Happy Lobster Season, Y'all

[ProfessorLongArms]

Hey all,
I'd posted this elsewhere and thought I'd share here for any who like to share the stoke

Lobster is such a medley of feelings for me.

I’ve been freediving for just shy of 2 years, and my course actually was punctuated by a spear/lobster trip in PV.

While my first year was slow starting, my second year was one of absolute frustration where I reached a point of focusing on other more fruitful pursuits in spearing and foraging.
Setbacks included almost dislocating my shoulder with the help of a big wave on the rocks in PV in pitch dark *and* losing my brand new dive watch in the process, sifting through dozens of shorts just to find a stray legal here and there, and just generally not understanding how to get one out of the rocks when I’d find them holed up.

Also, acknowledging that one doesn’t really get to choose how they feel as much as how they listen to that feeling, I have an unusually strong feeling of anthropomorphizing lobster.
Second only to an Octopus, it’s one of the only ocean creatures I feel a good bit of unease and remorse toward harvesting for food.
I think part of it is that they move remarkably similar to our little rescue pup when she’s nervous.
I think another part of it is my wife’s strong push for me to make absolutely sure I’m humanely dispatching them (something that’s pretty widely debated...

My approach finally settled on putting them in the freezer for half an hour while doing other stuff, and then bisecting completely down the middle longways….
If you think that's impractical or over the top, and prefer boiling a critter alive or ripping its lower half off while it's still kicking....
I'm not really sure what to tell you and you can keep that one to yourself

Not to say any of _that_ would stop me in my pursuit. Lobster tail seems a pretty amazing culinary balm on my conscience. 😊
Plus I think it’s a healthy opportunity to actually sit with some sadness around the fact that being an omnivore means killing stuff.

Anyway, the first of October had a pretty pivotal day for me. I’d had one fruitless frustrating day hunt to start the season, and kept finding that the shadow I cast was driving any bugs deeper in their holes, despite seeing well over 50 in a couple of hours.
Full skunk. I was actually considering getting a set of hoop nets for my kayak and just saying screw it.

On the 6th I decided to take a birthday dive with a favorite dive buddy and meet up with some good friends who were hooping.

Not only was I able to pull three legals in a few hours (leaving only for parking restrictions), I fell in love with a new spot that was different from anywhere else I’ve tried, and I finally had a technique just “click”.
Part of it was some gains I’ve made in freediving… not just bottom time, but the ability to shut out my brain’s noise of “JFC you’re holding your breath in the water” and just zero in on a catch. I immediately recognized that feeling of peace a few times that night and it felt like solid gold.

All of this is to say, I’m regularly gratified by the decision to take on freediving, kayak fishing, and spearfishing as an intense challenge, specifically as a test of patience and will. The learning curve can be such a daunting one, and I keep thinking about something I recently heard on a fishing podcast about the difference between conscious vs unconscious competence and incompetence. Something I’ve learned over the past two years is that if I can just push my frustration and energy into being more educated and aware of my lack of competence, the rest will follow in time…

All of it reminds me of a saying from my best friend and business mentor “You’d be amazed at what you can get done if you just show up and be in a good mood”

So far I'm at 6 bugs on the season. Following that trip, I hit one of my favorite reefs for a late night hunt, and managed to learn a new sensation: What a sculpin sting actually feels like. One of my first legal bugs for the night was huddled under some kelp, and I didn't see the Sculpin right next to it.

My immediate thought was "Wow, that lobster's spine got through my dyneema glove... That's unusual".... Then about 2 minutes later, I started to feel it spread, and immediately knew what I'd done. I was thankfully able to just barely use my hand enough to pull 3 for the night, but there was definitely a touch and go period between 30 and 90 minutes in where I was afraid I might have to call it. Might have been a bit of swearing. Can't be sure.

Aside from the early sharp throbbing pain, I basically got a glimpse of what arthritis must feel like, all the way up to my elbow.
Thankfully two advil and a Benadryl helped me get to sleep that night, and it was only about 48 hours before the swelling/soreness went away entirely.

I'm still pretty new to cooking them, but I've not been too keen on the whole "Thorned-antenna-as-Disembowling-tool", so I've been content to just cut straight down the middle, separate the tail, remove the intestine and organs, and steam both halves.... I haven't been able to really find a difference in texture from boiling/steaming whole, and have actually found it easier to gauge doneness.

