FWC recommends rescind the catch-and-release for Redfish, Snook, Sea Trout

Fisherman007

I listened to the commission.  Several captains said keep it closed.  Most others including recreational fishermen said keep it closed.  I'm very surprised.  I think just the opposite but I guess I'm in the minority.  They're going to monitor until May, do some sampling etc. and then decide.  They also mentioned holding a public forum including recreational fishermen (down there in an auditorium).  Apparently they held a forum with just captains before.

Fisherman007

If you have an opinion on the matter you can email the commission.  https://myfwc.com/contact/fwc-office/senior-staff/commissioners/

Dodger

I personally would like to keep a couple trout on an outing. Drop the bag limit to 2 or 3.  It just sucks to buy gas, bait, etc. and only able to keep little mangroves and sheepshead if you are fishing inshore.  And I asked this before I would like to see how the mangrove snapper and sheepshead are being affected by this closure.

kellercl

Fisherman007 said:

I listened to the commission.  Several captains said keep it closed.  Most others including recreational fishermen said keep it closed.  I'm very surprised.  I think just the opposite but I guess I'm in the minority.  They're going to monitor until May, do some sampling etc. and then decide.  They also mentioned holding a public forum including recreational fishermen (down there in an auditorium).  Apparently they held a forum with just captains before.

Of course captains want to keep it closed, it makes their job super easy when trout are in schools thousands of fish deep.

Lostconch

I haven't talked to many rec. Fisherman that want to keep it closed

tompgi

I'm in Charlotte Harbor. The redfishing has improved, certainly more redfish and snook are too. Trout fishing has been pretty good too but the biggest issues in Charlotte harbor is the filamentous algae. It's everywhere and the harbor is at a critical stage, it's well and truly taken over every flat and covered all turtle grass and I can't see the harbor having any grass in 5 years.

Every time I charter people ask about the algae and they're mind blown. If only they had known how good the fishing was when I first fished here 18 years ago. And that wasn't anywhere near the best period of fishing. In Charlotte Harbor I would be devistated if they opened up the three species, especially redfish. The mullet numbers are nothing like they used to be. You could pretty much load up with greenbacks from ponce de leon south years ago, now you have to run to pine island or further to load up with good bait. Hench the reason I now just do fly charters.

It's very sad, but lake O gotta dump the crap, mosaic will spill the poison, the old septic tanks will filter the crap out and the snowbirds gotta have that green green grass.

ANUMBER1

tompgi said:

I'm in Charlotte Harbor. The redfishing has improved, certainly more redfish and snook are too. Trout fishing has been pretty good too but the biggest issues in Charlotte harbor is the filamentous algae. It's everywhere and the harbor is at a critical stage, it's well and truly taken over every flat and covered all turtle grass and I can't see the harbor having any grass in 5 years.

Every time I charter people ask about the algae and they're mind blown. If only they had known how good the fishing was when I first fished here 18 years ago. And that wasn't anywhere near the best period of fishing. In Charlotte Harbor I would be devistated if they opened up the three species, especially redfish. The mullet numbers are nothing like they used to be. You could pretty much load up with greenbacks from ponce de leon south years ago, now you have to run to pine island or further to load up with good bait. Hench the reason I now just do fly charters.

It's very sad, but lake O gotta dump the crap, mosaic will spill the poison, the old septic tanks will filter the crap out and the snowbirds gotta have that green green grass.

you should have seen how it looked 40 years ago before you and all your Nawthern peeps moved down and destroyed the dam n place.

toomer

50 years ago the population was around 4 million.  Now well over 20. All that sewage has to go somewhere.  And wait until we see what happens during the next drought...

kellercl

Fished the harbor, had zero issues catching trout.  Easily could have caught 100+ over 2 days, in the 18-20 inch range.  Snook were plentiful as well.  Harbor seems good to me, at least better than it has been over the last 10 years since I started fishing the area.  

Want to protect the fish, clean up the water and increase vegetation.  Keeping fish catch/release is a band aid at best.

kellercl

ANUMBER1 said:

tompgi said:

I'm in Charlotte Harbor. The redfishing has improved, certainly more redfish and snook are too. Trout fishing has been pretty good too but the biggest issues in Charlotte harbor is the filamentous algae. It's everywhere and the harbor is at a critical stage, it's well and truly taken over every flat and covered all turtle grass and I can't see the harbor having any grass in 5 years.

Every time I charter people ask about the algae and they're mind blown. If only they had known how good the fishing was when I first fished here 18 years ago. And that wasn't anywhere near the best period of fishing. In Charlotte Harbor I would be devistated if they opened up the three species, especially redfish. The mullet numbers are nothing like they used to be. You could pretty much load up with greenbacks from ponce de leon south years ago, now you have to run to pine island or further to load up with good bait. Hench the reason I now just do fly charters.

It's very sad, but lake O gotta dump the crap, mosaic will spill the poison, the old septic tanks will filter the crap out and the snowbirds gotta have that green green grass.

you should have seen how it looked 40 years ago before you and all your Nawthern peeps moved down and destroyed the dam n place.

Nawthern peeps destroyed the place???

