We were bottom fishing some twenty miles offshore over an artificial reef, using small live fish for bait. One of our favorite live bottom baits is a small vermillion snapper - a beeliner. Grouper and red snapper love these fish, and I have used them for years - that is up until now... Read more...
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I ve been salt water fishing for 50 years, and have never, knowingly, broke any rules or regulations. However my trend of thought has now changed with all of the imposed regulations being inflected on the recreational fisherman. I will now use all and any bait or baits that are available to me. It is definitely worth taking the chance. I fish mainly for fluke, Im tired of throwing back fish that are 1 inch or less considered legal, whereas if the commerical boat gets that same fish, it is allright to keep. When you spend $ 100.00 to go fishing and have to throw back almost everything you catch, its time to rethink the situation. And yes, I have caught more then my share of large fish to keep over the years. My new boat is coming soon, and monies are now set aside for fines if any are imposed on me. Life is good.Now to answer your question about still using the bait you found out is illegal, keep using it,if you dont, that fish you would have caught will be in the commerical net, after all, we have to feed the world, even the countries who would love to see us perish.
I understand how you feel – I hope you don’t get caught! Maybe all your fish will be legal size from now on – but I doubt it. Mine sure aren’t.
I think it’s ridiculous that you never considered fishing with under-sized snapper as being illegal. Rationalize it all you want – same as people who think it’s ok to steal cable. – And using illegal baits in a tournament is automatic DQ!
You write about fishing and should be a beacon for others like myself, not a self proclaimed poacher. I’m here thinking, ” Ron Brooks? Really? ” Maybe back in the day you were allowed to use undersized fish as bait but this is now. Get up to speed. There are free brochures and a FWC website to help you out.
Think before you type next time because you definitely lost some respect in the eyes of those who do their best to uphold our fishery.
Well, salty dog, you are correct. This original blog went up in 2008 and I honestly considered the legal limit as being those you plan to take home in the ice chest. In fact I have been stopped by FWC folks prior to 2008 with a cut bait beeliner on the bait board and they said nothing about it. It was not until the last time I got stopped with one that I was informed – and I blogged it. So – honestly – since that time I have used only the legal sized fish for bait. You are correct – I probably turned a few people off with this – I hope they read the comments and react. Sorry for the confusion.
One of our favorite baits for big Red Snapper or big Mackerel at night was a split bee-liner. Now, 30 years later, the same folks that could not predict the weather with a high degree of certainty, are running the fisheries (NOAA) and arbitrarily dictating what we can or can’t catch without much in the way of current statistical data to back up the regs. We need to realize that this is characteristic of the “Big Government” that we have allowed to get a strangle hold on our country, and it not likely to change in the foreseeable future.