wtf is with this
 

soo went out to la jolla for some :lobster: launched at 630 and landed at 12. there were no waves at all. set the nets and pulled throughout the night. nothing too interesting happened except we lost one of our nets for a good 30 min. the glow stick was hiding under the water..... and one of my nets had a knot in the line so when i dropped it, the float was about 10 feet below the surface :doh: so i was about to jump in when my friend realized that we had a sabiki rig so i just snagged it with that. ended up with 50 SHORTS. AHHH its painful having to through 50 lobsters back especially when some are so so so so close. bahh oh well

That always sucks to go through :lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobs ter::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster:: lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobst er::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::l obster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobste r::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lo bster::lobster::lobster::lobster::lobster: all for :mad:

lobster questions and woes
 

I was out last Sunday (off LaJolla) and got 25 in 2 nets and a couple pulls.
Disappointing:lobster: on one level, but I'd hate to get the fine that goes along with keeping even 1 short.

The bioluminescensce thing was incredible! It actually made the trip, as I've never seen it before and the thousands of fish making the swirls under the waters surface were too cool.

Any suggestions from anyone on an area with bigger bugs, and a manageable paddle? I have a fish-n-dive and love the stability, but realize the yak has it's limitations efficiency wise.

Lastly, I appreciate the feedback from you guys regarding the various questions other members have. I'm going to try to make one of the meetings this week. Does anyone know how long they typically last?
Not sure my boss will o.k. it and I've got lots of responsibilities at work.

[QUOTE=griffsd06;67355]
Any suggestions from anyone on an area with bigger bugs, and a manageable paddle? QUOTE] GUYS WILL TELL U THERE HONEY HOLES IF U CAN SPEAK LOBSTER & ASK THEM RIGHT WHEN THEY ARE GOING TO CRAWL:D

Last Thursday we had 4 kayakers pulling on 13 nets for four hours actively, and, got one legal total.

A dozen shorts in the standard 3 and 7/32" size. Was the same story for a couple of other 5 hour nights I spent last week out there.

Just .... brutally slow right now.

Had a decent limit on the opener though. And now I've got all my nets and gear dialed in perfectly with all the pulling practice. Just waiting for them to get hungry ...

and where were yall hoopin at

I know for a couple of days after the opener the commercial guys cant pull their pots.

That gives a few days with no competition, and a shot at the biggest bugs.

Imagine now, with all of the commercial pots you see, and those you don't see, going up on deck every night, taking all of the legal bugs and tossing the shorts.
What does that leave? The seafloor crawling with shorts.

<rant>< rant>

This is the same issue I have with the stupidity of the MLPAs.
It's not the guys in yaks and skiffs making an impact on any species. It's the commercial guys. To lump us ALL together and call us 'Consumptives' is beyond ignorant.

</rant>< /rant>

What to do?
Go where they can't.

That's the blessing of a yak. You don't need to be in 100' of water to get bugs. Any diver will tell you that.
I've been gearing up in waist deep water, dropped my head into the water and seen a legal bug walking by my feet. All you need is rocks on the seafloor. Go find somewhere there are sandy spots near rocks where a commercial guy wouldn't take his boat.

Good luck and be safe.

Willy

Willy, they can't even bait their traps until Wednesday after the opener,
though many hoopers reported a slow "opener", so think about the logic
around that. Sometimes they crawl and feed, sometimes not. The
commercial guys do not get the big ones either - big ones can't even get
into the traps.

While it's staggering to realize that the annual commercial take here is
more than 300 metric tons of lobster, or, more than 660,000 pounds ...
per year, we are not OUT of legal sized lobster in the ocean. As they
(and we) will continue to get them all year, when they come out to feed.

Just my take on things.

Tight lines, and ropes!

Last year's lobster report card numbers showed that 20% of recreational lobster fishermen caught 49% of the total commercial catch. Only 20% turned in the cards! Doing the math, recreational is taking more than TWICE the amount of lobster than commercial.

I'd be willing to bet that a large portion of those report cards that were not turned in were blank. But that is an interesting statistic anyway. More recreational take than I would have thought.

I'm sure lots were blank... but from my own polling, lots of folks caught plenty and didn't turn 'em in. Either way there was big recreational catch and all anyone can do now is extrapolate an estimation. I think everyone was surprised.

Point is, its easy to complain about the commercial guys when you're not catching what you think you should... but perhaps it is them who should be complaining. For better or worse, as far as MLPA goes we are all in this together.

Just think how good it will be in 2 years:lobster:

Thats doing the math based on the statistics you have there. I think there is some unacounted variables. If that were true, what keeps the Local Commerical Lobster in buisness?
I could get a resident commerical liscense for yeary fee of $120.75 and some sorta lobster/invertebrate stamp And take a big pro angler out there and pull up a limit and sell it to the market at $3-4 a pound. And I could make a pretty penny.

You are forgetting the lobster operator permit you will need. They are not cheap (almost 6 figures last time I checked) and there are only a couple hundred or so in the state!

From all accounts our lobster numbers are looking good but there are still many unknowns. This is the first time we've had recreational figures. The commercial catch numbers have been good for several years.