CATCHING TECHNIQUE

Tickling a Hole

Many times you will come across a single lobster staring at you from a hole in the ground. In the water a lot of times it will look like this (I realize it is a terrible picture but you get the idea):

The hard part can be coaxing the bug out of the hole. These holes can be deep and if you make the wrong move they will shoot down to the bottom of it and you may as well give up at that point.

Before you get all excited about the find and blow your load, do a quick check to make sure there are no back door exits for the lobster to escape out of the hole. If there is one and you don't check for it, they will definitely find it.

If there is a back door, place your net over it while you are working on getting the lobster out (just in case). I typically don't recommend using the escape route as a method to catch the bug, as they may just shoot to the bottom of the hole instead.

Next, take your tickle stick and slide it down into the hole without touching the lobster. With the bent end of the stick tap the lobster gently on the bottom of its tail (Which is why I refuse to use a straight tickle stick, see below). Usually this will cause the bug to slowly walk out of the hole towards open ground. Be careful not to hit it in the face as this will cause it to shoot off and your chances of a catch will be crushed. As soon as the lobster is out in the open follow these steps to complete the catch.

*Some people claim the easiest way to get a lobster out of a hole is to just reach your hand in and grab it. While I would be a liar if I told you I've never done this, but I do NOT recommend it. There are several reasons for this:

1. You will often spook it down to the bottom of the hole.
2. You will eventually be bitten by something else in the hole (I have friends who have been bitten by eels, yes multiple).
3. You will undoubtedly rip the antenna off of the lobster before you know if it is a keeper or not (which is not cool).
4. Lobsters are strong underwater and you will lose them out of your hand every now and then. I have literally had a lobster swim off, pulling my glove off of my hand. I watched it swim away with the thing still attached to the spines on its back.

CATCHING TECHNIQUE

Out in the Open

Free diving or on a tank the basics of how to catch the lobster are fairly similar. For now we will just talk about the basics, an open water uncovered lobster Catch. Like most people our preferred method is with a net and a tickle stick. No, we aren't talking about your mom's tickle stick but something that looks more like this:

It should be noted that while you will occasionally come across one just walking on the ground, more than likely you will only find an uncovered lobster at night when they walk, or near a bunch of miniseason newbies that are scattering lobster all over the place in their attempt to catch dinner. It is also important to understand that lobsters swim backwards and are extremely quick:

Once you have found your bug just follow these steps:

1. Approach the lobster carefully as it is already probably spooked from its prior encounter. If you accidentally touch it before you are ready it will take off, never to be seen again.
2. Armed with your Net and stick place the net behind the lobsters tail.
3. Slowly created as small as an angle as possible between all areas of the net and the ground (slowly lowering it over the lobster).
4. Quickly push the entire net against the ground and at the same time slide your tickle stick from the handle of your net to the back, effectively forcing the lobster into the back of the net.
5. While you still have the tickle stick pressing against the ground keeping the lobster pinned in the back of the net release the nets handle and grab the lobster with your hand (while it is still in the net)
6. Surface and catch your breath.

This technique will work regardless if you are on a tank or free diving. Always keep in mind that lobsters are extremely sneaky and quick under water and can pretty much get out of anything.

There aer a few mistakes people make all the time while catching bugs. Swimming to the surface just holding the nets handle is one of them. Another huge mistake is grabbing the lobster by the antennae. They will break almost immediately and the lobster will get away, and NO lobster do NOT regenerate their antennae. Finally, make sure you have no holes in your net. It sounds simple, but a lobster will almost always find the smallest hole and escape.

Follow those 6 simple steps and you should have flawless lobster catching execution.