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Any country boy or girl will tell you that chasing a greased pig is mighty fun! But I guarantee you it's not as fun as grabbin' spiny bugs underwater. More than half the fun of lobster hunting is in the hunt. The absolutely fantastic eating is just a mouthwatering bonus!

Lobster season in California starts this year October 2 at one minute after midnight (12:01 a.m.) on Saturday morning. How appropriate! The California spiny lobster (Panilurus interuptus) is nocturnal, only coming out a night. Midnight is very appropriate indeed.

To get your fun lobster hunting and to get your lobster dinner, you need to get into action. . .

Get Prepared
A night diving class is never more appropriate. Night diving even without the lobster is very worthwhile. Lobster makes it a challenging contest of pursuit.

Frankly, night diving can be intimidating to the new diver. A night-diving certification class will give you your first exposure to the inky black depths under the proper supervision of trained and experienced instructors. You will be trained in the proper use of lights, supplemental lights, back-up lights, buddy system, shore lights and more. It sounds complicated but it's not. Night diving is very much like diving with tunnel vision. Your light narrows your field of vision into a spotlight world.

Get Equipped
Buy the biggest and best light possible. The wider the beam, the more bottom you will see and cover, hence seeing more lobster. Headlights are an excellent supplemental light for lobster hunting, freeing up both hands for the scurrying creatures. You'll need a diver marker light, often a "chemical light," but there are a lot of new battery powered marker lights that work well and burn long. You'll also need a back-up light, something powerful but small enough to fit in your BC pocket.

Other equipment you'll need include a game bag, lobster gauge and a good pair of gloves. There are two kinds of game bags, or a combo of the two: mesh and cloth. A cloth bag will last longer but does not hold bugs as well (one lobster can jump out when you put another in). Lobsters cling to the inside of a mesh bag. The best game bags are ones that are cloth on the top and mesh on the bottom.

Minimum legal size for lobster is 3 1/4" across the top of the body from the notch between the spines at the top of its head to where the tail joins the body. Law requires you to have a caliper-style gauge and to measure lobsters while in the water. No short lobster can be brought to the surface. A thin aluminum gauge is best as this will give you the most accurate measure - and they're cheap, as well. Speaking of the law, don't forget a fishing licence!

And finally, you need a good pair of gloves. While our local lobsters don't have claws, they are not called "spiny" lobster for nothing. Good gloves are essential to protect your hands from puncture. In California, sport divers can take lobster only by hand.

Get Practiced
Practicing includes scouting out the best sites. Scouting sites is key to early season success, particularly if shore diving. Check out breakwaters and popular shore sites BEFORE season opens.

Once lobster season is opened, dive as often as you can, grabbing as many legal sized bugs as you can. The more your grab, the better you'll get at it. Lobster out in the open at night are best first pinned to the bottom, then grabbed. If they are backed into a crevice, get a hold of base of the antennae (not the antennae; they break) and give it a good shake to pull it out if it "locks-up" in the hole. Once you've got 'em, hang on tight! A flip of their powerful tail can break them free. They love to grab on. Have them hold onto your other hand while you measure. Hold large bugs to your chest. Measure and bag it tail first (they swim backwards).

Get Scheduled
The more you get in the water, the more bugs you'll catch. Hitting the reefs through the fall and winter will get you lobster all season long, but the best time is early in the season, preferably in the first few days. Commercial lobster trappers start pulling in lobster the Wednesday after our Saturday season opener. Once that starts, not only will you be competing with other divers, but commercial trappers as well. And lobster traps catch 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

So make plans for an opening weekend dive. Line up buddies and, if it's not already too late, make boat reservations.

Lobster hunting this year will be good and, as always, fun. Dive into the thick of the underwater version of a greased pig grab!

Dale Sheckler is editor and publisher of California Diving News and coauthor of the book Southern California's Best Beach Dives.