March 19th, the last day of lobster season, I decided to head out one last time to try and capture some bugs. I booked a dive trip aboard the Conception out of Santa Barbara. I arrived at the boat at 1 a.m., loaded my gear and found a bunk. There were 21 other divers on the boat so getting a spot was a feat in itself. At dawn I went up on deck and saw that we had made it to Santa Rosa Island. I’ve been on many trips where the destination was either Santa Rosa or San Miguel and we weren’t able to make it due to weather, so at the sight of Santa Rosa I knew the day was off to a good start.Our first of four dives started at 7 a.m. I jumped in and spent about ten minutes around the boat in search of good structure (i.e. reef or lobster habitat). There wasn’t a lot of it, so I decided to make the long swim in towards shore. I knew that if there were still lobsters in the shallows in Laguna Beach, there must be some in the shallows of the islands. There were—I found some excellent structure with an abundance of lobsters. I didn’t have much time, since I spent most of my air (I was scuba diving, not freediving) just getting to my desired destination. I had about fifteen minutes to go for as many lobsters as I could. I was able to bag three on this dive.
The next dive I decided to head into the shallows again and was able to grab another three. The third dive I couldn’t find any good habitat and came up empty handed. The last and final dive of the day I was determined to get my seventh lobster for the day, which would be the limit (I’d never had a limit). Fortunately I found a good place where I knew there had to be lobster. I had about fifteen minutes of air left, again, and I grabbed a lobster but upon measuring it, discovered that it was just barely short. Then a minute later I grabbed another and it was legal by ¼ of an inch. I had accomplished my goal and started back on my mile long swim back to the boat. After getting all my gear off I was able to grab some lunch and head down to take a nap during the three hour ride home. Even though lobster season is over for six months I’m stoked for the spring and summer to come to go after some wsb and yellows. Fish on!
Written by:
Darren Harline, BSB Exterminator
