Lobster

[foxfish]

OK in the channel Islands too but def illegal in England.

 

[Mr. X]

Option 3 is illegal in the UK I believe

Do you have a reference to the law concerned? (The old laws which apply to spearing are posted elsewhere on this forum but I have never read through them with lobster in mind - and they might be specific to England & Wales as Scotland tends to have its own laws & policies.)

Spearo Dave reckoned #2 (snares) is illegal in the UK but I have not yet seen any laws or rules on this. Snare based traps are sold on ebay w/o issue.

Forum member Omega 3 reckoned lobster are as common as rats where he dived in Scotland - and wanted to find some wrasse to spear! There is no pleasing some people

 

[Ronnie]

Sorry, no reference but I remember reading it in the past. The only evidence I've got is this nice wee article:

http://www.crystalvis.co.uk/tuition/spearfishing-species-guide/lobster/

This issue is if you shoot a lobster which is ripe with berries or turns out to undersized, it's too late to release it. Lobsters are emphatically not as common as rats, or maybe I'm just diving the wrong bits of coast.

 

[foxfish]

I am pretty sure there is a law stating you cant use a harpoon to take any form of shellfish in England!
Spearo Dave was always quoting strange laws though!!

 

[grantl]

Lobsters are emphatically not as common as rats, or maybe I'm just diving the wrong bits of coast.

I've certainly seen a lot more lobsters than rats so maybe you are diving the wrong bits of coast

 

[Yeti]

I've certainly seen a lot more lobsters than rats so maybe you are diving the wrong bits of coast

1. Diving = Lobster
2. Can't dive so go Bin Diving = Rats
3. Wanna go diving (but keep forgetting or mixing up items of gear) = No Fish or Lobster...so resort to #2.

...chargrilled with a bit of Reggae Reggae sauce thay aint arf bad.

 

[Ronnie]

Aye, well I'm probably not doing enough diving...

But to be frank - shooting a lobster just seems kind of, I don't know - dishonest

 

[growingupninja]

In California we can only hand grab them, and they are spiny lobsters (no claws). Hooks and tickle sticks, and spearguns are not allowed. Mostly we hunt them at night with a light since during the day they will retreat deep into holes and crevices. There are different techniques but for a bug in the open usually I hold my flashlight in the left hand, shinning into the bug's eyes, then grab the body quickly with the left. With the light on them, most bugs will freeze for a moment. If they are in a hole (much harder to grab), I am very careful NOT to shine the light on them, just let a little bit of light leak onto them so I can see them. 95% of the time if you shine a light at lobster in a hole it will retreat deeper and usually out of reach. It you move very slowly and don't startle them you may be able to sneak a hand into a position where you can pin his body and get him, or manage to grab the big knuckle at the base of his antenna. This spot, if you can get it, will never break and no matter how big the bug is you can land him provided you are strong enough to haul him out (he'll be holding on to EVERYTHING in the crack with his feet and fighting you for every inch). If you grab the antenna anywhere besides the knuckle it will break immediately and the lobster will take off--same for legs. It's horribly unsafe on many levels but guys will wiggle into holes after the bugs--if it's a big one, he'll reach a point where he's just too big to back himself further into the crack, and if you can get a good enough grip on that antenna knuckle you can drag him out.

But I don't hunt for bugs with claws so I can't help you there I have grabbed a handful of crabs though--usually I just grab the body behind the claws and do my best to get them stuffed into a mesh game bag before they can get me. Some guys put their claws together so they are scissoring themselves and deal with them that way.

 

[grantl]

But to be frank - shooting a lobster just seems kind of, I don't know - dishonest

You're correct there - but as Yeti and I know there are some ultra competitive ruthless spearos about that will swim off at 8knots to get to the lobsters before anyone else then shoot one because it's not waving the white flag and requesting a hot water Jacuzzi.
Granted it weighed about a stone and a half and looked like the lobster equivalent of Big Arnie but......yeah, dishonest

 

[Yeti]

You're correct there - but as Yeti and I know there are some ultra competitive ruthless spearos about that will swim off at 8knots to get to the lobsters before anyone else then shoot one because it's not waving the white flag and requesting a hot water Jacuzzi.
Granted it weighed about a stone and a half and looked like the lobster equivalent of Big Arnie but......yeah, dishonest

Agree but it WAS a one off event to be fair. I was with him and soiled my suit when I foolishly stuck my head in the hole and saw what he was pointing at so I left him to it!!! I'd give him self defence on that one. It was feckin Jurassic. It lived in a cave....not under a rock. On reflection we both felt quite humbled by something that had lived that long next to pretty much permanently resident pots. In fact I'm not sure it would have fitted in one any more?!? Decision was mutually made (unfortunately afterwards) to take only meals and not big breaders that had pretty much outlived and outgrown any chance of being scooped in a pot.

