Lobster season starts at 12:01 AM the Saturday before the first Wednesday in October and runs until the next Wednesday after the 15th of March.<\/p>\n
For the 2008 season, the season runs from 12:01 AM on September 27, 2008 until 11:59 PM, March 18, 2009.<\/p>\n
Lobsters are nocturnal; they hide in rocks and reefs during the day and come out at night to seek food.<\/p>\n
So, diving at night is a necessity for successful lobster hunting.<\/p>\n
Yes, you can hunt during the day, but it requires a lot more luck and effort.<\/p>\n
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When the sun’s out, you’ll be digging into holes that are shared by eels and sometimes disassembling portions of the reef – not worth it in my opinion.<\/p>\n
Make Sure You Are Properly Equipped<\/strong><\/p>\n Aside from your standard SCUBA gear, you’ll need:<\/p>\n \u2022 A heavy duty pair of thick nylon gloves.<\/p>\n Even though spiny lobsters have no claws, if you pin them or hold them incorrectly, their tail can wrap around your hand and the spikes can puncture your skin; the “bulls” also are able to inflict a painful bite.<\/p>\n \u2022 Be sure to obtain a current California Fishing license, with an “Ocean Enhancement” stamp along with a “lobster report card” – something new this season.<\/p>\n \u2022 A good underwater halogen light and a reserve light; good lights pay for themselves by catching more lobsters.<\/p>\n Rechargeable batteries will also be good to your budget in the long run.<\/p>\n \u2022 A lobster gauge for measuring the carapace.<\/p>\n I have one that fits on my light; I can measure the lobster and hold my light with one hand.<\/p>\n \u2022 A good, spring loaded lobster bag that you can open with one hand, that stays closed by default, and a cheaper “holding bag” to keep your lobsters in between dives.<\/p>\n Basically, with a lobster in your hunting hand, you want to plan to do everything else with your other hand – measure, open your bag and insert.<\/p>\n Know How To Stay Legal<\/strong><\/p>\n Observe the rules on how to catch lobsters and you should stay out of trouble\u2026<\/p>\n First, the obvious – hunt only during lobster season!<\/p>\n \u2022 Have your fishing license with the proper endorsements within 500 feet of you when diving from a boat or shore.<\/p>\n \u2022 You must catch lobster with your hands; spearing or netting them while diving is illegal.<\/p>\n \u2022 The carapace of the lobster must be at least 3 1\/4 inches long.<\/p>\n Rule of thumb, if the lobster looks like it’s probably legal, throw it back; if it feels like you’re grabbing a beer can, bag it!<\/p>\n \u2022 You must carry your lobster measuring device with you while you dive; all lobsters must be measured in the water and released unharmed if under sized.<\/p>\n \u2022 The bag limit for a 24 hour period is seven legal lobsters; “trading up” is illegal.<\/p>\n \u2022 Even in season, it is illegal to take “egg bearing” female lobsters; “egg bearing” females will have a swollen underside.<\/p>\n \u2022 You must keep your lobsters whole while at sea, although I have also heard they must remain whole until eaten.<\/p>\n \u2022 As a recreational lobster hunter, you cannot sell your catch; I give many tails away during the season and tend to have a lot of friends at that time.<\/p>\n Make Sure You Are Physically And Mentally Prepared<\/strong><\/p>\n Night time SCUBA diving freaks a lot of people out; every passing sea lion might look like a shark, every piece of kelp may look like an electric ray.<\/p>\n A first time night diver described the experience as “very claustrophobic.”<\/p>\n Make sure you have done a few “for fun” night dives to get comfortable with the concept.<\/p>\n Lobster hunters also make really crappy dive buddies; be sure you are self reliant underwater.<\/p>\n Be sure you are physically able to perform the tasks at hand, whether it be shore diving or boat diving.<\/p>\n Eat a good meal before hand to provide you enough energy; the crap about not eating an hour before you swim is a wives’ tale.<\/p>\n Pin Lobsters, Don’t Grab Them<\/strong><\/p>\n So what happens when your light hits a traveling lobster that’s out foraging for food?<\/p>\n Personally, I move my light off to the side, towards the back, swim up and pin (NOT GRAB) the lobster by it’s carapace.<\/p>\n Pin it against the ground, which can be tricky depending on the terrain.<\/p>\n Hesitation, waiting, thinking and positioning yourself for too long will cause the lobster to flee.<\/p>\n You have to develop the skill of spotting them, approaching them and pinning them in a matter of a few seconds.<\/p>\n Lobsters crawl forward looking for food very slowly, but in a panic, they flap their tail and swim rapidly backwards to avoid danger.<\/p>\n If you don’t have a good grip on them, their tail will propel themselves out of your hand.<\/p>\n Yes, they use their spiny tail as a defense also; grab them at the tail, and you might pay in a few puncture wounds.<\/p>\n Lobster Hunting Verbage<\/strong><\/p>\n Bug<\/strong> – Another term for a lobster.<\/p>\n Bull<\/strong> – Large, even huge lobsters that can bite…<\/p>\n From left to right, a “bull” compared to a “legal” lobster.<\/p>\n DFG!<\/strong> – When you hear this, make sure you don’t have any illegal catch.<\/p>\n Opening Night<\/strong> – The morning lobster season opens.<\/p>\n It’s actually Saturday morning, but hunters show up Friday night; so, they call it “opening night.”<\/p>\n Short<\/strong> – Your lobster is too small; not legal. Throw it back.<\/p>\n Next Week:<\/strong> Where To Go, Boat Tips, Shore Diving Tips and other lobster hunting secrets!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since this will be my third straight season of lobster hunting on SCUBA, I have decided to share some important advise and tips on how to make your lobster hunting trips more successful and keep the Department Of Fish And Game off your back. I am breaking this in to a two part series. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/wp-content\/pict0729chop.jpg\")
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