Hoop Netting for Lobster in San Diego Harbor

Newest LARRC members Jason and Justin Fleck treated this club member to an evening of hoop netting the last week of February. I met the famous Fleck brothers at the Shelter Island launch ramp at 5:00 p.m. The weather was predicted to be 10 to 20 knots of wind with a low of 38 degrees. Jason and Justin both had warned me to dress warmly and wear my slickers. I bundled up with 5 layers of clothes because I always follow the captains’ directions – and on this trip they were both Captains – trading off running Jason’s skiff.

Jason had all 10 hoops baited and ready to drop. A combination of chopped sardine and mackerel had been stuffed into the bait containers (a 12 to 18 inch piece of capped 2-inch PVC pipe drilled with holes.) Recent hoop netting had provided Jason with the knowledge of the most productive spots in the harbor for us to drop the nets (knowledge which I promised not to reveal). With the nets deployed, we drove over to the bait receivers and tied up to stay out of the wind. By this time it was 6:45 p.m. and just getting dark.

We decided to make the first pull early so a little after 7 p.m. we headed back to the hoops. I rode the bow with flashlight in hand searching for the first buoy. Justin drove and Jason pulled. The hoops were in forty to fifty feet of water. As we approached the buoy, Justin slid the skiff along side the buoy on the starboard side and Jason plucked it out of the water and maintained a steady, hand over hand pull until the net reached the surface. I shined the light into the net searching for that flash of red indicating a lobster. The net was empty so Jason dropped it back down. This was repeated nine more times proving it was too early and there was too much daylight for the lobsters to start crawling.

We went back to the bait receiver to wait. Jason didn’t really expect much activity until the tide was due to change at about 9:30 p.m. We tried our hand at a little bass fishing along the edges of the receivers to pass the time. It was my first time to walk the receivers let alone fish standing on them. The bass weren’t cooperating either; however, it may have been due to the sea lions jumping around chasing something. We waited 20 minutes and went back out to pull the nets again. This time Justin pulled up a couple short lobsters, a rock crab, a sculpin and one legal sized lobster. Back to the receivers to wait and have our picnic dinner – hearty sandwiches.

The third pull was mine. Jason instructed me on the least exhausting method to pull the nets and keep a steady upward movement to prevent the bugs from crawling out of the nets before reaching the surface. My first net yielded a legal lobster and I was very excited. I pulled the other nine nets with another couple shorts. We had two legal sized lobsters on board and the tide was just beginning to change. Back to the bait receiver to wait.

Next pull was Justin’s. This was the most productive as Justin pulled up one net with 4 lobsters, 3 of which were legal. Nine bugs in all on this pull. Things were changing and the bugs were really crawling.

We reset the nets and made another couple pulls before we decided to call it quits at midnight. We ended the evening after 7 pulls in all (2 for Jason, 2 for me and 3 for Justin) which produced over 30 lobsters. We had 7 legal sized lobsters! Heartbreaking though was that many of these lobsters missed being legal by only a quarter of an inch. I guess we’ll have to wait until next year for them to grow up.

I am grateful to the Excel’s Chef Jason Fleck and the Excel’s newly promoted First Captain Justin Fleck for the fabulous evening of hoop netting in San Diego Harbor. Justin was promoted after Shawn Steward left to run his own boat (Aloha Spirit) out of Oxnard so he could be home with his family at night.