Lobster Season Opened August 6

Lobster season officially opened on August 6th. We're finding lobster at just about every depth where there's structure. The weather has been great, the seas have been calm, and visibility has been phenomenal this summer.

One morning, the seas were glass calm and we were actually able to make the run from Port Everglades to Commercial Pier in less than 20 minutes (35 knots in our little 22 Center Console is blazing fast).

One of the real estate agents who works for me, Claudio, wanted to take a potential customer out on the boat for a quick lobster dive. When we pulled up to our favorite spot we could actually see a stainless steel washer laying on the bottom (shiny and new) at 35 feet while looking over the gunwale of the boat. Amazing!

We only did one dive that morning before we ran out of time and had to get back to work for some other appointments, but I limited out and only covered about 50 yards of reef. No photos this trip, but we had a great morning of diving!

I love being self-employed!

Happy diving!

--Branon Edwards
Real Estate and Mortgage Broker

Mini-Season: Day One

Welcome to the Two-Day Florida Sport Season for Lobster, otherwise known as Mini-Season!

As you've read in our previous articles, Mini-Season is the last Wednesday and Thursday of July here in Florida. The two day extravaganza allows sport divers the opportunity to pick up a few lobster for the official lobster season begins the first week of August.

Divers are limited to a total of 12 lobsters per day throughout Florida, with the exception of the Florida Keys, which limits divers to just 6 lobsters per day.

Since Mini-Season starts on Wednesday and Wednesday itself technically starts at Midnight Tuesday night, the waters off the coast of Florida were filled with boats and divers armed with lightsticks and flashlights last night. My buddies and I decided that night diving for Mini-Season was going to be a bit much work this year, so we opted to go out at 6am Wednesday morning instead.

As we were preparing to leave the dock, some of our midnight diving friends were pulling into the dock. Looking a little tired, they boasted 16 lobster with 4 divers. It's not limit, but it's a far cry better than I did last year during our midnight dive. We made our assessments of proposed depth and headed out of Port Everglades.

Part of our group wanted to dive shallow and two of us were holding out for deep water. We two deep fans opted to stay on the boat for the first dive and let the rest of our party of 8 splash in about 30 feet of water to start. At the end of their first dive, they had about a dozen bugs between them - not bad, but not great either. By the way, the term 'bugs' is diver slang for spiny lobsters because they're just so darn cute.

My dive buddy and fellow deep enthusiast, Pat, and I were all too happy to try our hand at the third reef. The reef itself is about 45 feet in the center with about 60 feet on the West side and 60 to 100 feet on the West side, depending on the area. We splashed in at about the center line and worked our way East. We were joined shortly thereafter by the second wave of divers and worked our way back and forth across the reef.

Pat and I came upon a nice ledge with 6 bugs beckoning us onward. All 6 were keepers - no eggs and no shorts. By the way, if the lobsters are females with eggs, you are not permitted to take them, and of course, the rest must measure up in size as well. We continually worked our way East and West across the reef as the current pushed us Northward. I picked up another lobster nearby and then it was slim pickings for awhile. There weren't many places for the bugs to hide in this particular section of reef, but our patience paid off as the edge of the reef became more defined.

Pat and I picked up 3 more bugs in one den (lobster hole) and then spotted another den a few yards away. Pat pushed his lobster snare in through one side of the hole to spook them out in my direction. When he did, a chubby little 2-foot nurse shark came scurrying out of the hole right past me. By this point, we were both running a little a low on air, so we decided to surface. Pat landed a total of 7 on this dive and I landed 6 - not a bad first dive.

Needless to say, the rest of the group was now convinced that deeper was the way to go. My long-time dive buddy, Randy Docks, spent a good 15 minutes wrestling a monster bug out of a deep crevice. It was so far back in the hole that he had to actually remove his gear to get far enough in to loop the lobster. Here's a photo of Randy with his prized lobster - the largest of the day from our boat.

For the record, Randy is by far the most successful lobsterman that I have had the pleasure with whom to dive. He and I have been on the same dive on the same reef where I didn't even see a bug and he limited out. Today, he was apparently going for quality over quantity. Nice Lobster, Randy!

Pat and I decided to stay deep for our second dive of the day, and again, we were rewarded. Pat picked up an additional 2 bugs and I landed 6 more bugs, a nice Danforth anchor, and a 20-inch mutton snapper as an added bonus.

