LA CUCARACHA DE FLORIDA

It''s lobster mini-season!

Comments

[Annie Where-but-here]

No wonder Dave was so scared of falling into the water. Them creepy crawlies live in there.

[Ralph]

Yabbut do they sing and dance?

[nursecindy]

They may be La Cucaracha DE Florida but they are so good on a plate with some melted butter on the side. Yum!

[Siouxie]

Lobster - YUMMMMMMMMO!!!!!

We're gonna need a lot more butter.

[Mot the Hoople]

Those are what we call crayfish in this neck of the woods because they've got no pincers. Some people also refer to them as rock lobsters. Whatever the name,they are friggen' good to eat. Most popular method of cooking is to split them open and to BBQ them right there on the beach.

[Christine]

how do you make those little music note thingies?

"Somebody went under a dock
And there they saw a rock
It wasn't a rock
It was a rock lobster!"

Finally something to replace "Billie Jean" in the soundtrack of my head...

[js]

& # 9 8 3 4 ; (without the spaces) for ♪

& # 9 8 3 5 ; (ditto) for ♫

there are a few more, but i can't remember them. :)

(and it's You Rock My World for me. gah)

[CJrun]

Dave's probably in Idaho to get away from Mini-Season. It's not visible in those shots, but there are so many boats out there that you can just walk across them to get back to shore!

[Jeff Meyerson]

"Eye of the Tiger"? I thought they were lobsters.

Also, Hardcore Lobster & the Tickler Sticks - GNFARB.

*goes to search for lobster bib*

[Jeff Meyerson]

♫

[judi]

i changed the video.

[Loudmouth]

Down, Down, Down

[Loudmouth]

Dredges up Rock Lobster on iPod.

[Jeff Meyerson]

&9835; I want to be, under the sea &9835;

[Jeff Meyerson]

Sorry - ♫

[tw]

Ralph - if you want to see a water animal sing and dance, nothing beats the classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1vH2rjUshk

[oneblankspace]

but there's a catch

Lots of people sure hope there is.

And nice move, not making fun of totally ignoring the author's name.

[Allen at Division]

Siouxie--Not being from Florida, I think you'll need to explain to me the use of "tickler sticks"...ahem!

[NotSherly]

This is what we're up against in Cape Cod.

[MartiniShark]

Mini-season, non-lobster tale:

Back when I was scuba diving we knew to avoid the mass idiocy of this event. Instead my friend and I would get a 12-pack and sit at the Hillborough Inlet draw bridge after high-tide to watch the amateurs try to pilot through the narrow channel during a roiling current. Always good comedy.

We watched two guys with a small skiff and dive tanks coming in with their bow line in the water trailing behind them. We called down to let them know, and they looked at the water, then back to us and promptly flipped us off. Right on cue they hit some wake and the boat lurched as the bow line bent around the transom and got wrapped around their prop so they were dead in the water. This happened as a huge fishing trawler tried to pass through and the captain had to cut his wheel to keep from grinding these guys into kindling. The current got hold of his boat and we watched the 45' boat travel under the bridge sideways with about one foot clearance on either side and come out in the inlet facing the wrong direction. Somehow he avoided hitting the bridge embankment or any other boats.

Last we saw the current was taking the two idiots past the jetty and back out to sea.

[Not My Usual Alias]

I'm confused. Why would people want 24 lobsters to have as pets? Wouldn't one or two be enough?

Is butter one of their natural foods?

[CJrun]

judi changed the video over to what I would call a cheater; a guy wearing air tanks. To me, spear fishing or lobstering with SCUBA isn't sport; it's just shopping!

Allen, the tickler is because the lobsters move backwards, very fast, when approached from the front; you tickle their rears (!) and they don't shoot backwards, which gives you a chance to grab them.

[Punkin]

Having a son-in-law and a brother-in-law in the lobstah business, I can tell you that Judi & NotSherly are right - those are NOT lobsters! They're creepy spider-bug thingies.

*shuddddder*

Y'all come up to Maine and try your tickler sticks on ours

[Steve]

Oh, come on. I've seen Florida cockroaches and they could eat those bugs for breakfast.
And a good Fire Ant hill could be down with the swine flu and still finish one or those off.
I'll go looking for a good rattlesnake but a fire and sends me running. Just one, that's all it takes.

[Annie Where-but-here]

crossgirl....I'm not even gonna ask. ;)

[Diva]

CJ - don't let cg see Ralph's video!!

Also - Sherly - now THAT'S dinner!

[Allen at Division]

CJ--no thanks. Last time I tried to use a tickler stick I got *SMACKED*!

But I will help put the butter on... *S*

[Loudmouth]

Lobster noodling.

[bonmot]

I don't move very fast when someone tickles my rear, either.

I loved in the video how the lobsters seemed to be signaling with their antennae -- "Take THAT GUY -- over THERE!"

And is a lobster mini-season the same as a mini-lobster season? Wouldn't those be crawdads?

[Will]

Mot, I speak from experience when I say that crawfish do have pincers. Sharp ones.
And besides crawfish are much, much smaller than these old langoustines.

[Brian]

This is the second time in the past 24 years that I have been unable to accompany my buddies down to the Florida Keys for mini-season. It has been the same group of about 6-8 guys and we have never failed to get our limit of what are properly called
Caribbean Spiny Lobster. I can assure you that although these little buggers don't have pincher claws, there still is some amount of hazard involved in getting them onto the plate. The various fire coral scars, jellyfish stings and other indigenous meanies have left their marks. Not to mention the "drivers squeeze" headache and those from the rum and gin in copious amounts.

Now I know that this doesn't sound all that bad, and its not. That's the best part of it all. The video that's up there now got me salivating and looking for some garlic butter. The one he pulls out from under the ledge is more than the legal size limit. Just legal is about 1lb, that one goes close to 2lbs I bet. Nice!

I know exactly what I would/should be doing at this exact moment at MM72 with my friends. They are back from their first dive, resting and re-hydrating themselves. :) They're waiting for the tide to return to its "slack stage" so that the current allows them to circle from bridge piling to bridge piling and bag as many bugs as the limit allows.

It's always one of the best times of the year since everyone can have a great time and forget about the worries of normal life in the Keys for a few days, have some good food, and go home with a bag full of tails.

Did I mention the part about re-hydration?
Lorelei's
Papa Joes
The Tiki Bar
The Bull
Caribbean Club
Islamorada Fish Company
Safari Lounge
Woodies
Sloppy Joes
And just the good old back porch.

Oh man....why am I not there right now?
: (

[MartiniShark]

mini-season update:

1 person dead, 1 person missing. Expect those number to climb; Darwin awards to follow.

[B52s]

Rock Lobster Classic

[bonmot]

Brian, there are "worries of normal life in the Keys"?

Like what? Will the ice in my glass last until the end of my Cuba Libre?

I love the Keys. And lobsters are tasty critters. So are what we here in Texas call mudbugs, or crawfish. Langoustines are better, though.

[Brian]

Sorry bonmot, first of all, let's not underestimate the need for appropriate quantities of ice!...but it was a little matter of one, misplaced comma.....although in The Keys, "coma" might be a bit more appropriate.
Read as:
"...worries of normal life, in the Keys."
; )

Sharkie...
I've not gotten anything yet today, but in past years I've had my share of unfortunate deceased folks with assorted prop cuts, drownings, etc. The best times are usually Columbus Day...naturally ; )...and mini-season. Definite Darwin situations.

Siouxie...
"I see...."
...well, you know!
; )

[Mot the Hoople]

Will I said crayfish, not crawfish, a different species entirely.