Rookie Year Lobster Hunting in the Florida Keys

My rookie lobster season in the Florida Keys: two trips, a lot of breath-holding practice, one very persistent barracuda, and a fresh lobster fry to finish. Tickle stick, net, and a whole lot of learning. Here's how it went. In March 2024 the crew and I hit the Keys for my first real try at freediving for spiny lobster. I was learning everything: staying down long enough, tickling a bug out of its hole and getting the net around it in time. In August we came back for round two: green-water grass flats, a ledge stacked with lobster, a barracuda that would not leave us alone, and the catch we came for. We wrap it up in the kitchen with a lobster fry. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:14 March 2024: heading out to the reef 0:55 First dives 1:18 Reef montage 2:30 First bug in the net 2:58 First lobster lesson 3:40 August 2024: back for round two 4:01 Hunting the grass flats 5:06 The ledge 6:31 Barracuda escort 6:54 The catch 8:12 Lobster fry 8:31 Thanks for watching All lobster measured in the water with a gauge; licensed with lobster permits; shorts released. Always check current FWC rules (myfwc.com) before you go. Music: "Paradise Found" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... "Moonlight Beach" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... "Island Meet and Greet" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... "Investigations" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Additional music from Mixkit (mixkit.co), Mixkit Stock Music Free License: "Bigger than Texas" by Michael Ramir C. "West Side Of Flo'" by Eugenio Mininni Follow Florida Reel Mechanics: YouTube:    / @floridareelmechanics   [Instagram link] [Facebook link] [TikTok link] [Other links] #lobster #floridakeys #freediving