Pompano?

COBIA R CUNNING!!!

jdarg...you have the best ideas!!! I actually ate some of the less intelligent cobia on Sunday and it was very tasty!!!

sorry, no pic unless you want one of the freezer (the less documentation the better when dealing with the FWC!)

--http://myfwc.com/law/Weekly/index.htm

"Officer Neal Goss conducted a resource inspection on a commercial vessel at the St. Andrews Marina. Officer Goss had recently made an undersize red grouper case on this same boat a week prior. The previous case involved harvest and possession of 52 undersized red grouper. It was discovered that the vessel was again in possession of 18 undersized red grouper. Officer Goss filed the case with NMFS enforcement agents.
In the past two weeks, Officer David Erdman has arrested 11 individuals for operating vessels while under the influence."

;P

Unless you're keeping shorts or over slot or over limit, no need to be leery of FWC. Every officer I've encountered has been a professional helping to protect the resource. (Read my post a year ago about the bald eagle.)

I witnessed some jerkoff redneck keep what appeared to be 2 12 inch trout (too short to keep) the other day (after he anchored up 10 yards from me in LaGrange Bayou,) and when he pulled in a redfish, I hollered over "nice fish" and asked him how long it was. He replied "I forgot my stick," to which I replied "you better measure it if you don't want me on your boat!" He then rummaged through his boat and found a stick, upon which the fish measured 22 inches (slot), and he unceremoniously dropped the fish onto the floor of the boat. I know the trout he kept were too short and along with that red were just unlucky enough to be caught by someone who lacks the mental capability to respect the resource.

Typing that (and editing before submitting) just made me burn up.

Unless you're keeping shorts or over slot or over limit, no need to be leery of FWC. Every officer I've encountered has been a professional helping to protect the resource. (Read my post a year ago about the bald eagle.)

I witnessed some jerkoff redneck keep what appeared to be 2 12 inch trout (too short to keep) the other day (after he anchored up 10 yards from me in LaGrange Bayou,) and when he pulled in a redfish, I hollered over "nice fish" and asked him how long it was. He replied "I forgot my stick," to which I replied "you better measure it if you don't want me on your boat!" He then rummaged through his boat and found a stick, upon which the fish measured 22 inches (slot), and he unceremoniously dropped the fish onto the floor of the boat. I know the trout he kept were too short and along with that red were just unlucky enough to be caught by someone who lacks the mental capability to respect the resource.

Typing that (and editing before submitting) just made me burn up.

i understand completely - as someone who has helped to maintain the very stock of snapper, king mackeral and even mullet, i appreciate the situation and the reason for the rules

all the the fish i caught, except for the one red snapper (i mean grouper ;-) ), who ate the hook and would have died anyway so i put him out of his misery, were well within all the rules and i've had no problems with the fwc since i am an ex-coastie and a graduate-level marine biologist and the boat has a full kitchen with a coffee pot and nice table and soft chairs for filling out reports after a hard day

the 'sieze you later' and the 'expect a mackeral' were my two previous boats and both were participants in at-sea rescues when some dumbass did something stupid, so i know where you're coming from

i understand completely - as someone who has helped to maintain the very stock of snapper, king mackeral and even mullet, i appreciate the situation and the reason for the rules

all the the fish i caught, except for the one red snapper (i mean grouper ;-) ), who ate the hook and would have died anyway so i put him out of his misery,

That's a judgement call you have to make on the water, it's frustrating when you pull up a short snapper or grouper and know that it's survival chance is slim, but also know the law. Swallowed hooks, ruptured swim bladders and distended stomachs can seriously disable a fish, but proper handling can allow the release and likely survival. Use of circle hooks, ARC dehookers (http://tinyurl.com/f7ebj) and Novak venting tools (http://tinyurl.com/n2ctw; http://tinyurl.com/m65kd) have proven to decrease the mortality of these reef fish. I urge all fisherman to obtain and learn to use these tools to protect the future of recreational fishing. It comes down to responsible fishing. Even if you know that a fish's chance of survival is slim, keeping a short is illegal, and I guarantee that if it can't recover, it will be eaten and used for survival by another fish, so it's not wasting. The chance of survival is what we're talking about, and ultimately the sustainability of the stocks.

The real problem is that the true threat to the stocks is commercial fishing, but the agency that regulates the stocks is the NMFS, an agency of the Department of Commerce. So you have the stocks being regulated and "protected" by the very entity that threatens it. Yet every time the rules come under review, the first, and often only, option considered, is to limit RECREATIONAL fishing. The recent grouper closure was an example of this. Every time a recreational angler is ticketed for keeping shorts (for whatever reason,) this group gains credibility for it's suggestions. The commercials come off as the more responsible party because they are more accountable for their catch.

Bottom line, we have to take a macro approach to this; making decisions each time a fish is pulled from the bottom is inefficient and ineffective.

Here's a thought I had on that subject. It is not popular with many fishermen (of which I am one). But I believe it would eliminate the problem of putting back shorts which will just die anyway.

Eliminate size limits all together, but keep bag limits. If you catch a 10-inch grouper, you keep it and it counts towards your bag limit. Putting back a short would be the same type of violation that keeping a short is today (admittedly a more difficult one to enforce, though).

I agree with you that proper handling, venting, etc. helps immensely, but I have seen no commercial boats (charter or head boats) practice them. The short simply gets yanked off the hook and dropped over (where it either floats around for a while or gets eaten by a dolphin).

Been looking myself and haven't noticed them in the surf. Heard some caught 16 in seagrove this week probably on fleas or shrimp. Hopefully they put some back. My lastest catch End of March 33" Red 100 yards from shore in my Kayak. He pulled drag for 20 minutes like a pro and me in circles till I let that Bull go back to make some more.


" Landing Skills Or Hospitol Bills"

Still tryin like hell and not much to be caught around Dune Allen...anybody havin any better luck...I noticed that the water temps in PC and Pensacola was significantly higher...anybody know the optimum temps for pomps?...Red