etrade92

Looking into learning Perdido River and northern Perdido Bay this fall. My question is where does the "I need a fresh water license vs salt water license" begin for Florida?

I 100% understand the concept of the east/west Alabama/Florida line and have an Alabama fresh and salt license.

TIA.

60hertz

Florida is a species license.

Saltwater fish need a saltwater license to possess. Freshwater fish need a freshwater license.

etrade92

That is interesting to hear.

In Alabama, north of the causeway is supposed to be a freshwater license, even though we frequently catch saltwater species to the north.

This is what made me pose the question.

60hertz

yeah...once you cross that state line you're not in Alabama anymore.

Realtor

so, if I catch and release, I can catch Black Bass in the perdido, escambia rivers, anywhere I want with my salt water license, I just can't keep anything? and vice versa?

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etrade92

Had a chance to call the Escambia County FWC unit. 60Hertz, you are correct. It is dependent on what fish you want to HARVEST.

i.e. don't get caught with a bass in the cooler and only a saltwater license.
The only species that is accepted either way is mullet.

SurfRidr

That is essentially true, however I will just pass along the conversation I had with one of the FWC officers when I moved down here. At the time, we lived over towards Perdido and on any given day sometimes I would just switch gears and look for bass or redfish or vice versa depending on my mood. So I just bought both AL and FL combination licenses so I didn't have to think about it. I was checked by FWC, all was well and good, but I asked him about this very subject. He said that it's mainly what you harvest, but he did say that if your tackle is all very obviously geared toward largemouth for example, and you only have a saltwater license, you could be cited depending on the judgment of the officer. So if I'm running around with Texas rigged worms, bass jigs, spinnerbaits, and topwater frogs up in the river, and I tell them I'm redfishing with my saltwater license, even if I don't have fish in the box I'd be at risk to get a citation.

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- Sam
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"Things are only impossible until they're not"