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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. 
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 
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