Seemed to me that there was a 24 per boat maximum on bugs here in Monroe. Is that the case or no?

They did away with that 3 years ago. I wish there was still.............

6 per person statewide during regular season. No boat limit regardless of how many or how few people are harvesting.

6 lobsters per person with a current fishing license and lobster stamp! No 1 person on boat or in water may POSSESS more than 6 lobsters.

You can't have people sit in boat while someone else harvests.

Thanks guys. Had to work at it but mangaged our limit of 36 yesterday.

Eat em up. Well done.
Funny season so far.
Some days it's easy to find them and others we see none. While spearing.

Went on Monday out of Marathon got 4 but I was the only one looking. Trying again tomorrow.

Did pretty good again today but it wasnt easy thats for sure. I swam for miles along edges making drops in 20 feet for a bug here and a couple there. Actually got most of ours in an area that JLB told me about that I had never tried.
Two other 5 star spots on my GPS were lousy.
UW video'ed a pretty big bull shark with a longline leader hanging out of his jaw (clip and all) at Looe Key this afternoon. Kinda suprised me as I was down filming a big hogfish and my wife in 1 yr old son floated nearby.

I was down there at Marathon for the weekend and for Monday. We were just short of our limit with 27 bugs. I also shot a red grouper. Good vis everywhere.

We trolled Sunday and it was slow, small phins. Tried to dive the T-bolt Sunday and it was a parking lot. Did a 65' reef and shot a few mangoes and missed a nice black that I couldn't get close to. Also saw a big lemon shark, probably 8 or 9'.

Ed, you mentioned Bull Sharks at Looe. I took my 6 year-old son snorkeling there back in June and saw 3 solid bulls traveling with a tarpon. I have dove Looe a few dozen times and never seen a bull before. Mostly I have seen hammerheads or no sharks at all. My son was pretty stoked with the bull sharks.

Now if you want to see bulls, I would say the Bahia Honda bridge area is an almost guarantee. Me personally, I don't like bulls.

Yes, that place does have some ugly sharks. you feel a little helpless when they get in your face and you have no gun.
Got real lucky today and stumbled upon one of those oh so rare lobster jackpot spots. Pulled 20 real nice bugs off of it and then closed out our limit bumping around the flats south of Monkey Island.
My son the chief lobster watcher.

Nice Ed.

See you down there in a few weeks.

G

Looking forward to it G. The group will consist of me, you, GR, Bucketnuts, Reelfrogman (wayne B), Rolo, and JAW. Im sure Keyskiller will be joining us some too.

Sounds good. The Blakester and Pretty Pinellas aren't going to be there?

Any ideas on where you're gonna take us? I hope you have some spots shallower than 90 ;)

awesome pic ed. makes me miss the family trips to marathon. my parents went on there first trip together there at the old mainsail hotel 40 years ago. and every lobster season since

DP has a sailboat race on a lake somewhere I think. Freshwater is much easier on your hair.
Last I heard Blake G esq. will have other priorities.
Sasha had a hip replacement or something.
I did find the blacks real good...in 85 feet, so we'll see how that goes.

Went all day today off of Marathon found TONS of bugs upwards of 60+ all but one were short approximately 1/16-1/8 inch. Any thing I should do different or try deeper water? Only gonna be here till Friday night but I'd love to go home with a few.

Well Im not expert but what I do is look where the other boats are then go the other way. If you are finding that many shorts Id guess you are looking at leftovers.
We got most of ours, except for one day, in water too shallow for scuba and a little deep for the weekend snorkeler. We also look in the water thats less than extra-clear.

Hello,

Been looking at all the lobster posts and I noticed a lot of you guys put your bugs in a cooler on ice, or in a live well. That is not necessary, years ago when I first moved down here the old guys showing me the ropes said to just put the lobsters in a bucket and keep it in the shade, they will stay alive that way for at least 12 hours.

I have been doing it that way and they are always alive when I tail them in the evening. I think putting them on ice will kill them sooner. The live well might keep them OK if there is enough capicity and the pump keeps running, but you could just put them in there dry and it would be OK.

barnaclebill





















i

Howdy boys. I just got back from KW for a few days. We limited at 30 each of the first three days by about lunch, all on the ocean side. I also got knee-deep in some big black groupers. Went along the reef line and found the yellowtail show on the 60-90 foot roll off near the Sambos. First dive (free), I saw no less than a dozen blacks from 20-40lbs. I know all about buck fever, so I chose my best shot instead of chasing a big one and nailed a 22 lber. He went berserk and destroyed my spear. I freed him up and got my other gun. Next dive, I shoot a 20 lber that came in to look. He goes berserk and destroys my spear. Two 20lb grouper in the boat, two spears gone. I was tired, so we decided to come back later. Next day, same thing. I only had my 110cm rigged up and I chased a 35lber for awhile, but couldn't get in range. It is tough work in 65-70 feet, but the grouper are there. I shot a few more up around the lobster, but they weren't nearly as big. I saw a bunch of keeper red grouper this year that I let swim.

Ed,
Can't make the first weekend, but I'll call you about the second.

damn blake, what spaghetti shaft are you shooting? ;)