Any tips for lobster hunting??

[Robert Phillips]

The slow hand, does not the lobster grab!
Those little buggers move quick and you have to grab them almost before you can think about it.
If you see garibaldis, there are usually lobsters near. Look for the big orange fish.
A team is also a good way to get them. If the hole has a back door, you can chase them out one side while your buddy grabs. Take off a fin if you can without losing it, and chase 'em out.
Be carefull grabbing a lobster by the tail, you can get a major cut when they flap thier tails. Those spines are razor sharp. Good thick gloves are the way to go.


Here's a pic of some of the bugs we got on opening night.

 

[UmiDiver]

Hi all

Thanks for all the tips and info, again!

TJ, thank you for sharing your technique here. I really appreciated that. I didn't even think about head lights. My buddy and I are completely new to this, and we are planning to go down there and see what happens. I guess that wouldn't have worked well..

So, I guess I'd better get really thick gloves. All I have right now is 5mm gloves here.... I will pratice catching tech with my cat from above before I go . (since he tends to move backwards when I want to catch him)

Does everybody here wear dry suit or wet suit??? I am going on Nov 8th.. I hope it is not too cold with wet suit...

Thanks.

 

[RichLockyer]

UmiDiver once bubbled...
Does everybody here wear dry suit or wet suit??? I am going on Nov 8th.. I hope it is not too cold with wet suit...

I dive dry, but that could be part of the reason I have trouble catching limits... trying to be careful and not damage the suit by getting it punctured by an urchin or torn on a rock.

I think the perfect bug suit in SoCal would be a 5mm hooded vest under a 5mm full suit with Deep Sea kevlar gloves... and don't worry about it if it starts to get thrashed.

Think of it as your "working under the car" suit.

 

[Robert Phillips]

5mm gloves are plenty thick, but they should have some kind of coating, like kevlar on the palms and fingers. I have Akona 5mm kevlars and they work great.
The water has been really warm lately so a wetsuit is just fine for SO. Cal. in November.
Good luck

 

[Jambi]

I was told by some one to use a red filter on my light because bugs cannot see it. Does this have any truth?

Jambi

 

[SoCalAJ]

Tj and I are consitently pulling out bugs, exactly by the tactics tj just said, read what he wrote and follow it exactly and you will get bugs.
The key to bug hunting is to cover as much ground as possible and efficiently scan the area while you swim over it. Anybody can grab a bug, thats the easy part. Its all about getting the "eye" and knowing where to find them.

SoCal AJ

 

[UmiDiver]

You guys are teasing me with all these pics of lobsters... yum yum
I hope I can get at least one... This will be my first try, so I'd be happy if I can get one...

I decided to go with my wet suit since i don't want to get a puncture on my new dry suit

 

[ChrisM]

TJ< very enjoyable read! Felt like I was right there with you

psst - there's a 6 pounder in about 15 feet right off of Leo. My buddy would have taken it if he didn't have last week's 8 pounder in the freezer already

 

[DFC5343]

and the winner is?!

 

[ifukuda]

Lobster catching tactics which have worked for me:

- I primarily dive for lobsters at night. That's when they come out of their dens to feed. It's much easier to grab a lobster out in the open than pulling one out from its den.

- I try to cover as much terrain as possible during the dive, rather than staying in 1 spot.

-When there is even 1 small bug, I carefully scan the area. Odds are, there are more.

- It's important to develop an eye so you can tell a legal sized lobster from apart from an undersized one. Don't waste your time (and air) chasing after undersized lobsters.

- Use a good light...I use a UK LC100. This way I'm able stay about 2m off the bottom and sweep a wide area with the light.

- I attach my light to the BC with a coiled lanyered.

- I put my guage on the light.

- When I spot a lobster, I 'm careful not to shine the light directly at the lobster and scare it away. I'll keep the lobster at the edge of the beam and decent over it. As I approach it, I hold the light away from my body (and the hand I'm going to grab the bug with), and begin to position my open hand above and behind the lobster. I'll hover about 2ft over the lobster and hold position (in a slightly head down position). At this point, the lobster is usually completely focused on the light (and oblivious to the 5'10" diver holding the light), and will slowly back away from the light. At this point it's pretty easy to manuever my open hand within striking range (9" ~ 12"). Then SLAM!

- Once I grab the lobster, I measure it (easy, if the guage is on the light), drop the light (not a problem if your light is attached to the BC), bag the lobster, pull up on the lanyared coil to recover light.

** Actually, catching a lobster is pretty easy. The hard part is finding legal sized ones. On opening night, I'd measured over 15 lobsters, and i was only able to bag 3.