Remember slap bracelets, those rigid strips of thin metal covered with colorful fabric that curled into a circle around a kid’s wrist when slapped against the forearm?
Ray Healy, a Miami-Dade firefighter and frequent Florida Keys fisherman, knew them well, but hadn’t expected them to inspire his new invention, the Lobster Slapper Gauge.
“With 9-year-old twins? You better believe I was familiar with slap bracelets. They were all over our house,” Healy said of his kids’ fashion accessory that would become his patent-pending Lobster Slapper, which retails for $8.99 at World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada, Florida Keys tackle shops, gift shops and five Bass Pro Shops throughout Florida. They’re also available online at lobsterslapper.com.
“Over the years I have used — and lost — all types of lobster equipment,” said Healy, who has spent his life “bugging” for spiny lobster in the Florida Keys. “I wanted a product I could have on me at all times, that wouldn’t get tangled in my lobster net or tickle stick and that wouldn’t bleed rust all over my boat deck. I was ready for something new.”
After a few years of prototypes and adaptations, enter the Lobster Slapper.
Approximately 11 inches long when straightened, it resembles an adult-sized slap bracelet, but with a 3-inch notch cut in one side. To be legal, a spiny lobster’s carapace, or body, must exceed 3 inches, so if the lobster’s carapace fits entirely inside the Lobster Slapper notch, it’s undersized and illegal.
Healy wears the Lobster Slapper around his wrist while diving for lobster, but then wraps them around fishing rods, the poles of his boat’s T-top, dive bag and cooler handles and a host of other places to secure them between trips.
“You’re supposed to measure the lobsters while still in the water, so I wanted something that was easy to access underwater and easy to store and find on the boat,” he said.
The Lobster Slapper Gauge is made of stainless steel encased in 100% silicone.
It comes in a variety of different colors and patterns — from purple mermaid scales to blue camo and a dive flag design. Additional colors and designs are in the works.
