Thunderstruck

This ought to be good. Lets hear it. What do you think.I want to know who is doing a head count on the snapper. Why are the commercial fisherman not really affected.Now the way I see it(just an opinion) back years ago we did not have 15 to 20000 public and private reefs in the gulf like we do now. The fish are more spread out. But its like everything else, some of the commercial guys like gill netters may play by the rules. But there are alot of them that rape the water for all its worth. I think that to solve the problem we have to start with the major players. I can't see the weekend warriors being the main cause of the problem!!! To top this off there is article in Florida Sportfishing Mag. that addresses part of this . To rebuild a fishery you also have to rebuild bait fish stocks.Come on lets hear your opinions.

dragtester

look its not one sector thats getting ALL the fish yea commercial guys catch a ass pile but recreational guys catch a pretty good limit as well.last year the commercial guys didnt even catch there quota be it weather or whatever the reason.lets talk about rec fishing i had a spot many are familiar with in the dutch banks i caught my 4 snapper and just as i put the last one in i had a boat pull up as i was leaving another boat pulled up went caught some triggers both boats left when i came back through that area the same 2 boats where on same spot doing it again 4 or 5 people on both boats so tell me where the ethics are to catching your limits then going to the truck unloading coming back and doing it again?oh yea by the way one of them without a doubt is on the forum.told me it was his spot but with that being said not all commercial fisherman RAPE the gulf but not all recreational fisherman are conservationist its not about rec vs. com. its goverment vs. fishermen as a whole theres plenty of snapper go back look at yesterdays threads ask some of the guys for pictures of how many snapper our gulf has.if you dont catch snapper its another reason besides the population is depleted.paul knows,youd have to ask him i beleive when they do there studies they check places like the trysler grounds all natural bottom they dont check the status on artifical reefs or gas platforms all natural bottom .so yea theres a few snapper on natural bottom but there s a hell of alot more on man made reefs natural bottom is good for grouper beeliners grunts but snapper like steel but what it really boils down to is fisheries are full of it and dont really give a damn if we as fisherman not commercial or recreational like i or not just my .02 damn i need to rest better at night

woke up on wrong side of bed

CAPT. PAUL REDMAN

The fish really arent that spread out .We did have thousands of wrecks twenty years ago although we didnt have differential GPS it was loran and it wasnt just drive to the fish symbol and fish, if you didnt know were a spot was you couldnt fish it . There were no ZAPPERS WITH HIGH POWER RADAR( YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE LAZY ) and no artificial reef rules .There is some good and bad to that.

Anyways the Gulf of Mexico is about 600,000 square miles only about 4% of that has relief structure most of which is very low bottom that changes almost daily with storms and currents covering and uncovering.

In Pensacola we use a very,very small portion of what we have especially state waters.

People complain about commmercial fisherman fishing public reefs and ask me what can be done about it, the only thing that can be done is to state focusing on the 9 miles that they cant fish so that the 9 months that we cant catch Red Snapper they cant either in State Waters.This also would help the bait fishery out.But the flip side to that is when you ask them to show up at one of the meeting to discuss the issue they always have other plans or dont have time to send an email to the propper authorities.

Thats wht I started the RFRA to seek out some people who are willing to fight for their rights and try to fix issues instead of telling someone the famous qoute of the lazy peices of crap.



<U>"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO DO"</U>

<U>or</U>

<U></U>

<U>"if i were you I would tell them this"</U>

Brad King

Has the new ruling on snapper been approved yet?

Capt. Paul I worked for Buzz Pitts for about 10 years and use toattend the Pensacola Charter Boat Assoc. meetings. I will be moving back to Pensacola in 4 weeks. Let me know what I can do to get involved and help.

__________________
Capt. Brad King
South Again Charters LLC
www.southagain.com
captbrad@southagain.com
Inshore/Nearshore Charters

JoeZ

If you know who they are on here, call them out.

The time for tip toeing is over. It's time to calla bastard a bastard and show who is hurting the fishery and who is giving back.

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

Tell me who it is, I'll call him out.

Thunderstruck

Like I said not all of the commercial guy are bending the rules. I know that there are rec. boats that are to blame. I have seen weekenders putting small snapper on their boats.Now by commercial I don't mean the charter fleets. In the past the charter boats we have booked have all been very straight up about only catching their limits. I do have a problem with people not reporting violaters. Not that I'm a snitch but it only hurts all the honest fisherman. I don't think that the marine patrol do enough inspections. Now if that statement pisses you off, that shows you are hiding something. I won't even keep a fish that is 1/2 inch over the limit. I don'tlike burning 300 dollars in fuel and coming home with just a few fish any more than the next guy. But thats why its call fishing and not catching.

wrightackle

I really like the points that dragtester made. There is no point in making the issue commercialversus recreational. There are plenty of fish for both. All that is necessary to correct the situation is for the state of florida to tell the feds they will not go along with this shortened season for the recreational fisherman. So what if they withhold federal grant money? I don't mind at all the fwc getting less money. That would be a good thing. The thing is if the commercial fisherman can fish twelve months out of the year the same consideration should be given to the recreational fisherman. That is the approach that Texas took. The recreational fisherman pumps a lot more money into the economy anyway.

Sean Summers

I do think it should be a commercial vs rec fisherman issue. When you look at the economic investment per fish of a weekend warrior compared to a commercial guy there is no argument as to how the regs should pan out. Charters fish by the rec rules and are normally the best stewards of their economic resources. Enforcement is key, you can make all the rules you want but unenforced they are useless. When tackle shops and hotels suffer to make more money for big commercial outfits we have lost control of the regulatory process.

dpewitt

I think Chris needs to add a new posting section called "Snapper Bitchin'" for all these posts....should fill up pretty quick.

Thunderstruck

dpewitt go get some shrimp and stick to the white trout and let the rest of us talk. Since you seem to not have local concerns try the imported shrimp.