Is it legal to clean your catch while on the water , I don’t see anything in the regs that it’s not ??? Only says ( All species in this section must be landed with head and tail intact ) Up north you can fillet but must keep the car cuss( head and tail intact ) to prove the length !! Someone told me you can not clean them ??? am I missing it in the regs 
Well I guess I’m on shaky ground ??? I thought this would be a slam dunk
yes or a no [:0]
I think it’s ok to scale and gut…but leave everything else intact…do not filet…
miss’n fish’n
212 SEAHUNT CC
Sea Squirt 16
I beleive you have to have the head and tail intact to prove legal size.
Double D.
Any fish that has a size limit has to be returned to the landing intact (that even includes Blue Crabs). It is probably ok to scale and gut, but do not remove the head or tail or you may get into a jam. A previous post on this site told of a guy that decided to clean some of his fish on a dock that had a cleaning station on Shem Creek before getting back to the landing. He was in a jam when he encountered a DNR officer at the landing since the fish could not be measured properly. I am not sure if he got a citation or not. Whiting, mullet, spots and croakers are fine to clean in the boat, but I would make sure the fish does not have a size limit or you need to leave it whole until you get home.
PioneerLouie
Pioneer Venture 175, Johnson 90
Summerville, SC
You can fillet a fish and the head and tail will still be intact unless you accidently cut through the backbone. I always wait till I get home though.
First off thanks for the replies . I just think if they didn’t want you to fillet on the water it would be clearly stated in the book !!
I’m big on keeping my catch fresh which means Bleeding and icing it down quickly . Having a small boat I don’t have a lot of choices.
It’s a lot easier to fillet ,throw the car cuss in the well and bag and ice the fillets . Now all I have to do is catch some fish 
I’m new down here and having a blast learning the area . It sure is a beautiful place to fish , and I have been lurking on this site for some time. Plenty of great info to get me started in the right direction.
Just wanted to say to Thanks
Welcome Roadie! You will find some first class people and a lot of great advice/information here at CF.
PM barbawang on this site,he can get you the answer that you are looking for.
Double D.
“up north”…no one cares anything about what’s done that direction…its screwed up enough.
how bout you call the dnr up and speak to an LEO instead of asking a bunch of armchair experts? what a concept.
xHCFCx
Here’s my 10 cents, my 2 cents is free
Wow you need to go fish …
quote:
Originally posted by StretchArmStrong“up north”…no one cares anything about what’s done that direction…its screwed up enough.
how bout you call the dnr up and speak to an LEO instead of asking a bunch of armchair experts? what a concept.
xHCFCx
Here’s my 10 cents, my 2 cents is free
lol, thats about as funny as some yanktard telling southerners how its done elsewhere.
xHCFCx
Here’s my 10 cents, my 2 cents is free
Asking DNR may not settle the issue. we have been told by one that it was OK as long as head and tail are intact, and different by another. I stand by what the book says. OK if you have the carcass with head and tail intact. In fact, the time we were questioned, the officer made a call and let us go, but still said it wasn’t legal…?
I think the problem for a LEO would be that there could be no definitive answer as to which filet came from which carcass, so in theory you could filet a undersize fish and toss that carcass and try to pass it off as coming from a regulation size carcass.
No reason to push the issue. leave the fish intact and filet on the hill.
quote:
Originally posted by Bolbie…the harbor was slick as an eel pecker.
SC Legislature Section 50-13-60: It is unlawful to land any game fish without head and tail fin intact and where a length limit is imposed on any species it is unlawful to land that species without head and tail fin intact.
disclaimer: this is excerpted from freshwater law. couldn’t find it for saltwater, but i believe louie is correct that it applies equally.
It follows the same for salt, at least that’s how DNR has told me …
quote:
Originally posted by barbawangSC Legislature Section 50-13-60: It is unlawful to land any game fish without head and tail fin intact and where a length limit is imposed on any species it is unlawful to land that species without head and tail fin intact.
disclaimer: this is excerpted from freshwater law. couldn’t find it for saltwater, but i believe louie is correct that it applies equally.
Bragging may not bring happiness,
but no man having caught a large fish,
goes home through the alley.
-Anonymous
quote:
Originally posted by jwsYou can fillet a fish and the head and tail will still be intact unless you accidently cut through the backbone. I always wait till I get home though.
Good point! I guess you could fillet 'em. Sure would help with that smell coming out of my trash can.
-There are two types of fisherman those who fish for sport and those who fish for fish.
I was written a warning from DNR for filleting a cobia on the boat. I told them that i kept the head to tail intact. The guy told me that you cannot “mutilate” the fish. When you fillet an undersized fish it stretches it out a bit. He says my cobia was obviously legal so he wrote me a warning.
timfish - that is a crock of BS. Sounds like that fella was out of line and had no legal position to cite you.
Define mutilate? Such a gray area.
Sucks that you had to put up with that dipchit giving you a warning over a LEGAL fish. Sorry, that just ticks me off. The head and tail intact law has a purpose and your situation is not what it was designed for! Where is the common sense these days?
It ain’t no mystery…this beer’s history!
Oh and don’t think you can fillet fish that do not have a length limit and be fine…they will simply tell you that since all you have is fillets, they cannot tell what kind of fish it is and hand you a nice little pink slip to take to the judge. Guaranteed.
It ain’t no mystery…this beer’s history!