Scuba Diving Article

Scuba Diving for Lobster

Lobster diving or "Bug Diving" as it is known to scuba divers is very popular. Not only do hunting these crustaceans make for interesting and fun dives, but also the rewards of such dives are quite tasty.

Lobster diving is popular in both the Northeast where divers will go after the familiar Maine Lobster, or in the south like in the Florida keys, where its warm water cousin the Spiny Lobster is on the menu. The California coast is also home of California Spiny Lobster. In any case there all lobster dive areas have specific Lobster seasons and special dive tours organized around them. Check with local fish and game authorities for the official lobster seasons, the best time to dive for lobsters, and limits on size and amount of lobsters you can catch.

One of the great things about scuba diving for any species of lobsters is that the bugs inhabit some of the most interesting places you would want to be diving anyway - like shipwrecks and reefs both natural and artificial. Like anything having to do with diving, "bug hunting" takes skill and practice, and half the fun is in the learning. The cold water lobsters, the guys with the really big claws can be the most daunting. Those claws are strong and can give you a nasty bite, and lobsters are very fast in the water. You are more likely to loose your prey by it scuttling rapidly away from you, then getting bit. No special equipment is really required for "bug diving" except a good pair of gloves and a collection bag. To catch a lobster while diving the scuba diver will circle around the wreck, reef or cavern looking in cracks, holes and crevices until they see the telltale antennae or claws. Then with practiced skill the bug diver will grab the lobster just behind the claws and scoop him tail first into the catch bag. Lobsters swim backwards so it is important to put them in tail first so this way they will swim into and not out of the bag. Lobster diving pros offer a few tips on how and where to catch the biggest lobsters. While it may seem obvious the biggest lobsters live in the biggest holes, so search those first. Some bug divers recommend using "tickle sticks" made from car antennas that can be extended to get in a hole and get behind the lobster and "tickle his tail" which will get him to swim out of the hole. Some also recommend using bait like a small fish or some mussel at the front of the hole to coax the bug out. Other pros suggest that if you know there is a really big lobster in a hole, try catching a smaller one and placing him in the big one's hole. Lobsters are notoriously territorial and the big one will immediately come out to confront the intruder, and then you can bag him.

Lobsters are nocturnal, so the most successful "bug dives" are done at night, and since as we already mentioned lobsters like to live in shipwrecks, especially the true lobsters of the Northeast, night diver, cavern diver and or wreck diver certification is probably a good idea to have before going out on a bug dive.