Why is there a lobster on my door step?
08-28-2009, 08:40 AM
#47
Seared
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
08-28-2009, 02:56 PM
#49
Poseur
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Went lobster diving in Sept 02 with a couple of buddies. It was my first foray into going "bug hunting." My buddy got way ahead of me and found this guy on the sandy bottom (very usual to be in the open). He had his bug bag still wrapped up with a rubberband (to keep it from adding drag as he swam). He had to get over the top of it, and put his hand on top of it, holding it down. Then he got it into both his hands, like he was hugging it. Eventually, he got the bag opened and somehow got it into the bag. (The opening was barely big enough!) That was his only lobster that night,--clearly a deal! A couple days later it was served at a BBQ. A note for all,--the big old ones taste just as good as the young, small ones. Large lobsters such as this one essentially have slipped through the system. They have gotten so large that they can't get into a commercial lobster trap, and thus the only time they are caught is by a scuba diver. This one was off Anacapa Island, one of the islands of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. Minimum legal lobsters are routinely about 7 years old. This one was probably about 60.
08-28-2009, 07:03 PM
#51
Seared
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
08-28-2009, 07:43 PM
#53
Rennlist Member
08-28-2009, 08:22 PM
#54
Race Director
Went lobster diving in Sept 02 with a couple of buddies. It was my first foray into going "bug hunting." My buddy got way ahead of me and found this guy on the sandy bottom (very usual to be in the open). He had his bug bag still wrapped up with a rubberband (to keep it from adding drag as he swam). He had to get over the top of it, and put his hand on top of it, holding it down. Then he got it into both his hands, like he was hugging it. Eventually, he got the bag opened and somehow got it into the bag. (The opening was barely big enough!) That was his only lobster that night,--clearly a deal! A couple days later it was served at a BBQ. A note for all,--the big old ones taste just as good as the young, small ones. Large lobsters such as this one essentially have slipped through the system. They have gotten so large that they can't get into a commercial lobster trap, and thus the only time they are caught is by a scuba diver. This one was off Anacapa Island, one of the islands of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. Minimum legal lobsters are routinely about 7 years old. This one was probably about 60.
Like you say, very rare to see them in the open during the day but at night (night diving) it's not at all uncommon to see a whole line of them walking out in the open. Strange sight.
08-28-2009, 11:12 PM
#56
Poseur
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
So the Calif. lobster are much like the Florida Spiny lobster? I did quite a bit of diving in FL when I lived there, had some big ones off Ft. Pierce but none anywhere near that big.
Like you say, very rare to see them in the open during the day but at night (night diving) it's not at all uncommon to see a whole line of them walking out in the open. Strange sight.
Like you say, very rare to see them in the open during the day but at night (night diving) it's not at all uncommon to see a whole line of them walking out in the open. Strange sight.
California bugs ARE spiny lobsters,--thus, lack the front claws of the Maine variety (Atlantic lobster).
08-30-2009, 06:48 AM
#58
Rennlist Member
