If you like the outdoors and plan to catch lobster you will need to do it in about 1/10 of a second!
In Florida the Lobster season starts in the month of August and if you go with the fishing pros who have a fishing license you can catch your own lobsters. Many companies provide the gloves, gauges, snares, nets and all the necessary equipment you will need to catch your very own lobsters.
Plan to go lobster hunting on your own? Here is what you will need:
• A Fishing license with a stamp of a lobster on the license
• Gloves for diving that are heavy and can be used to catch spiny lobsters
• A tickle stick
• A lobster net
• A catch bag to put the lobster in once you catch it
There are lots of lobsters in California and all the way from the border of Mexico till Point Conception. Most of the lobsters are on rocks and can be taken with a swat and placed into a bag. A swat works better than your fingers unless you try to pick up the lobster with a sideways swipe, and then place your thumb on the lobster shell with your fingers facing upwards.
If you are looking for a lobster during the day, look into the lobster holes. Another method is to look for their antennas protruding out of their holes. Since lobsters are social creatures, once you find one then you will be able to stumble on a group of them tucked away in their holes.
Lobsters are in hiding during the day so as to not get eaten by their predators, such as Sea otters and Sheephead fish, who hunt during the day. These crustaceans really like rocks, and so if you are lucky to find one under a pile of rocks then you will find more near the same location. But be careful since once you start taking one make sure you go after all his buddies. Lobsters will start to panic and run off in all directions, especially if they feel vibrations in the water.
When the lobster senses danger it will position itself backwards and into the closest hole it can find which is also very deep and you know that since you will see their sensitive antennas that stick out from the hole.
Some big lobsters that are 7 pounds or larger do not hide during the day, they simply lean against a rock. This makes it easier to hunt them, swat them and bag them. Since they hide in the same hole as Sea Urchins, putting your hand in a lobster hole can sometimes send you to the hospital to remove the Urchin spine, so make sure you wear protective gloves when you go lobster hunting.
When hunting for lobster you have to be aggressive, quick and accurate. Be careful not to blindly reach for holes looking for lobsters since other than Sea Urchins there are also puffer sharks, gray slimy sponges, and Scorpion fish with toxins, but the worst bite is one from a moray eel. These morays like to go in lobster holes and hide quietly in there. The moray eel is aggressive and has sharp teeth with an endless oral fixation.
Catalina Island in California has a lot of morays with razor-sharp teeth that can even bite right through a protective glove.
Here are some easy steps to follow if you want to go lobster hunting:
1) Get a saltwater fishing license and get a lobster stamp from the city hall in which you reside.
2) Snorkeling equipment and heavy gloves, a snare, a tickle stick, a net and a catch bag.
3) Put a mark on your tickle stick so you can measure the size of your lobster when you catch it. (In the state of Maine a legal lobster catch is a lobster that is 3 8/32 inches in length.)
4) Learn how to distinguish between a male and female lobster, since you can usually only keep the male lobsters once you catch them. A male lobster when turned over on its belly has what looks like to hard legs across its stomach part. When you look closer you will see ridges instead of what you thought were legs.
5) The reason you cannot hunt and keep a female lobster is because they are the ones who have the eggs and are responsible for creating the next lobster generation.