My first dive ranged from 40 to 70 feet and my second dive was almost entirely at 70 feet. I achieved my limit of 12 bugs for the day and will be back out there tomorrow to see how well the lobster gods smile down upon us.

Our boat with 8 divers landed a total of 53 bugs; not a bad first day! We only saw a few shorts (lobsters too small to keep) and probably a dozen or so females with eggs. I was the only one on the boat to limit out and Randy took home the prize for the largest bug of the trip.

Best of all, the weather cooperated, seas fluctuated a bit, but never spiked over 2 feet; everyone came home safely, and nobody went home empty-handed.

Lobster Mini-Season

Ah, Yes... the sweet smell of July in Florida! For many of us die-hard Floridians, April, May, and June are more than just the Spring and beginning of the rainy season - it's a time of frozen food and a longing for mini-season.

Florida's Spiny Lobster Season officially runs from August 6th to March 31st.

So, April traditionally begins a time of sadness for most Florida divers since it marks the end of lobster season and the beginning of digging into the freezer for the remnants of bounty from days gone by. In fact, I know divers who braved the 4-6-foot seas of March 31st in order to get one more zipper bag of lobster into the freezer before the great lobster famine began. (Yours truly included.) I found myself actually doing the math to figure out how often my wife and I could enjoy a lobster dinner before the next opportunity for fresh lobster would be upon us.

Luckily, Florida Wildlife has found it in their hearts again this year to maintain the two-day sport season, or what we locals call 'Mini-Season'. Traditionally, mini-season is the last Wednesday and Thursday of July (July 25 & 26th this year). Mini-Season is an event in itself.

I have a buddy here in Fort Lauderdale that actually negotiated with his employer to have the last Wednesday and Thursday of July off from work EVERY year. Further, he negotiated them as regular paid days off - not as part of his vacation days, sick days, or otherwise. In fact, he refers to them as his 'High Holy Days'. His boss happens also to be a diver, which may explain why they don't find him in the office during these days either. Needless to say, we Floridians take our diving very seriously.

As most Floridians know, the last week of July is traditionally a bad time to go to the Florida Keys. Every yahoo in the tri-state area with a boat and a crawfish permit is out on the water from daylight to dusk on both days. By the way, a 'crawfish permit' is the state sticker on a Florida fishing license that enables you to try to catch lobster. Notice I said 'try'. It's an art as much as it is a science.

Unfortunately, many of these folks are once-a-year divers and there are almost always fatalities - on the road and in the water. The Florida Keys are well-prepared for the event, which brings in millions in tourist dollars to the Florida economy each year. For me, I stick to the reef I know the best - Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach. I use the off-lobster months to scout new areas, add secret spots into my GPS, and study how the lobster are reacting to various water conditions and temperatures. Many of my buddies and I spearfish year round, but we've always got an eagle eye open for good lobster habitat. For example, just the other day we came across a spot that.. oh wait.. if I tell you, it won't be a secret anymore. Nevermind.

Mini-Season is a short two-day sport season when ONLY sportsmen are permitted to catch lobster. Commercial lobster boats and traps cannot begin harvesting until the official season begins on August 6th. The idea is that sportsmen have 2 days of unhindered lobster hunting before the commercial guys come in and pick up the lion's share of the bounty.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against commercial fishermen. I think that everyone has a right to make a living. However, I do feel that there are, as in all things, a few bad apples that ruin it for everyone else. Poaching, overcatching, and ignoring limits hurt all of us in the long run. As far as I'm concerned, we all have a responsibility to protect the environment that has obviously been so good to us and continues to support us. As such, I've developed some lobstering rules to live by...

Branon's Top 10 Lobstering Rules:
1. Always have a fishing license with lobster permit, and an approved measuring device. You never know when that megalobster will be staring you in the face.

2. Never take more lobster than you need or intend to actually eat - and certainly no more than the legal bag limit (6 per person per day).

3. Check a lobster as closely as possible BEFORE you attempt to catch it - if it looks too small it probably is. Also, if you see eggs or the tell-tale sign of eggs (curled tail with cleaning claspers in 'hold' mode) don't disturb the lobster. If you disturb it, it will just be that more jumpy next year when it's bigger. :)

4. If you inadvertently catch a lobster that is short or that has eggs, promptly let it go with as little stress and inconvenience to the lobster as possible. I generally try to even point in back in the direction of its hole so it's not out in the open an easy prey for other predators.

