How to Catch Florida Spiny Lobster

Hunting lobster in Florida via a scuba tank or freediving is one of my favorite things to do.

There's something very primal in being in direct contact with the food we eat.

After diving in South Florida for the past four years, I wanted to put together a guide to hunting Florida Spiny Lobster, so you can do it legally and properly, on your own time.

Lobster Season

Lobster can only be harvested when they're in season.

Lobster Mini Season, is a holiday of sorts down in Florida.

In 2026, this will be July 29th and July 30th.

Considering lobster have been off limits for over 3 months, in theory, these days have the most legal size lobster left in the ocean, making it easier to hit your limit.

Lobster Hunting Equipment

There’s two main ways divers catch lobster in Florida, being a tickle stick + net, or via a lobster snare.

I prefer a snare as it’s less equipment, but a tickle stick and net will give most newbies a higher success rate.

Tickle Stick and Net

If you'd like to go the tickle stick and net route, this is the kit I would buy. It also comes with dive gloves, a catch bag, and lobster gauge which we'll get to later.

A tickle stick is used to touch the underbelly of a lobster, causing its reflex to crawl forward out of its hole.

Place the net behind the lobster, where it'll get caught inside.

I find it frustrating getting the lobster out of the net when its spines get tangled and caught on the lines, but perhaps if you're more patient than me, it won't be an issue.

Lobster Snare

A lobster snare is my preferred method to catch lobster, as it’s just one piece of equipment.

Using the snare as a tickle stick, you can cause the lobster to leave their holes, where you then slot the snare in an expanded state behind the lobster. Once it's around the midsection, contract the snare, and it will immobilize the lobster.

I hook my lobster snare onto my BCD using a double ended snap.

Some models of lobster snares don’t have an attachment point, so I attach a zip tie to it, with the double ended snap can then clip onto.

Measuring Lobster

From the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, "Carapace length must be larger than 3 inches (7.6 cm), measured in the water. Possession and use of a measuring device required at all times.”

The most common method divers use to ensure lobsters are of the legal size, is a lobster gauge.

They’re inexpensive, and are best secured to a string or lanyard for easy maneuverability underwater.

You should also secure this to your gear so that it’s not lost underwater.

After catching a lobster, you’ll need to measure them underwater, making sure they're a legal size.

Storing Lobster

After catching you need somewhere to store it.

Mesh catch bag: Lightweight, clips to your BCD, and holds multiple lobster easily. The mesh allows water flow so they stay alive during the dive.

ZooKeeper: This is overkill for just lobster, but if you also hunt lionfish or spearfish, it's worth having. It's a hard-sided containment tube. Bulkier than a mesh bag, but safer if storing lionfish.

Safety Gear

Dive gloves: Lobster spines will cut you, rocks will scrape you, and fire coral will ruin your day. I use the Hammerhead gloves spearfishing.

Licenses, Permits, and Limits

A recreational saltwater fishing license and a lobster permit are required to harvest spiny lobster. It's relatively inexpensive and renewed yearly, or a lifetime license can be purchased. You can buy both through GoOutdoorsFlorida.

These are the numbers that matter, straight from the FWC. Check them before every trip, because seasons and limits do change.

Rules That Will Get You Fined

Beyond the size and the count, these are the ones people fall foul of:

• No egg-bearing females. If she is carrying eggs under the tail, she goes back.
• Nothing that punctures or crushes. No spears, no gaffs, no hooks. That is why the snare and the tickle stick exist.
• Land them whole. Separating the tail from the body is prohibited in state waters.
• No recreational trapping.
• Night diving is closed in Monroe County during mini season, from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise.
• Closed areas. No harvest at any time in the Biscayne Bay and Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary, the Coral Reef Protection Areas inside Biscayne National Park, Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, or the no-take areas of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and none in John Pennekamp during mini season.

Boat Vessel Rule

There is no boat limit for lobster in Florida. A passenger only counts toward the boat's total if they hold their own saltwater fishing license and lobster permit, and if they are actively harvesting. Bringing four friends who stay on the boat does not give you four extra limits. Everyone who wants their lobster to count has to be licensed and in the water.

Where to Catch Lobster in Florida

If you want to catch spiny lobster, you'll first need to pick a location where they actually live. This is only half the battle though. You'd also need to pick an area in which is legal to harvest them.

Where I Actually Hunt Them

I have hunted lobster from Jupiter all the way down to the Keys, but because I live in Miami, some of the shore diving sites I go to most often are:

SeaTech Ledges in Dania Beach is a ledge system running north to south, and ledges are exactly the structure lobster hide under.

The Dania Beach Erojacks are concrete jacks stacked into an artificial reef, and there is a hole under nearly every one of them.

At Guardians of the Reef in Hollywood, do not stop at the statues. The lobster are further out, past the sculptures themselves once you hit the first reef.

The Yellow Brick Road, also off Hollywood, is the other one worth the surface swim.

All four are shore dives, so you do not need a boat to hunt lobster in South Florida.

How to Find Them Once You Are Down There

Most of hunting lobster is finding them.

Look for ledges, and any other pocket in the reef structure where something could tuck itself out of sight.

The main tell that a lobster in the area is their antennae.

You will usually see those poking out of a hole before you see the lobster itself.

Bring a dive light, even in the middle of the day as the deeper pockets do not get much light.

Broward Beats the Keys on Bag Limit

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Mini Season, and Whether It Is Worth It

Mini season is the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July, and it is the busiest two days of the year on Florida's reefs.

It is also the only time you can take 12 lobster a day instead of 6, as long as you stay out of Monroe County and Biscayne National Park.

John Pennekamp closes to lobster harvest during mini season, but reopens for the regular season.

Night diving stays open everywhere except Monroe County, which is worth knowing when the daytime spots are shoulder to shoulder.

Expect it to be chaos.

People get up at 4am to hit spots they have had marked for years.

It is the most boats you will see on the water all year, and for plenty of those owners it is one of the only times they take the boat out at all.

That combination makes it genuinely more dangerous out there than a normal day of diving.

Worth weighing when you decide whether the extra six lobster are actually worth it.

What It Costs to Start