There are some quite obvious tips for a successful lobster hunt. One includes night diving. Lobster are nocturnal and venture forth from rocky lairs under the cover of darkness. They are much easier to capture when out in the open.
Some tips are not as well known. Example: Lobsters swim “backwards” or tail-first. Always bag your lobster tail-first so they swim right in.
Then there are those tips that are obscure enough to qualify as “secrets.” That is what we are dealing with here; the stuff “bug” hunters do not give up easily. Some of it, however, can even be construed as opinion or even a bit of “urban legend.”
1) USE YOUR LIGHT AS A WEAPON
In your night diving for lobster, you want the biggest, most post powerful, bad-ass light you can get your hands on. We’re talking something that would blind E.T. here.
Two reasons: Night diving is much like tunnel vision with your light limiting your scope of vision. The wider the beam of light the more bottom you’ll see and the more likely you’ll be to see bugs out roaming about.
The second reason is a bit more devious. If your light is blinding bright, the moment your light hits that critter, it will freeze, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. In shock, it will only freeze for a moment, but it may be just enough to give you that extra jump on ’em.
2) GO FOR THE PIN
If the lobster is out in the open, don’t grab ’em, pin ’em. In one fell swoop, come down on the lobster and pin them to the bottom with your hand. If you simply go for a grab, the lobster will be gone by the time you think to clinch your fingers around their spiny little bodies.
3) WEAR GOOD GLOVES
Quite obviously, Pacific Coast lobster lack the large pinching claws of their east coast relatives. They do, however, have a lot of very sharp spines (hence the common name “spiny lobster”). Most of these spines can easily penetrate cheap dive gloves and puncture flesh. I have seen many a lobster lost because of pain. I have also seen divers having a good night throw in the towel simply because their hands hurt. And a final little tip along the same lines: lobsters can and do bite!
4) AVOID YOUR COMPETITION
Competition for lobster is intense and your biggest competitor is commercial trappers. While lobster trap buoys on the surface is a good way to find a reef, it generally means that site is already fished out, or at least well on its way to being so.