From there, I've been diligently making stock, and *LOVING* the bisque that I get from shellfish. Head meat and a little sheephead or calico goes really well in there.... Super simple recipe.... I just make a sachet of herbs (usually parsley and whatever I have lying around), cook up mire pox (carrots, onion, celery) or sub in bell pepper for the carrots if I'm feeling cajun trinity.... White wine or sherry to deglaze once they're nice and brown... Then lobster stock to cook down until they're soft enough to throw in the blender. Bit of cream and some more butter when it's nice and smooth... Can't beat it with a stick.

Since I can't seem to get enough of it, I've also been grabbing an urchin or two when I'm headed home.... Such a a nice and easy side if that's the sort of thing you're into

Aside from steaming, boiling, grilling, smoking, and making stock...
I'm curious what you like to do with your lobster.

[chris138]

Nice write up and beautiful pictures. Truthfully, I'm not sure that many will relate with your anthropomorphization of the invertebrates. Seems that the further away from a cute cuddly bunny or kitten you get, even animal lovers have little empathy for the plight of the lowly arthropods. I will say it is an encouraging sign for our species of strange warmongering apes that more and more people won't kill bugs, and rather lean towards "relocating them" in the household. I also think it is a evolutionary progression, as we separate ourselves further and further from the true brutality of nature. Shit it was only a few thousand years ago that humans had little ethical dilemma with murdering and raping each other, to say nothing of the other creatures on the planet.

However, I do agree that there is a part of me inside that just feels terrible about boiling an animal alive. It's kind of a cop out when people lean on the "god put the animals here for us to eat" excuse. BUT, I also think it is a valuable exercise in true humanity (humanity being admittedly distinct from humanely) to perform the deed yourself rather than purchasing industrially harvested animal flesh. I make the conscious decision to end this animals life and consume it's tender goodness, and see the grim reality of a horrible death which I myself might one day face. The early natives of North America likely felt similarly, and that act connects us with our past. Western civilization and our factory farms and slaughterhouses intentionally separate us from that experience and I think that kind robs us of that and blinds us from accepting our own inevitable demise.

Anyway, take shrooms, listen to the Joe Rogan podcast, and kill away my fellow apes. The fact that you ponder the suffering of marine cockroaches gives me a little hope for humanity. Cheers!

[TCS]

That was a great bit of writing! Thanks. Amazing pics too.
I’ve been tempted to try diving for lobster but seem to wimp out every year. How did you get started? Diving with a buddy?

[ProfessorLongArms]

Originally Posted by chris138

Nice write up and beautiful pictures. Truthfully, I'm not sure that many will relate with your anthropomorphization of the invertebrates. Seems that the further away from a cute cuddly bunny or kitten you get, even animal lovers have little empathy for the plight of the lowly arthropods. I will say it is an encouraging sign for our species of strange warmongering apes that more and more people won't kill bugs, and rather lean towards "relocating them" in the household. I also think it is a evolutionary progression, as we separate ourselves further and further from the true brutality of nature. Shit it was only a few thousand years ago that humans had little ethical dilemma with murdering and raping each other, to say nothing of the other creatures on the planet.

However, I do agree that there is a part of me inside that just feels terrible about boiling an animal alive. It's kind of a cop out when people lean on the "god put the animals here for us to eat" excuse. BUT, I also think it is a valuable exercise in true humanity (humanity being admittedly distinct from humanely) to perform the deed yourself rather than purchasing industrially harvested animal flesh. I make the conscious decision to end this animals life and consume it's tender goodness, and see the grim reality of a horrible death which I myself might one day face. The early natives of North America likely felt similarly, and that act connects us with our past. Western civilization and our factory farms and slaughterhouses intentionally separate us from that experience and I think that kind robs us of that and blinds us from accepting our own inevitable demise.

Anyway, take shrooms, listen to the Joe Rogan podcast, and kill away my fellow apes. The fact that you ponder the suffering of marine cockroaches gives me a little hope for humanity. Cheers!

First of all, thank you
I've pretty strong feels toward your videos and your chops as a fisherman.

