Time for some tail. ( and my lobster bisque recipe )

First Lobster of the season

Lobster Mini season was this last week. Mini season or Sportsmans season it a two day season that allows recreational divers to go out and catch lobster one week before the regular season begins on August 6th. We had a big group of guests in town so we had to do two trips each day to get everyone out on the little boat. Our first morning was a bit slow but by afternoon we figured out where they were. I am not sure if it was the slick calm conditions or what, but I can't remember ever seeing as many boats out there as we did. So many of the people that come down for mini season get so wrapped up in the hunt for bugs that they forget how much fun it can be. Yes its hard work at times but when you just relax and enjoy the fact that you are in the water and drifting around in clear water where you have a chance to catch a lobster, it can really be lots of fun.  The docks were full of boats every afternoon cleaning their catches and sharing stories of the day. The part I love the most is seeing all the families on the dock. There were quite a few smaller boats at the marina with lots of little kids. What a great way to spend summer vacation.

One of my favorite ways to prepare lobster is in a bisque. I have had about 5 requests for the recipe. So here it is. Yes Its fattening but damn its good.

Seasons first batch of Lobster Bisque

Boil 8 lobster tails. As the tails boil, there will be a foam that forms on the surface of the water, paddle this foam off and put it in a bowl on the side. Remove the meat from the shell and Chop it up. Put one stick of salted Butter in a pot. Chop up the onion part of a scallion and cook it off in the melting butter. Then add flour to the butter to make a Rue. ( just add the flour a bit at a time till the butter becomes a thick paste.) With the heat still on medium high, add one pint of heavy cream to the paste.  also whisk in the foam that you saddled off earlier. It will mix together but you have to stir constantly. Now add one small can of tomato paste. Your rue will still be a bit thick. At this point add about a half of a cup of Cooking sherry. Whisk it in. Now add salt and pepper to your taste. I add a spoon full of minced garlic to mine but it is optional.  At this point you can add milk to thin out your bisque. I add a few shakes of Cayenne pepper at this point as well. Add it slowly so you don't make the bisque to spicy. Your lobster can now be added as well as some more of the chopped scallion. ( The green part). You need to cook the bisque at medium heat for a half an hour and tend it constantly. During this time, You can add a little more milk or a touch more flour to get your bisque to the right consistency. At this point the bisque will not be at its best. You need to reduce the heat and let it simmer for at a minimum of two hours. As it simmers, the lobster will cook apart and the bisque will become more creamy.  You may need to ad a few more splashes of sherry but be careful not to over do it. You want to have a hint of the sweet taste of the sherry but to much and the entire pot is ruined.
Sorry for those of you asking for the lobster mac and cheese recipe... Miss peaches would kill me if I give that one out.

The Yellow tail snapper fishing has been outstanding. We had one day where we caught out limit of 70 in just a couple of hours. Its hard to find a better tasting snapper than yellow tail. We were fishing in about 75 feet of water, and had the snapper swarming behind the boat. Its so much fun to use light spinning tackle to catch them. The only problem that we did have is the Jewfish ( Or Goliath grouper if you want to be politically correct). If you lost sight of the snapper you hooked in the upper 30 feet of the water, the jewfish would eat them. we even had some of the jewfish come up and eat out snappers 20 feet below the boat. The State of florida and or NMFS has really got to revisit regulations on jew fish. They are overpopulating so many areas. As I always say, " how many bananas does a 500 pound gorilla eat in a day. These fish eat a lot of the fish that NMFS is trying to protect.

Heated Corn Hole game on the dock

Polly is not a fan of Corn Hole

Day time bar crawl

They make a mean Pain Killer

Me and the Boss

Cleaning Yellow Tail Snapper

Sunrise on Opening day of Mini Season

Some of our gang grabbing bugs

Nice Tub of crustaceans 

Get in my belly

Thats a lot of tail and some nice lobsters as well

Bahamian style lobster Mac and cheese

Dawn on the dock at A and B marina

A live well full of Bugs

Matts sister Michele joined us for a Yellowtail Snapper trip

Box'em up

I wuv yewo tail snapper from the weef

Michele fighting a nice one

Good size tails

Cleaning bugs on the dock

Proud snorkelers

Jason with the two bigs ones that I caught

Nice spread

This bugs for you

Day two

Its more fun to catch them than to clean them