5. REALLY good lobsterers will even release the lobsters with the tar spot on their bellies (black spot on the underside near the tail that looks literally like road tar) since it means that the lobster is female and has already been fertilized, but has not yet dropped her eggs.

6. Minimize the trauma to ANY lobster you catch. If you rip all the legs off trying to get it out of a hole and it turns out to be short or have eggs, you've just signed a little lobster death warrant for not only that lobster, but all the future lobster it might have mothered along the way. Lobster Loops, as they're called, are fantastic. I've actually caught lobster with a loop that never realize they were caught until I was holding them in my hands measuring them. Slow, deliberate finesse is key - again, lobstering is an art. Swimming at full speed headlong into a reef with both hands grabbing at a lobster isn't just stupid, but also you are likely to damage the reef, lose the lobster, and probably damage yourself in the process.

7. Measure EVERY lobster you catch EVERY time - UNDER WATER WHEN YOU CATCH IT! 'Barely legal' is still legal, but do you REALLY want to be the guy on the boat with the shortest lobster? Size matters, no matter what GQ or Cosmo says these days.

8. Re-Measure EVERY lobster when you bring it onto the boat. This is your last chance to toss it back before the lobster is too traumatized to make it in the wild... and before Florida Wildlife, the Sheriff's Office, or the Coast Guard can write you a nasty citation for undersized lobster and start confiscating your stuff.

9. Bathtubs, washing machines, and concrete blocks should be properly disposed of - and not sunk in the open ocean to create 'lobster hotels' or other artificial habitat. In addition to being an environmental issue, there's also a HUGE fine involved - even if you're just diving on someone else's artificial habitat.

10. Leave lobster traps alone! Taking lobster from a trap is Stealing! In addition, there is a VERY HEFTY fine involved, including possible jail time. You wouldn't want someone to steal from you at your job, why would you do it to someone else?!

Okay... here's a bonus rule:
11. If the hole is big enough for a lobster to live in, chances are it's big enough for an eel or other critter to live in as well. Before you go sticking your hand (or your arm) into a hole, you might double check to see if anyone else might be at home. Yes, moray eels bite and they're not usually very polite about it. Just ask my buddy, Three-Finger Mike!

Here is the official information from the state website regarding lobster season and bag limits:

"The spiny lobster sport season will fall on July 25th and 26th for 2007. The bag limits are 6 per person per day for Monroe County and Biscayne National Park, and 12 per person per day for the rest of Florida.

The possession limit on the water is equal to the daily bag limit, and off the water is equal to the daily bag limit on the first day, and double the daily bag limit on the second day. Possession limits are enforced on and off the water.

Spiny lobster has a minimum size limit that must be larger than 3" carapace, measured in the water. A reminder that possession and use of a measuring device is required at all times, and night diving is prohibited in Monroe County (only during the sport season). A recreational saltwater license and a crawfish permit are needed for harvest.

Regular spiny lobster season is August 6 through March 31. The bag limit is 6 per person per day. Harvest of lobster is prohibited in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park during the sport season. Harvest is also prohibited during both the 2-day sport season and regular season in Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, and no take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. " http://myfwc.com/marine/lobster.htm

Happy Lobstering!

All the best,

--Branon

Welcome to Florida Diving!

This Florida Diving blog is dedicated to all things Diving in the State of Florida. We'll explore scuba diving, freediving, snorkeling, plus lobstering, spearfishing and tournaments as well.


Whether you're a certified scuba instructor or a newbie looking to get certified for the first time, we're sure you'll find something here that will interest you. Our articles will come from actual divers, not lawnchair quarterbacks who can't tell an SPG from their NDL. No matter what your skill level or your diving interests, you'll hear from folks who are actually out there diving here in Florida.

For the record, I am a PADI Certified Divemaster and have been scuba diving since I was 9 years old. I received my first certification when I was 13. Of the many hundreds of dives that I have safely completed, most of them have occurred right here in my home state of Florida. I'm also a freediver and have been snorkeling almost since I could walk.

If you have a question about diving in general or about Florida diving specifically, please don't hesitate to drop me a line. You can reach me at Branon@ScubAHH.com

Okay... let's go diving!

All the best,

>--Branon