(for those concerned before any bashing starts.....it wasn't a female, notched OR berry'd.....granted, luckily, but it wasn't)

 

[Mr. X]

Here we discussed the rather old laws that cover UK spearfishing: http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/attention-uk-spearos-salmon-sea-trout.73342/

The new EU fishing rules for Atlantic Water probably apply now too - however they make special allowance for recreational spearfishing (we campaigned to make sure of that: http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/european-union-consultation-–-including-ban-on-use-of-projectiles.78791/page-12 ). Will add a link later if I can find the darn thing. They opted for the worst of 2 options, rather than fixing their ham-fisted condensing of the old guidelines, they added a new section at the back to cover this - hard to respect such careless people with too much power.

 

[Mr. X]

...My Cressi Occhio Plus mask does makes things look bigger than they really are, but trust me - this was a monster...

Re. size, I recall a story a few years ago, I think a SCUBA diver caught a 22lb lobster near Weymouth & donated it live to the local aquarium. To give a sense of proportion, in his classic book, "Floyd On Fish", the late TV chef Keith Floyd* recommended buying 1.5lb lobsters as a good size for cooking.

Here's a different 22lb'er:

 

[Ronnie]

Here we discussed the rather old laws that cover UK spearfishing: http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/attention-uk-spearos-salmon-sea-trout.73342/

The new EU fishing rules for Atlantic Water probably apply now too - however they make special allowance for recreational spearfishing (we campaigned to make sure of that: http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/european-union-consultation-–-including-ban-on-use-of-projectiles.78791/page-12 ). Will add a link later if I can find the darn thing. They opted for the worst of 2 options, rather than fixing their ham-fisted condensing of the old guidelines, they added a new section at the back to cover this - hard to respect such careless people with too much power.

Thanks for that - was news to me. I saw a salmon the same dive as the OP, could have had it too as it was hanging in the tide amongst weed and couldn't see me. I didn't have my gun with me though so accidentally avoided breaking the law

Re that lobster - absolute monster. Healthy too. Working crab pots in the English channel occasionally saw some very large very old lobsters covered in barnacles and all sorts of vegetation. Not the kind of beastie the want to serve at Claridges - we always threw them back.

 

[Ronnie]

Just updating the link I posted upthread:

http://www.spearfishing.co.uk/spearo-hub/how-to-catch-lobster/

And bumping for a recent lobster enquiry

 

[DuncM]

I only go diving during the day and my experience so far has been that when I'm looking for them they are really hard to find, but when I'm concentrating more on trying to catch fish then I seem to see them close by.
A good place which I wouldn't have thought to look but have found 3 now is where the kelp opens up to a large sandy bottom with a few sort of small, kelp clusters scattered around, I have found them sitting under these small clusters. Haven't seen any monsters yet, most of them around 1.5-2.5lbs.
The other day i was too slow in grabbing one and as he shot back I got a handful of claws, it felt secure, but as I was swimming back up he just ejected them and tail flicked back down.

 

[UW-HunTeR]

Fro's way is best, also if you have a lobster upside down it can't lift it's claws up, so turning them fast helps. You can grab them by the tail, but hold on tight. I normally have a bag ready and put them in the bag, but when Spearo, I have strung the body onto my wire by sticking the knife through the head, this may not kill them, and I've had to pull claws off and stick them in my beaver tail before when my string has been around my waist. }}}}------>

 

[foxfish]

Hmm I am not sure if that is the best way to treat such a special food creature!

 

[UW-HunTeR]

I absol

Hmm I am not sure if that is the best way to treat such a special food creature!

i absolutely appreciate this animal! But I know how to deal with them- shooting them in the face and destroying the meat etc is a no no, but stringing them in a way that you preserve the meat is crucial! Or your harvest is a waste! Crustaceans are a hardy species and sometimes they don't die so fast, but would you keep poking them about to kill them?