Lobstering


March 1st, 2012

The Florida Keys is the perfect place to “get your feet wet” on your first experience of

Lobsters

Kevin with Lobsters

catching your own lobster.  Our shallow waters draw tens of thousands of visitors every year in search of the spiny lobster.   Lobster season opens for “mini season” on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of the end of July and the regular season opens August 6th and closes on April 1. Lobstering is a challenging and fun family activity, where all that is required is some snorkel gear, a stick and net and a lot of energy!  Lobster are found in natural ledges and holes in the Gulf Of Mexico and on hard bottom areas and reefs on the Atlantic side of our islands. Typically you will be diving bayside in 8-11 feet of water and holding your breath for 20-40 seconds.  You must also be a strong swimmer, experienced snorkeler and be comfortable in the water.

A very specific technique is involved to “tickle” a lobster from the safety of its home and maneuver it into a small net…all while holding your breath!  As difficult as it may sound, this is a great activity for anybody in reasonable shape and a sense of adventure.  It is almost guaranteed you can catch a lobster, but catching a limit of legal sized lobster is not guaranteed in the price of your trip, nor is it highly likely.  It will ALWAYS be cheaper to go to Red Lobster if you believe you are “owed” a lobster dinner. The appeal of this activity is discovering the “survivor” instinct in you and capturing an elusive and tasty creature with your own hands!  The best lobstering is in the warmer water months close to the opening and closing of lobster season. Visibility, tide and water temperature will also have an influence on the ease of or degree of difficulty of lobstering and outcome of harvesting success.

Lobster diving is an earned experience.  The lobster don’t care about your feelings, don’t care that it is your first time, nor swim into your net because you are lobster diving.  They will fight for their life and they know that you are there to kill them. I can teach most everybody to do it, but it is not for everybody.  You have to dive down and catch them yourself.  My customers range from 13 year old girls to men in their mid 70’s.  What IS required:  You need a 20-40 second working breath hold(this means you will be swimming/holding your breath and repeating this dozens of times) and you MUST watch 1 hour of You Tube videos of people catching lobster before your first trip.  The amount of customer preparation is always reflected in the catch ratios during the trip. I encourage you to bring your own equipment if it works well and you have confidence in it. Please, please check it twice in a pool before you bring it out, as it must be flawless in operation!! Do not bring new, untested equipment!!! If you have any sort of health issue of physical restriction, this is NOT for you!! If you are counting on 2 people catching 6 limits of lobster, I am not the operation for you! Not going to happen. I need a team to work with.

The cost of a 4 hour lobster trip is $525 for up to four people.  $50 EXTRA FOR #5 AND #6. 4 people is ideal, I recommend adding additional time for groups over 4 people.  Included is fuel, light drinks, cooler/ice, licenses and all lobstering equipment except snorkel gear and gloves.  I can arrange rental snorkel sets for $10/pp.  I also suggest you purchase a pair of gloves that fit your hands perfectly.

A 2 regulator(2 person) hooka diving rig is available if you don’t believe in your breath hold abilities.  It is a safe method of “scuba diving” without the need of a certification card.  The air supply is a scuba dive tank on the boat with a 50′ hose Y’d to 2 20′ hoses fitted with scuba regulators.  This can only be offered with a 6 hour trip for an additional $50. This is to assist in the quick recovery of many lobster from a hole. This is not for finding lobster.

Booking a trip is easy!  Please fill out the “contact” form or call me if you have questions or concerns.  If you are experienced or meet the requirements, go straight to the “Reservations” tab on my main page to check availability or make a reservation with a deposit.

**MINI SEASON JULY 2018 IS NOT BEING OFFERED**
I will be offering discounted fishing trips for that period of time. Please fill out the contact form with your fishing requests. I have blocked off the dates to prevent them from being booked for lobster trips.
IMPORTANT LOBSTER INFORMATION
Lobstering can be an entry level activity for an average person that already is a strong snorkeler, has a comfortable nature in/under the water and is not afraid of a challenge.  You must be able to take direction and understand what is happening in the environment around you.  I take new lobster divers out each week of season and some people find success and some do not.  I understand your position and do my best to guide you along the way.  It is a learning process that involves plenty of failures.  It comes down to your grasp of your own abilities and the amount of preparation you are willing to invest in your time with me.  This season I have had customers with zero snorkeling experience in near drowning distress within 10 seconds of being in the water because they do not know how to snorkel.  Please, do not come on my boat.  I have had customers with blown out knees and blown ear drums and every kind of horrible medical condition, please do not come on my boat.  I have had customers ask me if the lobster claws are dangerous, please do not come on my boat.  So many of my customers ask me if they have to use a snorkel or fins, please do not come on my boat.  I clearly understand that not all of the typical participants in my typical family can NOT perform the minimal requirements to catch a lobster unassisted.  This is not an issue.  If I have 6 people on board and everybody is expecting 1 person to catch 6 limits of lobster, please do not book this trip.  This is a team effort.  I do NOT sell these trips to you.  This is an elected trip that you have to decide if this is a good fit for the participants in your group.  Well over 50% of the trips I have run this season have been for groups that were completely unprepared or completely ignored the minimal requirements to catch a lobster.  I expect you to be fairly solid on your side.  These are custom trips and I cater to nearly everybody.  If you are going to struggle or you are aware that you are unprepared, just let me know so I can make an appropriate game plan for your trip.  I don’t mind if you are horrible at this.  I just like to plan for it mentally.  I like to enjoy my day too.

2 Responses

Daniel Packert
April 21, 2014

Hey I am interested in doing a lobster day with you. It is a party for my brother and he wanted to try this. We both grew up in broward county but just recently started to try pole spearing and freediving. Is there anyway you can let me know dates to possibly set this up? It would have to be in august most likely but I just want to make sure we get in with you. Let me know, thanks.

reeladventures
April 26, 2014

Sorry about not replying. Yes, this goes mostly unseen by me. Please call me or fill out the contact form on my website with your info, dates and such.
Kevin