before the weather went to hell...

life's a garden, dig it!

This has probably been the worst lobster season I've personally encountered. Actually when I think about it, it's probably been one of my worst summers as well, the combination of cold water and dirty conditions have made things...well challenging to say the least.

It must have been a few weeks ago, although with all this rain it seems like it was an eternity. I spent an entire day checking some of my spots on my boat, with the cold water most of the reefs were empty except for a stray calico or two. The highlight of my day was blowing a shot at a 25 pound seabass at a fairly close distance. I could see the stripes lit up on it and everything and in an instant, poof it was gone. I stayed in the water from about 8 in the morning until 8 that night, all of my lobster spots were vacant, it was like the bugs had magically disappeared. Spots that I could always count on getting at least three didn't even have hardly any shorts, only sleepy perch drifting back and forth in the swaying feather boa kelp. I grabbed two that were dead on the money, the kind of bugs that the gauge will stand up on but without the extra mm's that I like to have as assurance in case the DFG rolls up on me, so back into the sea they went.

A week or so later we finally had a window of opporunity when the santa anas were still blowing and the waters were fairly calm, this was before the storm came that has been pounding us unmercifully the last few days. My buddy volunteered his boat so I met him after work and we launched out into the darkness. The first spot we pulled up on was a spot that we had seen and caught some lobsters during the daytime. The rocks here didn't form the deep caves where lobsters often elude us, instead there were broken rubble that had exits on either side. We excitedly slipped off his boat and began searching the calm, clear waters. I dove down on some shallow reefs that were teeming with growth, here and there a few short lobsters would scramble away as the LED lights came into contact with their red bodies. I ran into a few big bass sleeping in the deeper caves, and finally my light lit up a nice fat lobster. He rolled his antennae back like a dog when it gets angry and I swooped down and grabbed it. Thank goodness I wasn't going home skunked....again! A few minutes later I saw another one on the side of a reef and positioned the light ahead of it so I could make a quick grab behind. Two! Maybe this spot was loaded after all!

Those would be the only two lobster either of us would get. We made a quick decision and headed to another spot that I wanted to try. The visibilty on the outside of the kelp here was bad, two foot with that cloudy brown water. But as we kicked our way inside we found the clearer water we were looking for.

Right away I saw tons of shorts running around. I made a few grabs on some that I thought for sure were legal, shit how could the be a 1/4" short, they looked huge under water!!! I must've measured ten or so that were within a mm of being legal but all of them were quickly released back into their homes. I was working a shelf and as I dove down saw the orange stripes of a bigger one, I quickly shot my hands out and succeeded grabbing a 3lber, but doing so I misjudged the reef and tore half my thumb nail off. OUCH! What a dummy. Thank god the freezing cold water numbed it so my buddy wouldn't have to see a grown man cry. I dropped down to the shelf again and peered inside. Quickly three or four big bugs shot backwards, maybe 6 pounds or so. I vainly tried to grab them but only succeeded hitting their antennae as they scooted back to safety. Lobsters don't get that big by being stupid!

Every new patch of reef held new surprises. A giant sheephead was asleep in one cave, my lights didn't even disturb him as he slowly drifted in the swell. Another held a horn shark, and then still yet another a swell shark. A big octopus danced on the top of one reef trying to figure out what the clumbsy shape grabbing his lobsters was. As the swell dropped the visibility did too, and it took about an hour but I finally managed to grab the rest of my limit. I knew it would make it for a tough night, it was getting late and time to get back. I kicked back to my buddies boat, fought the kelp stringers that tried to take my lobsters from me and exhaustedly pulled myself back to safety. In the dim light I again measured all of my catch, 7 legals all well over legal size flipped their tails on the deck of the boat. I gathered them up in my mori bag and leaned back on the deck. What a night! I checked my watch and knew I'd be home in my bed by about 1am but would have to get up again at 6 for work

Oh wells, some things are worth being tired at work for...