how did california lobster opener go?

[MDTzak]

i had an ok two dives(santa barbara) for the opening night of the 2006 california lobster season. me and my buddy each got one bug while flying in the surge and finding pretty good vis out of the surf zone. how did you guys do? any stories?

MDT

 

[seansrs36]

We were out on the BottomScratcher. We went to Catalina area. First dive I saw maybe one or two lobsters. When we came back to the boat most people had struck out. A buddy of mine that I was not diving with got 4 on the first dive and they were good size too. 2nd dive saw one in the Kelp. Bugger was undersize. I think out of 24 divers on the Bottomscrathcer only around 6 divers caught bugs. Not a big night for a lot of bug hunters. Anyone else have any reports?

 

[PhotoTJ]

I got six, between 2 and 4 lbs. Tasty!!!!

 

[mntdiver]

Limited in two dives. The largest was 8 lbs 14 oz. I saw one that was probably better than 18 or 20 lbs. No joke, it was huge to the point of being almost grotesque, bugzilla it was. It was in a hole, just an arms length away. I couldn't get in and it wasn't coming out. I'm probably lucky, in that it didn't decide to come out and kick my butt. There were lots of legal size bugs and tons of shorts. It was good to see, I think we'll have a good year.

 

[MDTzak]

hey mnt where were you diving? i only saw 2 legals and we got both of them.

 

[seansrs36]

Did you keep the 8lb lobster? I hope you returned it to the ocean.

 

[mntdiver]

Did you keep the 8lb lobster? I hope you returned it to the ocean.

Yep, I kept the 8 pound lobster. This begs the question, what is the qualifier for a bull lobster that should be returned as a superbreeder? I regularly see bugs that are in the ten to twelve pound range, an eight pound bug isn't that uncommon. Where should the line be drawn?

 

[Mo2vation]

Good question.

For me, if I can't get it in the bag, it stays.

If I have to hug the thing to get it out of the water, it wins. Its that simple.

---
Ken

 

[mntdiver]

Good question.

For me, if I can't get it in the bag, it stays.

If I have to hug the thing to get it out of the water, it wins. Its that simple.

---
Ken

I could agree with that. I've been loosing sleep at night thinking about bugzilla. I know where it is. I should call the Long Beach Aquarium, I wonder if they would be interested in it, otherwise, the camera may go with me the next time. I'll need to take something for scale. This thing was huge. I'd be interested in just finding it's shell after a molt.

 

[Mo2vation]

I could agree with that. I've been loosing sleep at night thinking about bugzilla. I know where it is. I should call the Long Beach Aquarium, I wonder if they would be interested in it, otherwise, the camera may go with me the next time. I'll need to take something for scale. This thing was huge. I'd be interested in just finding it's shell after a molt.

'dette and I saw bugzilla at LJ Cove a couple of weeks ago. Like you, we've seen hundreds of big bugs. But this thing was extraordinary. I mean, full on thigh girthage, with antennae that we at least a meter and-a-half long and an inch at the base. The thing had legs like tree trunks.

About half-a-dozen keepers were crawling all over it in the den, and they looked like crawdads. We just stared at it for the longest time.

Life is good in a preserve.

---
Ken