the boat crew for help. They dive twenty feet using a boat at idle and a towed sled see good spot let go and investigate. They do this all day. Do not see a reason for no Deco dives if trained but it is not a issue as they big ones are shallow.


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I just don't hear of similar sized lobters being taken south of the St Lucie Inlet. Your thoughts?

 

[Tom Winters]

Most of the lobsters taken around here come out of the shallows - during mini-season, boats of 4 were limiting out with 48 bugs in no more than 25'. I can't use that many lobsters, plus I get bored diving shallow so I don't bother.
I could care less if I get any lobster on a dive - I just need one for my cat, but I like depths of 75' to 145' because it helps squeeze me back together. During the colder months, that first giant total body squeeze in the drysuit while gliding to the bottom is nirvana. Sheer bliss.
For this contest, I couldn't see too many people heading south from Jupiter. That big one is up north.
Many years ago, I was talking with an old retired UDT who related that when he was diving off Vieques and Culebra Islands off Puerto Rico in the early '60's, some of the frogs came upon a giant lobster.
They looked at it, and then shot it. No measurements, but the guy said that the body came up to past mid-thigh from the ground. They speared it because none of the guys wanted to even try grabbing it. Plus I guess they were hungry.