There are numerous ways and techniques to catch the Caribbean and Florida Spiny lobster.
Here, I will go over a few of the ways I do it. Before you attempt to catch a Florida lobster,
you need to understand their behavior. A Florida lobster typically travels forward by walking very slowly;
however, when scared they flex their tail causing a flipper like motion and jet backwards at high speed.
The key to catching one is to prey on this natural reaction.
Say you have located a lobster under a rock or in a hole.
What you want to do is take your tickle stick and slide it behind the lobster.
Once the tickle stick is behind the lobster, you will gently tap the lobster on its tail.
This will cause the lobster to slowly walk forward. If it does not walk forward, you can be a little more aggressive.
You may want to use the tickle stick in a sweeping motion to try and force it out of the hole.
Once it is out of the hole, you should place your net behind it. At this point, you have two options.
The best option is simply to try and trap the lobster between the ground and your net. Sometimes this is not possible.
This is where preying on the lobsters natural instincts come into play. If you simply tap it on the forehead,
it will cause the lobster to quickly shoot back into your net. The key is, you need to then quickly swoop the end of
the net around so that the lobster is trapped in the net. If you simply let it continue to shoot backwards without closing the net,
it will continue flipping its way right back out of your net. No matter how hard you try to get the net closed,
you will lose a few lobsters because of this each year.
Remember, you can not take a lobster out of the water or put it into your bag until you have made sure the lobster is of legal size.
The video below will help to give a basic understanding of the technique.
How to Measure
a Florida Lobster
While still in the water, lobsters must be measured correctly using your lobster gauge.
We give you specific details on how to measure a Florida Lobster. read more...
