Well its here....just 30 minutes away and the OFFICIAL Florida lobster mini (also referrred to as the "sport" season) season begins!!!!!
I thought I'd go over a few of the Florida spiny lobster rules, regulations, and quota as well as a few tips and methods on catching bugs (what Florida Lobsters are often referred too), as well as a few great lobster spots and waypoints.
Lets start with the season dates this year it begins July 27-28, 2011. for the record Mini Season always starts the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July each year. So today July 26, at 12:01am (makes it July 27) it officially begins. After the lobster mini season the regular Spiny Lobster season begins, those dates are August 6, 2011 - March 31, 2012.
Aside from your Saltwater fishing license you need to purchase a Florida Spiny Lobster stamp in order to legally harvest bugs in Florida.
How many lobsters can you catch and how many can you have in possession? Lobster bag limits are 6/person/day for Monroe County and Biscayne National Park, and 12/person /day for the rest of Florida, simple enough. If you are not in Biscayne National Park, say you are around Hallandale Beach then you can snare up to 12 lobsters. If you are off of Elliot, east of the islands that puts you in Biscayne National Park so you quota would be 6 lobsters...and if you decided to go lobstering in Tavanier Key then yep, you'd be able to bring home 6 bugs.
Possession limit - on the water: equal to the daily bag limit. Now I'm no attorney by any means, but this thing on "possession" limit can be pretty simple and just as well as complicated as you want to make it. Here is an overview- Possession limit is the lobsters YOU have caught and now legally have in your possession, be it 6 or 12 (depending where your at), and on the first day of lobster mini season you can only have 6 or 12, on the water and/or while your driving home. Now on the second day your "on the water" limit will be 6 or 12, but your possession limit would be 12 or 24 (2x6=12, or 2x12=24)-in other words double the daily bag limit on the second day.
Its very important on these 2 days of mini season to adhere to the possession limits on and off the water, as most of the Marine law enforcement agencies are in full force! Now I know I mentioned that it could get complicated and here is where it can- How many of you bring the wife, the kids, the aunt and the suegra out on the boat, get'em each a license and stamp and wallah your limit just went up to 30, 40 even 50 or more bugs right- nope WRONG! quoted from the regulation "bag limits are only for properly licensed individuals and those people exempt from license requirements who are actively harvesting. People harvesting may not exceed their individual bag limit and take someone else's bag limit. That is, people (including children) who are not actively harvesting or are not properly licensed (if a license is required) may NOT be counted for purposes of bag/possession limits." So if you have 6 people on board make sure you have the proper equipment, and attitude to show anyone watching at a distance (as often happens) that everyone that has a lobster stamp is "actively" persuing the spiny critter...sure this can be a grey area, but at then end of the day if your fined (and they can be hefty)whether you fight it in court or not, its a headache, that can easily be avoided- at the end of the day its just a bug.
OK moving right along minimum size limit must be larger than 3" carapace. Pretty simple get your lobster gauge stick it between the horns if the back end fits into the carapace (where the "hard end" or head ends, and tail begins)its a shorty put him gently back in the water. Keep in mind ALL bugs must be measured in the water. Which means you need to have a measuring device in your possession at all times. I carry a lobster gauge looped on my snare or tickle stick and have a spare looped on my weight belt, just to be on the safe side.
Prohibitions this section is pretty huge, and its usually the area that most everyone will screw up at one point or another. Harvest of lobster is prohibited in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park during the mini season. Harvest is also prohibited during both the 2-day mini season and regular season in Everglades National Park as well as the the Biscayne Bay-Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary. The sanctuary boundary extends from the northern edge of Matheson Hammock Park east to the southern tip of Cape Florida (Key Biscayne). From Cape Florida it runs south to Soldier Key then along the eastern high water line of Soldier Key, the Ragged Keys, Boca Chita Key, Sands Key, Elliott Key, Old Rhodes Key,
Swan Key, Palo Alto Key, and Angelfish Key to the southern edge of Pumpkin Creek. It turns north and then south, running along the high water line of Key Largo, following the western shore of Pumpkin Creek, the southern shores of Angelfish Creek and Little Pumpkin Creek, andthe eastern edge of Card Sound to the Card Sound Bridge. From the Card Sound Bridge it runs north along the western high water lines of Little Card Sound, Card Sound, and Biscayne Bay to the northern boundary of Matheson Hammock Park. All natural, artificial, and tidal creeks between the islands and along the mainland are included in the Sanctuary and are closed to lobstering.
Lobsters may be taken east of the islands during the legal seasons, except in the Legare Anchorage where swimming, snorkeling, and diving is prohibited year round.
Legally taken lobsters may be transported through the Sanctuary as long as no one from the boat is overboard (in the water) while inside the Sanctuary. Dry Tortugas National Park (referred to as Ecological Reserves), and no-take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (marked by 30" diameter round yellow boundary buoys)as well as Sanctuary Preservation Areas(SPAs,)and Special-use Research Only Areas which appear on all GPS's
So thats about it...lets just say you have the "cliff Notes" version if you wanna get down to the nitty gritty follow the links below and fill in anything i may have left out
http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/regulations/lobster/
http://myfwc.com/media/1483464/Lobster_Brochure.pdf
http://home.nps.gov/bisc/planyourvisit/upload/Lobster-Brochure_English_2011.pdf
http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/Lobster2011.pdf
Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!
Tone
http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com
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