BigBendFishing.Net

Hold on boyz. The executive order hasn't been signed yet. Looks like the FWC is going to make us sweat it out...if in fact they change the season. We aren't their favorite folks. We dared to disagree with them. I'll know more in the morning and I'll post it here.

Our government is running a muck! I am about to join the "vote all the bastards out" movement. They just don't get it. They continue to pass unnecessary regulations just to justify their existence. I'm mad as hell!

I sure wish Mr. MudDucker would tell us how he really feels! LMAO!

Dittos from the choir!

woopty wrote:Pretty soon you're gonna need to carry a lawyer out there as standard equipment.

I am accepting PMs 24/7

Be warned though. After a few Natties - I can't remember all of the rules.

This was on the FWC site. In reading it I would think that the Gag season opens July1st.

News Release

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Media contact: Amanda Nalley, 850-410-4943


(Back to Commission meeting news)

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted Feb. 8 to change how gag grouper is managed in Gulf of Mexico state waters (excluding Monroe County).

The decision, which came during day two of the three-day February Commission meeting, will achieve consistency with federal management efforts while potentially providing a region-specific recreational season in four counties.

The FWC manages marine fish from the shore to nine nautical miles in the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council manages Gulf of Mexico waters farther than nine nautical miles out. The following changes will make state gag grouper management efforts the same as recent federal gag grouper management efforts in the Gulf of Mexico: setting the recreational open season from July 1 through Oct. 31 and lowering the minimum commercial size limit from 24 inches to 22 inches total length.

The Commission also authorized Chairman Kathy Barco and Executive Director Nick Wiley to issue an executive order opening gag grouper season in the state waters off Taylor, Jefferson, Wakulla and Franklin counties, including Apalachicola Bay and Indian Pass. This gag grouper recreational season, if implemented, will open harvest in state waters during April, May and June, and close harvest in those waters during the July-to-October season. These changes will better align fishing opportunity with fish availability.

“I think we have to be sensitive to the economic side and the natural resource side,” said Commissioner Charles W. Roberts III. “I don’t think there is anybody here, especially in this room, who would like to jeopardize gag grouper. This isn’t an easy decision. We have to rely on the data we have available and make good decisions.”

Gag grouper has been closed in Gulf of Mexico state waters since Nov. 16, 2011.

The FWC believes applying these management changes will allow gag grouper populations to rebuild quickly while balancing the needs of anglers.

To learn more, visit MyFWC.com/Commission and click on “Commission Meetings” and “Agenda.”

OK I stand corrected, AGAIN . The season is from April 1st through June 30th in the counties listed. Then you have to go further east or west fish. What a bunch of crap!!!



Gulf: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission adopted new management measures for Gulf of Mexico gag grouper at the February 2012 Commission meeting.

The following changes have been adopted:
■
setting the recreational open season from July 1 through Oct. 31

■
lowering the minimum commercial size limit from 24 inches to 22 inches total length


The smaller size limit will not allow commercial fishermen to harvest more fish because gag grouper is on a quota system, meaning only a certain number of fish can be harvested. The smaller size limit will decrease the amount of fish deaths.

The Commission also determined that an April 1, 2012, through June 30, 2012, gag grouper harvest season was warranted in the state waters off Taylor, Jefferson, Wakulla and Franklin counties, including Apalachicola Bay and Indian Pass. This area of state waters will be closed to recreational gag grouper harvest for the remainder of the year.

For more information, visit the gag grouper question and answer page.

NO IT'S NOT!!!! The Executive Order has not been signed yet. Don't get caught fishing for them until it's official. Awhile back Steve Southerland was asking folks if they had any issues with Florida government. Now would be a good time to contact him. I think Jumptrout had posted something about that.

OK then I am really confused because this came directly from the FWC websire and it states that these are the "new" rules. How the heck do we know what can and can't do if you get the info from the website???

It probably would have been signed already, if the folks in central and south Florida weren't complaining about us getting "special" treatment I tried to explain it to the idiots over on the FS conservation forum, but being idiots, they just couldn't understand the concept that north Florida was different from south/central Florida that's one of several reason I quit the fs forum

Mister Mullet wrote:NO IT'S NOT!!!! The Executive Order has not been signed yet. Don't get caught fishing for them until it's official. Awhile back Steve Southerland was asking folks if they had any issues with Florida government. Now would be a good time to contact him. I think Jumptrout had posted something about that.

Steve Southerland has nothing to do with Florida state government or the FWC, he is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Tell him to do something about the Magnuson Act and the way it is implemented by NMFS through the fishery management plans. Tell him that commercial fishing should only be allowed for species not considered overfished, or undergoing recovery. If he could pull that off, that would be a miracle. Mostly, he worries about other things, not fish.

EJ

OK, here's what I got today from Amanda Nally at FWC: "The executive order has not been signed yet. The consistency measure (the July through Oct season) should be published/go into effect Friday. The executive order therefore can go into effect anytime after that and, of course, it will go into effect before April 1." So, I'm reasonably sure it's going to happen. I'm planning on doing some grouper fishing in April too, and if we all get arrested we can hold a club meeting in jail.

Good news....

March 26, 2012

News Release

Monday, March 26, 2012

Media contact: Amanda Nalley, 850-410-4943

Fishermen targeting gag grouper in state waters off the coast of Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson and Taylor counties will be able to take some of their catch home for dinner starting April 1.

This regional season will end June 30 and is for 2012 only. The season also includes all waters of Apalachicola Bay and Indian Pass, including those in Gulf County, and all waters of the Steinhatchee River, including those in Dixie County.

Gag grouper caught in state waters (from shore to nine miles out) off these four counties may not be taken ashore in areas that are closed to harvest. For example, a gag grouper caught April 1 in state waters off Jefferson County cannot be taken ashore in Dixie County, excluding the Steinhatchee River.

Anglers targeting gag grouper in state waters in Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson and Taylor counties can keep their bag limit from April 1 through June 30. This opening also includes all waters of the Steinhatchee River, including those in Dixie County, and all waters of Apalachicola Bay and Indian Pass, including those in Gulf County.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) established this regional season at its February Commission meeting to provide fishing opportunities for private recreational anglers when gag grouper are closer to shore and can be safely accessed by smaller boats. Overall fishing effort for gag grouper is low in these counties, because it is the least densely populated region of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Providing this spring season will balance the economic and social needs of this region with the conservation needs of gag grouper.

In Gulf of Mexico federal waters (beyond nine miles) and in the remainder of Gulf of Mexico state waters, fishermen will be able to keep gag grouper from July 1 through Oct. 31. State waters off Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson and Taylor counties will not open during the July-through-October season.

Gag grouper may be taken ashore in Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson and Taylor counties during the July-through-October season, but boats with gag grouper aboard may not stop and must have gear stowed while traveling through state waters in that region. Monroe County state waters follow Atlantic rules for gag grouper and are not included in the July-through-October season.

The FWC is working with Florida’s anglers to rebuild gag grouper populations in the Gulf of Mexico back to strong, sustainable levels.

The gag grouper recreational harvest minimum size and bag limits did not change and remain at 22 inches and two gag grouper per person. No more than four of any species of grouper may be kept.

To learn more about these management changes, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater,” “Latest News-Hot Topics” for frequently asked questions and answers about the changes.

IT"S AWN!!!
So it doesn't suck too bad now.