I'd say anyone who has read 5 words of my writing or watched 5 seconds of my videos knows the one thing I like to do is ponder and consider

I couldn't agree more that as a *world* we've done a crazy good job of abstracting our food from its source.... A hamburger from a round from a cow's ass from an actual living cow.... My grandfather raised beef and chicken, and I've hunted squirrel (true Alabama roots are in boiled squirrel if they're anywhere ), deer, dove, duck, geese and turkey since I was about 8.
Point is I know from getting my hands dirty.

Since we're pondering, I look at fishing in general as buying an experience more than anything. It'd be a lot more economic in terms of time/energy/money to just go buy some fish, but the lot of us decided that journey would *be* the destination, and right the hell on. I'm impressed by anyone who gets their money's worth on gear purchases pound for pound in fish.... I probably don't even break even on lures

What vexes me, and an idea I cannot get my head around, is when someone gets into fishing or spearfishing without much interest in the food of it. Someone recently mentioned a problem with spearos who will shoot a fish and toss it... My jaw was on the floor, as I literally hadn't fathomed the idea.

I don't go so far as to convince myself I'm out here homesteading to feed my family when in fact I could just buy fish and take up knitting, but I do connect most with the romanticized notion of the story of my food.... Connecting both with the thrill and the challenge of the hunt and the heritage of the food culture and recipes older than the country I live in.... Understanding how hard it is to beat hand-made pasta with 2 ingredients alongside a fish you caught that day and greens from your garden.
I also have no judgment toward anyone who wants to pull the fillets, toss the carcass, and batter them in corn flakes every damn meal.

I think, as you say, we're evolved as warmongering apes (and on my worst days I would argue we're not much better than we were back then, just a lot more comfortable lately) but we're also really good at assigning meaning to whatever we see before us. For me, the meaning I assign is pretty cut and dry.

I remember, when I was in high school the first time I killed an animal with a sick feeling in my stomach. I'd been hunting for going on a decade, and always at least field dressed my kill. My dad's best friend was a raging alcoholic and he took me to south Alabama to hunt Geese while my dad was out of town. He drove two dry counties over after we'd hunted that afternoon to pick up a case of beer before heading back to where we were staying....
I walked out the next morning and realized despite him telling me he would that he'd not fully dispatched the geese we shot or gutted them.
They were right where we'd left them in the back of the truck, wide eyed and still barely alive under a tarp. Not only was it needless suffering, but it was a waste of meat.

I don't like that feeling, much as you could imagine, and I find myself with a pretty solid sense of urgency about dispatching my kill.

I guess that's (on-brand for me) my long-winded way of saying that it's hard to know where the science lands on whether Lobsters *feel* pain or what the implications of their aversion are, and even still whether that matters since we're making them into meat anyway. Some countries in EU make their restaurants buy expensive electrocution apparatus on the notion that they feel pain... I'm not sure I fall all the way over on that end of the spectrum.

I *will* say that knowing a lobster isn't *conscious* while I'm dispatching them, I tend to not have that sick feeling.... and since I'm buying my own experience, I'll take that one with a side of fries... or mushrooms I guess

...And absolutely no judgment toward anyone who feels otherwise.

[ProfessorLongArms]

Originally Posted by TCS

That was a great bit of writing! Thanks. Amazing pics too.
I’ve been tempted to try diving for lobster but seem to wimp out every year. How did you get started? Diving with a buddy?

Thanks!!!
Lobster diving can be one of the easier entry points to free-diving/spearing to be sure. Half the time you can find them in 6 feet of water in the eelgrass.

I'd been kayak fishing for about a year, and had also decided to take up Lap Swimming since I was starting to get a little pudge from diet and just not being 20 something anymore....

I'd recommend going about it the same way I did, and if you find you're serious about it, taking a free-diving course. I can't tell you how many people I know who've been diving for a year plus who took a course and said "I can't believe how dangerous I was being"
Some people argue they're an expensive way to get into the sport and not entirely necessary, but compared to the cost of a decent wetsuit, mask, fins, lobster bag, dive light, speargun, etc. etc. etc. it's pretty reasonable as an insurance policy.

There are a number of spearo forums on Facebook for CA and SoCal, and a lot of people just go to a shop, buy the gear, and jump in the ocean.
Similar to Kayak Fishing, it can be a lot more fun and a lot safer if you have buddies. There's a conventional wisdom that you *never* dive alone because most people who die do so from an unrescued blackout.

Feel free to shoot me a DM if you'd like to chat about it more. I tend to almost exclusively dive with certified freedivers for my own safety, but I'm always happy to chat and answer any questions you might have.

