Florida Mini Season

[Padipro]

Florida mini Lobster season is the 24th and 25th of July, that's next week. Is anyone planning a trip to South Florida?

 

[pchelp]

Nope, but planning on going out in the gulf from St. Pete on Wed., dive buddies have been scouting spots - Only 1 week to go...

 

[MSP Rescue Diver]

Can't wait. We've got a boat rented and ready to go next Wednesday.

This will be my first time out, and I'm looking forward to it.

However as my wife says, this will be the most expensive lobster we've ever had.

 

[Padipro]

It's expensive but when you come home with 6 or 8 lobster and compare that with what it would cost you in a restaurant it's not bad, and she'll love the lobster dinner.:mean:

What boat are you going out on.

 

[MSP Rescue Diver]

Originally posted by Padipro
What boat are you going out on.

We've chartered the Safari at Atlantic Blvd behind Lighthouse Dive. Ten of us on a boat that takes twenty so we'll have plenty of room.

 

[Padipro]

Well, my buddy Jim and I came back with 3 each. Not many but we had a good day diving and you know what they say about a good day diving.

Regular season opens soon so we've got plenty of time to get more.

Scott

 

[MSP Rescue Diver]

Ended up being eight of us on the boat, which was fine as it wasn't as big as I had been lead to believe. Final tally was 15 lobsters. I personally didn't catch any. I lost my snare over the side on the way to the first dive site - my own fault. ;-0 So I was relegated to catch bag and dive flag duty, but I were given a share of the catch.

But the worst part was the boat got nailed for having an egg bearing female on board! Don't know that happened - everyone was very careful about checking size and for females - we let almost as many go as we caught. The guys I dove with have been doing this for years and made a point of showing me how to look for eggs and how to measure. But this one didn't have a full bright orange egg case on the tail like the others we saw, and you had to lay the tail flat out to see the remanents of a very few eggs tucked up under the flukes (?) at the very end. Even the captain and the divemaster missed it and they checked every lobster that was brought on board.

Needless to say, the captain was pissed as he was the one cited since no one came forward to say they caught it. No one really knew who did catch it. But we all pitched in and covered the fine for him.

All in all a fun day, though fairly expensive.

 

[WreckWriter]

Originally posted by FLL Diver
But this one didn't have a full bright orange egg case on the tail like the others we saw, and you had to lay the tail flat out to see the remanents of a very few eggs tucked up under the flukes (?) at the very end.

That's what happens when a diver "strips" the bug. When he caught it the eggs were as usual, he used his hand to scrape them off. You never get them all. Likely he won't admit it but I bet that's what happened.

Tom

 

[MSP Rescue Diver]

Originally posted by WreckWriter


That's what happens when a diver "strips" the bug. When he caught it the eggs were as usual, he used his hand to scrape them off. You never get them all. Likely he won't admit it but I bet that's what happened.

Tom

Unfortunately you may be right. After speaking to other folks about this incident, I was told that any lobster with a "tar spot" should be discarded. That dark spot means a lobster just dropped, or is about to drop eggs.

Marc

 

[Wendy]

I was told that the Tar spot on the underside of the lobster means that it has been fertilized by the male.