Good news re. lobster poacher

[mike_s]

Here is a legitimate question: If one is fishing and a lobster takes the bait and you reel it in, not knowing its a lobster, what do you do with it? If you're 20 or 30 feet above the water on a pier, do you just toss it back? Is there any way to keep a lobster from taking your bait and getting hooked?

legally, you are supposed to throw anything you catch that is not 'legal' back as soon as you catch it. not keep it in your cooler for a little while to be released later. This includes lobster catch on a line, lobster out of season, undersize lobster, lobster with eggs, any fish that is not in season or does not meet size limits, etc.

yeah, it's not real good to drop a lobster 20-30 feet into the water from a pier, but you're not supposed to keep it longer than necessary. I'd say that you might be safe taking it to the beach to release it, but then its got the surf to contend with. You could always lower it in on a bucket on a rope if that's handy.


how do you keep from catching them? I'd say most of them are snagged or entangledand not actually "hook in mouth". not much you can do either way.

 

[shoupart]

I don't fish very much, but how often do people accidentally catch lobsters on rod and reel? Does this happen frequently? i guess if you had bait laying on the bottom, perhaps going after halibut, it could happen.