Lobstering in Conch Key

We left the dock at 8:45 am and headed for the first hole that Steve and Karen knew of about 150 yards south of the Overseas Highway bridge just north of Conch Key in Florida Bay. The depth was about 13 feet here. Steve's boat was a late model 22 foot Center cockpit with a 200 hp Yamaha, that was really a nice boat especially for this type of sport. We tossed out a polypropolene line (floats) with a handle like a ski tow rope that was about 50 feet long. Then Steve and Gretchen put on their flippers, snorkel masks and gloves and went overboard. They also each had a stick and a net. Karen and I stayed on board to run the boat. The idea

was to tow them while they kept their faces in the water with masks on looking for holes or low spots in the contour of the Florida Bay floor. When they would find one they would drop off and dive on it and if it looked productive we would drop a bleach bottle marker. As they dove on the hole if they spotted lobsters they would poke it with their stick and have their net ready when the lobster backed into it. They would then surface and measure the lobster with a handy scale they had and if it looked close to the legal size they waved to us and we came in close and scooped up their net and lobster in a big net. We once again measured and if legal tossed them into the live well. The authorities are very strict on not taking undersized lobsters and can conviscate your boat if you're caught. After we pulled half a dozen keepers out of this hole we went under the Overseas Highway bridge to the Atlantic Ocean side and tried a few spots there and picked up a couple more. Back on the Florida Bay side we went 6 or 7 miles west where the water depth was around 8 feet. It was absolutley incredible how clear the water was. I thought it must be only 3 feet deep to see the bottom that well. That's when as we were idiling along looking for holes I saw a huge sea turtle swim within a foot of the boat. It's shell must have been 3 feet in diameter. It was beautiful. We ended up with at least 20 keepers and I think we probably tossed 15 undersized back. Somehow we missed all the rain squaws around us and stayed dry and allowed me to get some great cloud pictures. Incidentally, the lobsters down in the Keys don't have any claws like northeast lobsters do but their tails are just as tasty. We got in to the dock at 4:30, grabbed a quick shower, said goodbye to our host's and headed back to Key West (I left a weeks woth of medications in the hotel) before we could start the treck home. We finally got home about 1:30 am exhausted but glad for such a great trip.