Just curious as the regs do not seem clear to me and was curious what other’s opinion was. Do you just need to get tags if you use poles? For example if you just throw bait in the water and mark your spot and go back to it does that qualify as shrimp baiting and then you should have tags even if you are not using poles?
Similar question if you are shrimp baiting without poles do you need to use a 1/2 mesh cast net? I am pretty sure the answer is yes.
Not trying to save the 25 dollars as I have the tags but do not have the poles and don’t really want to get the poles as I can spot lock locations with the trolling motor.
Thank you for your thoughts and opinions.
The way I read it, if you’re “baiting” you need a shrimp baiting license?
That being said, you have to be a “Philadelphia Lawyer” to understand the SCDNR statutes, anymore…
Gotta put a tag on something marking the bait. Regs state max diameter 1” poles. Have heard that if shrimping off a dock, you can just stick one tag on a piling. That would seem to be a technical violation, but idk.
Stick a piece of emt or pvc somewhere within 100yds of your bait to claim your spot and there can’t be any question. There’s bamboo in my neighborhood but you might have to bring calipers to make sure you’re legal from tip to base 
1 Like
Hence my statement on the ambiguity…
How does anyone know there’s bait if there no pole marking it?
Besides the bag of bait binder in the back seat. 
Otherwise yes, per debate I had with DNR last year.
I also use spot lock trolling motor, and if it’s calm it will generally maintain general position, but I’ve noticed my gps location will drift around abit. And definitely enough to have you throwing in wrong location of bait.
The way It was explained to me years ago. If you are shrimping over bait, You technically have to have one pole with a tag (decal) in the water near where the bait is located. Off a dock. One pole in the water or on the dock. With the advent of deep dropping over bait makes that very difficult. If you have bait in the boat you better have one or several poles in the boat with tags on them to be legal. Can you place a pole and deep drop? Probably not, but go up to the nearest shallow area and stick a pole. Meets the requirements and can probably be argued in front of a judge if they write you a ticket. The rules need to be amended and are not clear with deep dropping.