PSA regarding Tarpon and Jewfish

Post by **boggob** » June 7th, 2007, 9:35 am

Lifted from another forum and some of you may know but anyway:
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... 6030429/10 75

This article claims that state and federal guidelines prohibiting the boating of Tarpon, with out $50 kill tag affixed to the fish, and any jewfish/goliath grouper is likely to be enforce more frequently in the future. The really interesting part is that the article claims that law enforcement may be contacting people posting pictures on Internet forums.

Here's the link to the forum discussion: http://www.microskiff.com/cgi-bin/yabb2 ... 1181045622

Any thoughts?
May just be good angler ethics already in practice but figured I would spread the word.

Post by **jsuber** » June 7th, 2007, 9:57 am

I was just getting ready to post that.

Post by **QueenB** » June 7th, 2007, 11:05 am

I thought you (jsuber) were going to say ......and I was just getting a trip together with my kayak buddies to paddle offshore and try to land one of those jew fish in my kayak......I bet they wouldn't fine you if you caught one and could get him in your boat!

Post by **Mook!** » June 7th, 2007, 12:32 pm

Thanks for the post - I had no idea about this.

I'm curious how they would apply this tarpon regulation to shore fishing. I actually landed a tarpon fishing from shore at the St Marks fort about 5-6 weeks ago. To be honest, I thought it was a tarpon but wasn't 100% sure at first because it was about 3 feet give or take, and I didn't think such a fish would be in such a place. As such, I pulled the full and partial regulation books, as well as the FWC fish identification guide, all of which I happened to have on me at the time, to confirm it was in fact a tarpon and see what the regulations were. I didn't intend to keep it, but I was curious. I saw nothing about kill tags before removing from water in any of the guides; that's not to say they aren't in there, but they were certainly not in any conspicuous place in any of the copies I had on me, all of which are January 2007 or newer.

I'm also curious if they have a 'best practice' for releasing them while shore fishing, other than cutting the line, and/or how to affix a kill tag to the jaw without dragging it up. Just some food for thought.

By the way, count me in on the offshore paddling trip

CrispyFishin · Post by **CrispyFishin** » June 7th, 2007, 12:40 pm

Mook! wrote: I actually landed a tarpon fishing from shore at the St Marks fort about 5-6 weeks ago.

Did you post a picture of said fish? That would be awesome!

Post by **Mook!** » June 7th, 2007, 12:44 pm

Unfortunately no - when it got to shore, I dragged it up only about 6" from the water as it was on my Penn Captiva 4000 with 8lb line - took me several minutes to land it from not too far out. I was worried about breaking the line and it was jumping around way too much to just pick up. I looked at the ID guide right quick, then busted out the tape measure to lay next to it for photo.

As I laid down the tape measure and went get the camera out of its case, the fish flopped up in the air and landed back in the water, where it promptly busted my line as I lurched for the pole, and it happily swam off with my Zara Spook.

Post by **Barhopr** » June 7th, 2007, 2:06 pm

Whats the fine?

Post by **Capt Reggie** » June 7th, 2007, 4:06 pm

QueenB wrote:I thought you (jsuber) were going to say ......and I was just getting a trip together with my kayak buddies to paddle offshore and try to land one of those jew fish in my kayak......I bet they wouldn't fine you if you caught one and could get him in your boat!

QB, do you remember the story in the bible about the fish (whale?) eating the fisherman...imagine what a good time a Volkswagen grouper would have chewing on jsuber's kayak!

Post by **Chalk** » June 7th, 2007, 4:20 pm

Barhopr wrote:Whats the fine?

You don't have anything to worry about

Post by **Barhopr** » June 7th, 2007, 5:06 pm

Chalk wrote:
Barhopr wrote:Whats the fine?
You don't have anything to worry about

You may be right there. You using that 7wt on them this year hot shot

Post by **Chalk** » June 7th, 2007, 5:11 pm

Hell ya....Use the force young padawan, much you have to learn

Post by **Barhopr** » June 7th, 2007, 5:22 pm

Chalk wrote:Hell ya....Use the force young padawan, much you have to learn

All I need is opportunity:

Post by **Chalk** » June 7th, 2007, 5:27 pm

Barhopr wrote:All I need is opportunity:

I just ruined another pair of shorts

Post by **Barhopr** » June 7th, 2007, 5:34 pm

Chalk wrote:
Barhopr wrote:All I need is opportunity:

I just ruined another pair of shorts

TC, Come clean your boy up....he's made another mess of himself

Post by **tin can** » June 7th, 2007, 9:43 pm

Barhopr wrote:
Chalk wrote:
Barhopr wrote:All I need is opportunity:

I just ruined another pair of shorts
TC, Come clean your boy up....he's made another mess of himself

He ain't my boy, and the only messes of his that I clean up are the ones he regularly leaves in the back of my boat.

I hope he catches a tarpon on a fly rod soon. Otherwise, he's gonna go more nuts than usual.