I never quite understood the hype behind the Lobster Mini-Season in Florida, especially here in my home of Key Largo. Every year the commerical lobster season ends on March 15th and does not reopen until August 1st for traps and August 6th for harvesting. The last Wednesday and Thursday of July every year are reserved for recreational divers and boaters to get first dibs on all the spiny lobster that have been spawning all spring and summer. Hence the term mini-season! For two days people from the around the country descend down to Key Largo to try their best efforts at catching Florida Spiny Lobster (very different from Northeast Rock Lobster or Maine Lobster- no claws and a severe difference in taste…nothing compares to Rock Lobster boiled and dipped in drawn butter…hhmmmmmmmmmmm!!!). Anyone with Florida fishing license with crawfish stamp can hunt for lobster Aug 6-March 15th but most non-locals I know only come down for mini-season. It is a recreational divers Mecca and a frenzy unmatched on our waterways and reefs during the rest of the year. I compare mini-season to opening day of fishing back home in Connecticut. Every April, my Dad would take my brother and I fishing at a local stocked pond at 6am opening day to stand by numerous other fisherman. I always asked my Dad if we could go fishing the next day and would there be less fisherman and he would respond, Yes! And I would ask why were here today with so many other fisherman around stealing my chances at fish and his response was always the same…..”Because today is Opening Day!!!!” Fisherman and lobster hunters must have the same mentality.
Beyond the hype, mini-season is one my favorite times in Key Largo. The hype and the crowds create such a fun frenzy in the area and every year my good friends at Indian Valley SCUBA from Harleysville, PA make their annual pilgrimage to Key Largo to take part in the lobster bonanza. Every year the group from IVS grew bigger and bolder catching more and more lobster with more aggressive dive schedules. (Although the 2010 IVS trip caught a record amount of lobster (107) for the group with far less hunters than last year. A recent Bonaire trip by IVS in June stole some normal customers for the the annual Key Largo lobster trip). The 2010 IVS trip started a week early with some avid wreck divers taking a bold wreck trek through the Keys starting on Sunday and ending the following Sunday after lobster season. I was able to coordinate an all day Spiegel tour (4 dives) on the first Sunday for the Z brothers and join the group for an afternoon of lobster fun for the complete weekend of diving include some more serious wreck dives. The lobster hunting culminated with a huge lobster feast at Conch House on Friday night where 100+ lobster were taken to task by some hungry IVS divers and local friends. Not one lobster was spared and another great job by one of my favorite restaurants in town.
The lobster hunting was quite fun and the wreck dives were awesome but the highlight of the week was on the last day of mini-season when a Giant Jewish (Goliath Grouper) ate my buddy Frank Gabriel’s lobster and snare right from his hands while he was catching a lobster from under a coral head. I have seen some amazing sights underwater in my years of diving but the sight of watching Frank get pulled by a big Jewfish as he fought to get his snare back just takes the cake. I was laughing so hard I almost puked in my regulator!! I laughed on threw the rest of the dive and returned back on the boat with a sore belly. The poor grouper still has the lobster snare sticking out of his mouth but I am sure he will be fine. I wish I had some pictures of the lobster snatch by the Giant Jewfish but my memory will serve me well for years to come. Needless to say there were numerous laughs all the way home and at the bar that night. Another classic lobster mini-season is in the books. We will see the IVS gang again in mid October!
