BigBendFishing.Net

Maybe not disagree, but with a caveot. Of all the fish you are likely to catch on the flats, the ONLY one you can catch with trebles and bait is Spanish. Everything else is prohibited.

One could make the argument that if you are only targeting Spanish then its OK, but you are much more likely to hook one of the other species first.

Since Fishbites is technically a sythetic bait, then I would say that yes its legal to put them on topwaters with trebles for the purpose of catching trout.

As most of you know, the interpretation is made by the FWC officer and is subject to differences based on circumstances. INTENT is the key.

We are in total agreement Mr. Keels

I just thought that earlier posts were saying all live-baiting with trebels was illegal in FL

If you are drifting the flats its gonna be hard to tell any FFWCC officer that you are targeting spanish

But this morning with my toes in the sand I saw them (spanish) busting baits, their tails were comming out of the water, I think I could have tied a trebel on my line and been okay

IMHO- Spanish are more fun to reel-in than trout, they are also (again IMHO) in possession of hard mouths in that I have had trouble (especially when fishing from shore) getting a hook set

They are also a pain when it comes to leaders in that they cut leaders and at the same time they can get leader-shy

Take it for what its worth

did we maybe lose a couple of posts in the process of transfer'n the thread?

I have no idea what you are talking about SR.

I take it that someone did not like us using their product in our discussion or should I say, making referance to their product

No, I simply had a brain fart while typing the original. It looked so stupid I had to fix it. Its good to be the admin.

GOSH..Wevans...I thought that was some of our best work!

It looked so stupid I had to fix it

Atticus, where was ye seeing Spanish with your toes in the sand? I tried to surf fish on St Geo Fri with no success.

Mashes Sands, the point there east of the pier

Fish a falling tide at sun-up and you will not be hurting for some smoked spanish

Actually it is legal to put a treble hook in a live/dead natural bait when fishing for Spanish.

Try thr following for the summarised regs.
http://marinefisheries.org/Regs_Web_English.pdf

When you scroll down to Spanish, you will notice there is NO dark red "T" by Spanish. When you scroll to the bottom of the page you find that the dark red "T" means you can not use a multiple hook when fishing for spanish. A multiple hook is defined elsewhere as a double or treble hook. It does not mean more than one hook on a leader as used in some rigs where ther are 2 or 3 dropper loops with a hook on each dropper. Even the fact that the FWC used a "T" to indicate multiple hook or treble hook forbidden shows this.