Lobster miniseason gets under way with anglers limiting out quickly

Seven-year-old Hailey Karch wandered around the seawall at Black Point Marina Wednesday morning where more than a dozen spiny lobster were splayed out on the cleaning table.

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Hailey just got back from freediving in Biscayne Bay and caught her first lobster.

“She was so happy,” her mother, Genie Karch, said.

The Karches went out hunting for spiny lobster early in the morning on the first day of the two-day miniseason for the clawless crustaceans. After midnight Thursday, recreational and commercial spiny lobster anglers will have to wait a week before the regular eight-month season begins.

The Cutler Bay family went out with their friends, Kim and Mike Clifford, their children, Brooke, 11, and 8-year-old Jace, with Gene Mills captaining the boat.

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“I caught my first one at 5 a.m., and my brother caught five of them,” Brooke said as her father separated the carapace and tails of their haul.

If you plan on heading out to catch some lobster before the end of miniseason, here are the rules you should know:

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• The daily bag limit is six per person, per day, in the Florida Keys and within Biscayne National Park. Anywhere else in the state, it’s 12 per person, per day.
• The carapace, the lobster part that is not the tail, must be greater than three inches long. The lobsters must be measured in the water and must be brought back to land whole. Also, anglers must be in possession of a measuring device at all times.
• Do not start hunting for lobsters any time before the miniseason begins at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Law enforcement will be on the lookout, and violators face arrest.
• Night diving or snorkeling in the Florida Keys is prohibited during miniseason. Night-time anglers in the Keys use bullynets, which are poles with down-facing nets on the ends. Lights are typically shone from boats in shallow water so bullynetters can spot the lobsters on the bottom. Anglers can dive at night in the rest of the state and in the Keys during the regular season.

• All lobster anglers must possess a recreational state saltwater fishing license and a lobster permit.
• Lobstering is prohibited in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park during the two-day season and always in Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park and certain “no-take” zones in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and no-take areas of Biscayne Bay and the Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary. To find out more about these areas, call 305-852-7717 or go to FloridaKeys.noaa.gov.