ANUMBER1

kellercl said:

ANUMBER1 said:

tompgi said:

I'm in Charlotte Harbor. The redfishing has improved, certainly more redfish and snook are too. Trout fishing has been pretty good too but the biggest issues in Charlotte harbor is the filamentous algae. It's everywhere and the harbor is at a critical stage, it's well and truly taken over every flat and covered all turtle grass and I can't see the harbor having any grass in 5 years.

Every time I charter people ask about the algae and they're mind blown. If only they had known how good the fishing was when I first fished here 18 years ago. And that wasn't anywhere near the best period of fishing. In Charlotte Harbor I would be devistated if they opened up the three species, especially redfish. The mullet numbers are nothing like they used to be. You could pretty much load up with greenbacks from ponce de leon south years ago, now you have to run to pine island or further to load up with good bait. Hench the reason I now just do fly charters.

It's very sad, but lake O gotta dump the crap, mosaic will spill the poison, the old septic tanks will filter the crap out and the snowbirds gotta have that green green grass.

you should have seen how it looked 40 years ago before you and all your Nawthern peeps moved down and destroyed the dam n place.

Nawthern peeps destroyed the place???

yep, 1000 people per day moving in..

kellercl

And taking tens of thousands of snook for cat food was a good idea.  Got it.

Fisherman007

FWC did an online discussion.  They are thinking about several options.  You can see the info below, there is also a survey at the bottom.

https://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/rulemaking/workshops/

RiverScout

Another issue only touched on here is that Florida's human population continues to go up as do the visitors.  I agree the past regs are dated and can't keep up with the pressure or the future.

Anecdotally I've fished SWFL In May and October for almost 15 years and prior to Red Tide I could easily see the situation worsening.  Red Tide was awful, but also a wake up call.  

kellercl

Thanks for the heads up on the survey.

My closing comments were:

3 trout per person

1 snook per vessel

2 reds per vessel


I think the fishery is healthy and should be opened up, but people (in general) keep too much.  I don't have an issue being conservative on this one while letting people keep a few.    

Fisherman007

FWC extends snook, red drum and spotted seatrout catch-and-release measures in areas impacted by prolonged red tide

https://myfwc.com/news/all-news/extended-cnr-220/

kellercl

Time for me to stop fishing Florida and go elsewhere.

Dodger

I'm starting to agree with You Keller.  Too many regs.  I think its going to hurt the fish that you can keep.

CaptainBly

Read the link guys.  It was on old article from 2019 and says it is extended until 5/31/2021...Don't think they have ruled  officially on what is going to happen this year on 6/1

kellercl

Fair point but according to my father in-law dead fish are all over the upper harbor via red tide.  He sent me a few pictures.  So I'm guessing this isn't going to end well.  

Dodger

Could that be due to that Piney Point spill?  I would hate to see that red tide crap again.  

kellercl

Dodger said:

Could that be due to that Piney Point spill?  I would hate to see that red tide crap again.  

https://myfwc.com/media/26505/sw-combomap0416.pdf

FWC map has red tide all over hog island, where my father in-law saw a bunch of dead fish.  I just don't like what I am hearing about Charlotte Harbor.  Seems like an utter disaster.  Already can't keep fish....  and now red tide appears to be back.  Basically just horrible news.  

CaptainBly

Haven't been down south yet this year but will be in a month or so.  Here is FWC's site for their weekly testing.

https://myfwc.com/research/redtide/statewide/

There have been spotty concentrations of it for quite a while now.  Unfortunately.

restlessnative

I have a snook tournament out of Cabbage Key Friday and Saturday so will find out. Single biggest snook each day, and usually the top 3-5 boats have at least one over 40”. I’ve never won this one but have come in third a couple of times. It’s a very hard one to win, especially fishing against the best of the best of full time guides. Maybe this will be our year though.

Fisherman007

CaptainBly said:

Read the link guys.  It was on old article from 2019 and says it is extended until 5/31/2021...Don't think they have ruled  officially on what is going to happen this year on 6/1

I think you're right.  Sorry I thought it was extended to 2022.  Let's hope not!

ANUMBER1

kellercl said:

And taking tens of thousands of snook for cat food was a good idea.  Got it.

prison food, like Maine lobster back in the day.

ANUMBER1

meeting foe the closure isn't until May..

some of y'all just need to keep up..

https://myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/

ANUMBER1

and some of us need smaller fingers ... *for  

kellercl

ANUMBER1 said:

kellercl said:

And taking tens of thousands of snook for cat food was a good idea.  Got it.

prison food, like Maine lobster back in the day.

Honestly snook isn't my favorite.  I think it is overrated in food value at the moment.

You seeing any dead fish?

bigfinn35

kellercl said:

ANUMBER1 said:

kellercl said:

And taking tens of thousands of snook for cat food was a good idea.  Got it.

prison food, like Maine lobster back in the day.

Honestly snook isn't my favorite.  I think it is overrated in food value at the moment.

You seeing any dead fish?

I called into the FWC public webinar for Sarasota Bay to give my input and local reports. When someone mentioned wanting to keep snook closed, the panel mentioned in their response that something like 80% of slot snook are released even when in season. Guess the culture has shifted towards C&R quite a bit, personally I'm fine eating other stuff.