By Paul Lebowitz

“The season is off to a great start. There are lots of ‘bugs’ around and no red tide. From Ventura all the way down to the San Diego Bay jetty, the lobsters are crawling,” reported Jim Salazar. Salazar should know. He is a staffer for lobster hoop manufacturer Promar, and runs the SabaSlayer.com lobster hooping guide service.

Salazar said the season has been notable more for numbers than size. That’s ok. According to Salazar, the smaller lobsters taste better anyway, so consider releasing that crusty 8-pounder. It could be over 50 years old.  

The basics of lobster hooping are simple. Bait up with oily fish, then soak the nets next to rocky structure. After 20 or 30 minutes, pull them in to see what’s come for dinner.

This season many nets are yielding multiples. A lot of the bugs are shorter than keeper size, but the early action has been steady.    

“People who’ve never caught a lobster before are taking home two or three legals. It’s a real pleasure seeing beginners get shorts right away,” Salazar said.

Experienced lobster hunters are doing even better. Salazar shared these tips for improving your results.

Bait Up
You can’t have too much bait. Whether you use a built-in bait pouch, or go with a wire bait cage, stuff it full. Lobsters need something to chew or they won’t stick around. Salazar favors mackerel, but any oily fish such as sardines, bonito, and tuna should work. Score the bait so the current will carry the scent onto the nearby structure.

No stink required. Lobsters are satisfied with fresh-dead or frozen bait. There’s no need to ripen it until it wafts an eye-watering stench. 

If thieving sea lions are tearing up your mesh bait pockets, switch over to the wire cages. As a side benefit, their added weight will cause the nets to fall faster, and once they’re on the bottom, help keep them there.

Stealthy, Smooth Retrieves Cause Butter Shortages    
Want to land more lobsters? Sneak up on them. When it’s time to retrieve the net, gently pick up the main line, carefully bring in the slack until you are directly above the net, and then smoothly pull it to the surface without stopping or hesitating.

Salazar said the pull is critical. If you bump the net around, or send vibrations down the line, the lobsters may bug out. All it takes is a flip of the tail and they’re gone.

BUGS ON THE CRAWL – The 2006-07 lobster season got off to a hot start. Good water conditions had the bugs on the prowl from Ventura down to San Diego. Many beginners scored legals; experienced hoopers such as Jim Salazar did even better.

When you’re pulling a net, only the sloped sides of the outer ring and water resistance hold the lobsters in place. Pausing during the retrieve causes the net to flatten, allowing the lobsters to escape.

Straight is great. When a net is pulled at an angle, one edge will be tilted low. Again, it’s a ticket to lobster freedom. Salazar said Promar’s new Eclipse Hoop Net aids in catch retention by adding a third ring of netting.

Bracket the Bugs
You can only catch lobsters if you drop your nets where the bugs will find them during their nocturnal food search. During the day lobsters hole up in rocky structure, so you need to start somewhere close to their reefy refuges.

Breakwalls are obvious bug haunts, but the lobster mother lode could be hidden nearby. While out fishing, keep an eye on your fishfinder. If you find some good-looking submerged structure, mark it on GPS and return later to prospect for lobsters.   

Determining how close to set the nets to the structure is a bit tricky. Hoop nets won’t sit correctly unless they are on a flat bottom, and they’ll snag if dropped directly on the rocks. Mix up your net placement, dropping some closer and others farther out in deeper water. Salazar recommended leaving between 50 and 100 feet between nets.

Pull up an eel? You’re too close to the rocks.

Keep moving the nets until you find the lobster. Then relocate unproductive nets into the crawl zone.     

Lobsters are photo-phobic. If you’re not getting bugs, search out areas with less ambient light. Dim your own light sources, but don’t compromise safety by going all-dark.

Salazar has spent years studying lobster behavior patterns, yet they still mystify him at times. “Just when I think I have them figured out, they do something unexpected,” Salazar said. However, the experienced guide was able to make a couple generalizations. Typically, lobsters are most active when the water is churned up by current or swell. 

Fine Tuning Your Hoops
Most pre-rigged hoop nets will catch lobsters right out of the box. With a bit of tinkering, they’ll work even better.

Consider upgrading the main line. Thicker line is easier to pull. Lines with less ‘memory’ aren’t likely to tangle. 

Larger, commercial grade line floats are easier to see. More importantly, they’ll prevent your investment from disappearing beneath the waves when wind and current might submerge less buoyant float.

Ballasting nets by adding weight will keep them from hopping along the bottom in a strong current. Salazar said it’s easiest to zip tie a couple of 8-oz torpedo sinkers onto the inner ring. Other effective alternatives are adding a loop of galvanized chain, or for the cleanest possible installation, the new Heavies hoop net weights from Lead Masters.