diver.net

Lobster Season Warm up ... that works





[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ California Scuba Diving BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by seahunt on September 27, 2011 at 09:08:10:

In Reply to: Lobster Season Warmup posted by seahunt on September 27, 2011 at 09:04:34:

Here's something to think of. The thrill of the hunt.
.
It is all incredibly lush and beautiful to see, but I wasn't
finding any bug. I went into some of the channels, but as
mentioned, they were mostly smooth sided or there might be a shallow
crack that appeared as a big black line because it was filled with
red urchins. As I went across one, I got a visual of a large bug
walking out in the open. While the visibility is fine, perhaps 50
feet, it is still early and the light is very dim. When I looked
down into the channel, I could see something, but couldn't make
out what. It had been my periferal vision that had been able to
recognize the lobster. It didn't matter. I was heading straight
down and hit it with both hands. It was between 3 and 4 pounds and
a very nice bug. I was out of air pretty soon after and went back
to the boat. I had gone south from the boat. The divers that had
gone to the west had found better terrain with rock piles and more
bugs.

22 pounds in 18 minute dive at Rosa

Well, I covered as much of the area as I could and didn't see
much in the way of lobster. I slowly worked my way back and forth
deeper until I was at about 12 feet. It was a long tank at that
depth, even with a lot of exertion. Already the muscles on the
inside of my thighs were saying something about cramps and it
being a good time to finish this swim. I headed into deeper water
towards the boat. I was still looking and seeing all kinds of neat
critters and plants, but no bugs. Finally, going along a rock
pile, I got a glimpse of a nice lobster back in some rocks.
Unfortunately, it was in a well protected hole. The rocks were
about the size of a microwave oven, so the holes between them were
too small for me to fit into and the bug was in about 4 feet. The
bug had about three holes in front of him and then a real nice
little hole behind him to back into. A quick grab was not going to
get near him. I just kept on swimming... a little ways.

I came back and since I knew I could never get to him through
the front, I wanted to see if there was any way to get behind him.
Sure enough, through a hole in the rocks, I could see his tail
about 3 feet down between the rocks. He had moved back a bit when
I swam by. I am a bit hard to miss. He was just a bit into his
inner hole, but not all the way. I started knocking little purple
urchins down the hole, trying to make them hit his tail. These
were so small that they fell like dandilions. I didn't want to
wave at them because if the bug felt the motion of the water, he
would worry about what was above him, not behind. Truthfully, I
had tried this and variations of this, many times before, but each
time, the bug had just about invariably moved back into their inner
safe hole. I decided to look for some small rocks to drop in. I had
to look a little ways. When I came back to the hole, the bug wasn't
visible. I didn't know if it had gone in or out. I looked from the
front, low down where the front holes were. He wasn't visible in
the first two, but as I came around the rock to the third one, I
almost hit his antennae with my mask. I backed off quick and out he
came. He was still in a safe position, so I backed around the rock
until I could only see his horns and front legs. He came all the
way out of the hole, still in a good position to dart back to
safety, but there was a rock in front of him. When he had climbed
all the way onto it, I pounced with both hands. A nice 3 pounder in
the bag.

Enjoy the diving, seahunt

11 3/4 pounder





Follow Ups:


Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Message:
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Post Background Color: White     Black
Post Area Page Width: Normal   Full
You must type in the
scrambled text key to
the right.
This is required to
help prevent spam bots
from flooding this BBS.
capcha
Text Key:

      


diver.net