Here is a link to my Lobster Information. The short version of lobstering is this. I have a boat that takes you to hundreds of spots lobsters live. I can supply you with all of the equipment needed. I drive the boat and provide helpful instruction. That’s my job. Giving you a safe environment with the best chance to catch lobster. I’ll clean your lobster if you catch legal sized lobster. That is my job summed up quickly.

Lobstering has become more of not my favorite thing each year. Easy simple answer is because you have to do the activity A-Z. All of you participating in lobstering create and dictate your own success. I can make anybody look good on most fishing trips. I can manipulate your success to a degree. I offered spearfishing charters for 10 plus years before pulling the plug on that. My customers did not invest in their trips or success. They did not know or follow the rules. My customers made the option no longer feasible to operate because everything on the customer side was disproportionately geared towards total failure. Lobstering is becoming the very close cousin to spearfishing. It is up to you to meet the minimum requirements for being potentially successful or lobstering with less issues. Already, I see the writing on the wall for many of my current bookings for lobstering trips.

I specifically word my descriptions to create awareness for reality. Many, many customers love my direct language. It is mentioned often on my trips when I ask about the booking experience if it comes up in conversation. I want you to think about what my words mean. Trust me, it is intentional. Nothing I do is a bought experience. When you come on my boat, you are prepared to succeed or your lack of preparation has already dictated your lack of success. I promise you every customer that has found themselves struggling on any kind of trip with me never imagined themselves in that position. If you don’t read my information, you don’t know what you’re doing and are not invested in success, what are we realistically going to do in a few hours?

Back to lobstering, you are lobstering. You must meet the minimum requirements. It will be easier if you have better skills than the minimum requirements. Lobstering minimum requirements are a basic way to gauge if you will have potentially a good time of struggle all the way through. In addition to the requirements, you must know the laws. You must be able to execute the actions of what it takes to catch a lobster. You will have to do this within an infinite amount of variables I do not control, mostly all environmental. One thing that is 100% clear is there is no such thing as any lobster season being measurable better than the one before. That means, likely, there will be less lobster this year, next year and so on. It is a very heavily pressured resource for every reason you could think of. Other thing for sure, there are 300% more people in the Keys since we reopened from Covid. That means our resource will see much greater demand. It has nothing to do with me, my business or what I offer. It has 95% to do with you and what resource is there to harvest and what the conditions are for your trip. I can not answer any question relating to what your trip will be like or how many lobster you will catch. I can answer to some of the booking notes I have already seen for those that left me notes. Many groups have mentioned what they can’t do. Many have mentioned how much they do not know. 13 years of offering lobstering trips….real world experience means you’re likely worse than described and it’s going to be 100% my problem to figure out. No. I’m going to 100% work with you. You’re 100% going to work with me to make the best outcome. I am not going to or do I have the ability to fix a complete lack of abilities or understanding in a couple hours of lobstering.

You have many choices for a lobster catching charter. You can hire a different charter operator that will put a diver in the water to help you. That’s a nice way of paying somebody else more money to catch your lobster as you snorkel and watch. I know that reality. I offer a hands on experience, where you are doing what is a common activity that is reasonably easy if you have the basic skill sets. My concern is this year I have seen a different kind of customer as a trend on my fishing trips. I will be unable to help unprepared customers for lobster trips. End of story. I offer custom trips for nearly all skill sets. Most people can do this. Many unprepared people can’t.

For July and August, I will be running trips every day of every kind. Often, I will be running multiple daily trips, not by choice. Please don’t book an afternoon 4 hour trip for anything. I have preached this for 4 months or more now on every blog I have written. There are too many people here in a small space, there are no secret spots of any kind. You don’t want to fish spots that were already fished in the morning. You do not want to dive empty lobster holes that were hit in the morning. Book an afternoon 4 hour trip, you are doing that and doing it during the hottest part of the day. I don’t want to work dark to dark every day with the challenges I have operating my business and working with all kinds of groups. I am doing my best every day running high quality trips. No human can work every day, 2 trips a day endlessly. Please do not do that to me. That is what I see coming. My afternoon half day trips will be the first to be canceled for reasons that I have to do to survive this summer. Your cooperation and preparation for your lobster trip is essential. I want to run fun trips for prepared guests. That is what makes fun trips. That’s what my business is about. Florida Keys Reel Adventures…….it’s called that because you are really doing what you chose to do. That’s my business.

I want the best lobster trip for you. You are paying me a ton of money for the experience. Invest in your trip. I will feel bad charging you full price for a lobster trip when an hour in you can’t dive to the bottom in 7 feet of water. I’ve seen it happen too many times. I have already had to use good judgement to prevent easily foreseeable issues from happening based on booking notes. I don’t want to be put in these situations.

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