The Tampa Bay Times

The Florida spiny lobster season is about to close and divers are heading offshore from Key West to north Florida to dive for some of these tasty critters.  The season closes at the end of the last day in March and divers are trying to get in their last chance to find catch these lobsters until the season re-opens on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday in July. Just this week we had an influx of divers bringing in their scuba tanks for last minute fills for their lobster trips to the Florida Keys and areas on the southeastern coast of Florida.  In the Gulf of Mexico, a couple nice sized spiny lobsters have been harvested by divers in depths from 50’ to 100’ of water.  Most have been spotted while the divers were hunting for big red grouper.  The red grouper population is getting larger in depths over 80’.  The are laying in and around small limestone ledges and their favorite bottom of depressed potholes.  After you spot and spear a red grouper in one of these potholes, don’t forget to look sharply in the crevices for spiny lobsters.  These lobsters love to tuck themselves away in the nook and crannies of these stony depressions on the sea floor.  A few lobsters over six pounds have been hauled from these pothole areas in the past couple weeks. There are fewer spiny lobsters located off of the St. Petersburg area compared to the Florida Keys, but usually they are much, much bigger than those caught in the Keys.

Capt. Bill Hardman teaches scuba classes and runs trips for Scuba, Spearfishing, Freediving and Technical diving courses at Aquatic Obsessions, 6193 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL  33710.  You can reach Capt. Hardman at (727) 344-3483 (DIVE) or CaptainBillHardman@GatorCamper

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