[Oolie]

https://shizuokagourmet.com/category/ise-ebi/


Don't forget to eat the "wata" or in english "tomalley".


Some of the best stuff in there.

[Saba Slayer]

Think twice about eating this part of the lobster as it is the liver and pancreas that you are devouring...these are the filters that take out all the terrible stuff...

[chris138]

Originally Posted by Oolie

https://shizuokagourmet.com/category/ise-ebi/


Don't forget to eat the "wata" or in english "tomalley".


Some of the best stuff in there.

I got a comment on my yotube about the tomalley, and I thought he was talking about "Tamales" hahaha I was like dam that sounds delicious!

[bracks]

Such a wonderful read. Thanks for sharing. I too experience the mixed emotions when dispatching a fish. Gratitude is what mostly carries the day, paired with a quick reminder of my commitment to respect the fish by taking care of the catch. That moment is kind of sort of the main way I get that wonderful reminder of my place on this earth and how we're all connected.

Plus ~ yea, factory farming is typically awful for animals and the ecosystems they exist in. The more I can catch/eat wild animals from wild places, the better. I know there's the question of 'how to feed the world' with wild animals which I haven't answered for myself but I'm also a proponent of local food and local supply chains which I think is more philosophically in balance with how nature works.

Thanks for the idea of freezing the lobster before dispatching.

[f'nsabiki]

I love your posts. I look at mine, and there's a doofus holding a bloody fish with a couple sentences. You elevate yours to a whole new cerebral level--coupled with the near work of art photography ( I don't know if you will ever top the lizard eating flies)

[JohnMckroidJr]

Beautiful photos and a nice Read, love the choice of words and vocabulary you bring to your posts.

[DanaPT]

Good post. Unfortunately I see a sea insect. I feel more for the mackeral I kill for the lobster I really want.


I do use every part of lobster, love the stock and do appreciate the vittles the bugs offer.

[SoCalEDC]

Good post Spencer. Great pics. I can sympathize with the feeling of remorse over killing that lobster. Taking life from any living creature is something that should have an effect on everyone, even if its "just" a lobster or fish.

[ProfessorLongArms]

Originally Posted by bracks

Such a wonderful read. Thanks for sharing. I too experience the mixed emotions when dispatching a fish. Gratitude is what mostly carries the day, paired with a quick reminder of my commitment to respect the fish by taking care of the catch. That moment is kind of sort of the main way I get that wonderful reminder of my place on this earth and how we're all connected.

Plus ~ yea, factory farming is typically awful for animals and the ecosystems they exist in. The more I can catch/eat wild animals from wild places, the better. I know there's the question of 'how to feed the world' with wild animals which I haven't answered for myself but I'm also a proponent of local food and local supply chains which I think is more philosophically in balance with how nature works.

Thanks for the idea of freezing the lobster before dispatching.

Thanks for the kind words and the encouragement

You actually just reminded me of this interview which is really fascinating and a cool look at diversifying food systems to more local options rather than the commercially optimized ones. https://www.noobspearo.com/valentine...-spearfishing/

[ProfessorLongArms]

Oh hey I finally figured out this damn multi-quote thing.

Originally Posted by f'nsabiki

I love your posts. I look at mine, and there's a doofus holding a bloody fish with a couple sentences. You elevate yours to a whole new cerebral level--coupled with the near work of art photography ( I don't know if you will ever top the lizard eating flies)

Hahahaha I can't imagine I'm more than a doofus with *a lot* of sentences Cheers! And yeah... I still go back and watch that lizard... that shit cracks me up.

Originally Posted by JohnMckroidJr

Beautiful photos and a nice Read, love the choice of words and vocabulary you bring to your posts.

Originally Posted by DanaPT

Good post. Unfortunately I see a sea insect. I feel more for the mackeral I kill for the lobster I really want.


I do use every part of lobster, love the stock and do appreciate the vittles the bugs offer.

heh. yeah I have so little compunction chopping up some mac for strip bait on the boat... But yeah that stock is insane, the gelatinous quality it imparts... I made a bisque with shallots for some fresh Scallops just last night.

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

Good post Spencer. Great pics. I can sympathize with the feeling of remorse over killing that lobster. Taking life from any living creature is something that should have an effect on everyone, even if its "just" a lobster or fish.