Newbie needing a few answers

[asaballe]

Hi All..I just signed up today..I have some questions on lobster hunting..where are the best places to go in southern cali...when are you able to hunt for "bugs"...what restrictions are there as far as are their certain places you can and cannot go to hunt for "bugs"...when hunting at night, are you able to freely go whereever you wish and hunt...what type of fees are there to be considered...

Abner

 

[DrySuitDave]

Buy a Calif sport fishing license with that lame "Ocean Enhancement" stamp. I don't have the dates off the top of my head but any captain or crew of a local dive boat will spark you up. You can go pretty much anywhere where there is rocks and habitat...guys do well on the Redondo Beach breakwater....I have grabbed lobster at night on the frontside of the Marina del Rey breakwater....get yourself an aluminum caliper to measure the front section of the carapace.....it must be 3.25" long.....Local islands like Santa Barbara, Catalina, San Nicholas, the northern Channel Islands, all are good for lobster...the more rocky the area, the better....

San Diego is the center of the Calif spiny lobster range.....

You may take lobster either by hand or with a hoop net.

 

[asaballe]

Buy a Calif sport fishing license with that lame "Ocean Enhancement" stamp. I don't have the dates off the top of my head but any captain or crew of a local dive boat will spark you up. You can go pretty much anywhere where there is rocks and habitat...guys do well on the Redondo Beach breakwater....I have grabbed lobster at night on the frontside of the Marina del Rey breakwater....get yourself an aluminum caliper to measure the front section of the carapace.....it must be 3.25" long.....Local islands like Santa Barbara, Catalina, San Nicholas, the northern Channel Islands, all are good for lobster...the more rocky the area, the better....

San Diego is the center of the Calif spiny lobster range.....

You may take lobster either by hand or with a hoop net.

Thanks for the tips Dave

 

[Robert Phillips]

You may only take lobster by hand when on SCUBA or freediving. When you trap them with a hoopnet you are really just fishing. Lobster season starts for the public on the Saturday before the first Wednesday in October (this year the opener was Sept. 27) and runs till mid March or April. You can not hunt for Lobster in any Marine Reserves, in Laguna the Reserve is from the east end of Main Beach to the western reeftip at Shaws Cove. But pretty much everywhere else they range is good to go unless protected.
Good Luck!

 

[DrySuitDave]

Robert,

I have to confess that I am like a frogfish that lies in wait. The bait I dangled was the statement that lobster can be taken via hoop nets. I was surprised I had to lie in wait and wriggle the worm for so long before someone bit.

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME CODE
SECTION 7256

7256. Spiny lobster may not be taken under a sport fishing license
except by use of a hoop net or by hand.

Striclty for sporting purposes, I have sprung this upon a few F&G supervisors who were shocked, admitting they have never seen this Section. An interesting thing about laws, is California laws require that all laws be published online by the government. Here is the direct link to that F&G Code Section:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=fgc&group=07001-08000&file=7256

If you look at the license required by F&G for taking lobster for personal consumption, this license is not a divers license, it is a sport fishing license. To prohibit divers from using a hoop net to take lobster would require that such be written into the law and signed by the Governor, something not in this Section.

I did my first open water dives down in your neck of the woods that was called Horshoe Pastures or Horseshoe Kelp or something to that effect. My fondest recollection was when we were down on the beach gearing up with my parents, some cretin broke into our car and my dad felt it incumbent upon himself to catch him, beat the pulp out of this guy till he was bleeding profusely.....strictly for education purposes of course.

Then my brother and I did alot of diving at Shaws Cove....has to be one of the best beach dives around.