A FULL MEASURE - Not only is there a full measure of taste satisfaction in each spiny lobster, but also there is careful measurement of the legal 3.25 inches from the eye to the end of the carapace.

Photo by: Jay Carson

It’s that delicious time of year again as the Southern California lobster season is in full gear.

The season has started by the time you read this article, and the first or second “catches” have already been hauled in and most likely sold and consumed with drawn butter, garlic, and tortillas.

Everyone loves lobster, and in Southern California, the catch is plentiful due to a very well regulated and controlled fishery. The law states that the public can catch lobster by hand or hoop net, but no spearing.

And, the size is scrutinized to allow only 3.25 inches measured from the eye to the end of the carapace. If you cheat, “the law” will fine you big time, and if you are a commercial fisherman and cheat, you lose both your license and your livelihood.

Even the size and construction of a lobster or crab trap is under regulation. A typical trap costs about $75-$80 and is made of wire coated with creosote material to inhibit rusting; zinc anodes are also wired on the trap to prevent electrolysis.

The trap is also set with four to five pieces of hinged material that will disintegrate and allow the trapped inhabitants to escape if the trap is lost - again, regulated to preserve the fishery for years to come.

Only About 250 Licenses

There are only about 250 licenses issued in Southern California, and Steve Escobar, a doryman - in fact one of six dorymen left in Newport Beach and Dana Point - has had the privilege of owning a license for the past 19 years.

Steve “Crabby Steve” Escobar (has nothing to do with his personality) has continued with over three generations of dorymen. “Crabby Steve” is up at 3 a.m. ready to start the long day of tending his 200 traps and hopefully finding “keepers” of legal size.

His dory is now fiberglass instead of wood, and he propels it with a new Honda outboard instead of oars.

The traps are baited with cat food still in the cans or well-seasoned fish carcasses. Each weighs about 40 pounds, and after a day of lifting and replacing the traps - by hand, by the way - Escobar then puts the day’s catch in live-well traps, then gathers them in the morning to sell at the fish market in Newport Beach.

I asked Escobar if he ever had any problems with poaching. He said, “Yes, we all do; most of them are divers who steal the catch from below the surface.”

He says that he sets the traps in a special way so as to tell if there has been any tampering. Fish & Game also take poaching seriously and will sometimes bait the traps with a dye-marked lobster.

Local Officer Catches Poachers

Escobar said that there is a local Fish & Game officer who has become a hero among the fisherman because of his relentless quest to catch poachers. Officer Spencer Gilbert will actually don scuba gear and tap poachers on the shoulder underwater as they attempt to steal the fishermen’s catch.

He will then flash his badge, beckon them to surface, and proceed with the arrest. How’s that for dedication?

Escobar’s lobsters are sold live and whole, and at the break of dawn, he meets with his wife Tawny who is dressed in hip boots and fishing slickers ready to go to work tending to the retail end of the business. She operates three stalls at the fishermen’s outdoor market at the pier in Newport Beach.

Escobar has made it a point to sell his lobster and crab only to local markets and customers. Years ago, the Japanese were trying to buy up all the lobster in the Southern California and Mexican waters, but Escobar and a few other Dorymen held out and decided to forego the tempting offer to sell to foreign markets.

It paid off, as Steve and his wife have many loyal customers. There is never any unsold lobster at the end of the day.

Books Written About Dorymen

Many books have been written about Escobar and the last of the traditional Dorymen of generations past. And, there is nothing else Crabby Steve would rather do than talk about and share his experiences as a fisherman on the waters of Southern California.

Escobar is available for seminars in which he brings actual live octopus, eels, lobster, and crabs for all to see and touch. Have you ever held an octopus? They’re “cute.”

He is also writing his own cookbook with favorite recipes on how to cook eels, crab, and lobster. These authentic recipes have been gathered from many of the fisherman at the open market in Newport.

The cookbook will be on sale sometime late next year.

For more information on anything to do with the Dorymen or Escobar’s true love of the fishing life, call him anytime at (949) 499-0593 or stop down at the pier in Newport Beach on any Saturday morning and meet him and his wife in person.

Tell him you read about him in The Log Newspaper and that Jay sent you. Who knows, he might give you a deal on some lobster.

Crabby Steve Escobar will be giving a seminar Nov. 4 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club located at 1601 Bayside Dr. Corona Del Mar. Call Romeo for reservations at (949) 644-9530. This is a free seminar open to the public.

If you missed this fun evening of crustaceans and kids here's some photos taken by Cherie Sogsti for the OC Register.