Read up on limits as triggers and spades down to 10 per person as part of their aggregate 20 complex.
I’m all about conservation, but another hit to the good old recreational fisherman.
In a few years, I’ll be fishing barbless hooks since it’ll be all catch and release.
YEP CATCH AND RELEASE FOR THE REC FISHERMAN TO FEED HIS OWN FAMILY , BUT LEAVE THE NETTERS ALONE TO LINE THEIR POCKETS; CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY THE RECS ALWAYS TAKE THE BRUNT OF THE BLAME … 
When you see “Old Glory” waving in the breeze, know that it is the dying breaths of our fallen hero’s that makes it wave.
author unknown
When you see “Old Glory” waving in the breeze, know that it is the dying breaths of our fallen hero’s that makes it wave.
author unknown
Is there really a shortage of spades?
Or triggers… not a lot have the ability to target them. Probably got their info the same as the did on ARS.
Spadefish are not on our list of fish to tag.
Black drum, red drum, sheephead, kingfish, mahi, Cobia & founder.not saying they don’t have a program for them. But.my wife keeps up pretty good with that stuff.
I personally don’t see a decline in their numbers. But they are kind of like shooting fish in a barrel once you get them charmed up. They’re definitely great fun specially when you have kids onboard. I very seldom ever keep any. I don’t find them very tasty.
The reefs allow the average Joe or guide to run out in their bay boat (no disrespect intended btw) and catch sheeps in the winter and spades/cobia in the spring. Most people I know keep way less than the creel limit and have a self-imposed boat slot limit.
Those reefs are nothing compared to what’s off our coast. Check out the cmor mapping and that’s just a small taste of it.
Vermillion snapper are as thick and big as I’ve ever seen. I can’t even fish in 80-100’ due to all the red snapper from 7-20lbs. Most people don’t realize that the giant school of suspended fish under their boat is a few hundred trigger fish, not bait or whatever.
Point is I’m an “average Joe” and if I’m seeing this on my 12 trips a year, I cannot imagine how what the “super joe” or “commercial joe” is experiencing.
Fishery in question is very healthy imo and has been.
Very frustrating for the recreational guy as we keep getting squeezed out.
Pioneer 197SF
Pioneer 197SF
Won’t be long before you don’t feel like you can take enough to cover fuel burnt.
2019 Cape Horn 22OS 300 Yamaha
I’m all for keeping a limit, especially since my trips are fewer these days, but 10 seems like a fair number to me.
I agree with you 7,I ain’t much for frozen fish.northchucky and jordan prolly caused the law to crack down,they’re a couple pirates.haha Reminds me of some boys from NC I grew up with.
More frustrated over recreational cut…Florida lowered commercial size limit on triggers from 14” back to 12”. I’m not sure if their exact quota, but I don’t think it was cut in half.
Point is if conservation is really needed, cut both the recreational and commercial limits.
Pioneer 197SF
When you see “Old Glory” waving in the breeze, know that it is the dying breaths of our fallen hero’s that makes it wave.
author unknown
100% agree. With the way they do it, makes it too obvious it’s about money rather than conservation. While I agree with 7c about 10 being enough… I don’t agree with more laws that are not necessary. We already have too many regulations. ARS should be a lesson to everyone that many laws are ridiculous and based on false information.
“YEP CATCH AND RELEASE FOR THE REC FISHERMAN TO FEED HIS OWN FAMILY , BUT LEAVE THE NETTERS ALONE TO LINE THEIR POCKETS; CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY THE RECS ALWAYS TAKE THE BRUNT OF THE BLAME … veryangryveryangryveryangry”
Gail wins, please tell me more about these netters that are catching all these spadefish and triggers.
A couple of years ago the recreational ACL for spades was increased from 154,000 lbs to 662,000. Doesn’t look like anyone is taking anything away from anybody to me. In contrast, the commercial ACL for Spades is around 150,000 lbs, and commercial landings for Spadefish have been pretty steady at a whopping 22,000 lbs per year. Sounds like the commercial guys are getting screwed on Spades.
I think we have a very good fishery here because of the tight regulations.
Uggghhhh. I personally have never caught a spade fish and that’s the honest truth
Triggers. Man. We don’t routinely catch our 20 but we’ve done it enough to know the population is plenty healthy. Sucks. Trigger is one of the few fish that freezes immaculate. Just had a frozen bag for dinner last night and it was delicious.
The whole point I think Andy is making is that they keep taking and taking and taking without ever getting back
Vermilions should be 10 per person easy and ARS…it’s laughable that anyone thinks they are endangered. Some system should be in place to harvest them more than 5 days a year (that are rarely fishable)
No doubt we need to help regulate overfishing and “outlaw” types, but many regs are not logical. Our fishery is so good because of our coastal and off shore habitats and location. IMO. Not picking a fight. I know with increasing population and fishing pressure some new measures may need to take place. But ARS, Grouper, etc… and now Triggers? Where is the evidence to support limiting what God Gave us for Food and pleasure in their numbers? DNR does some fantastic stuff and has help me numerous times with many issues but I think the science behind some regs is not there. If any reg needs to be put in place it would be to help with the over targeting of Breeding age Spot tail. I’m waiting on restrictions to Dolphin creel, one of the most prolific fish out there.
No doubt we need to help regulate overfishing and "outlaw" types, but many regs are not logical. Our fishery is so good because of our coastal and off shore habitats and location. IMO. Not picking a fight. I know with increasing population and fishing pressure some new measures may need to take place. But ARS, Grouper, etc.. and now Triggers? Where is the evidence to support limiting what God Gave us for Food and pleasure in their numbers? DNR does some fantastic stuff and has help me numerous times with many issues but I think the science behind some regs is not there. If any reg needs to be put in place it would be to help with the over targeting of Breeding age Spot tail. I'm waiting on restrictions to Dolphin creel, one of the most prolific fish out there.
Dolphin are on their radar:
https://safmc.net/amendments-under-development/dolphin-wahoo-amendment-10/
We have a good fishery because we get over looked. We don’t have a short trip to the reef like most of Florida or outer Banks or any special fish/season like sailfish, bluefin or yellowfin. Though our bottom fishing is good it doesn’t get glorified like other places do and the fact that most our good bottom fishing is twenty plus miles out limits people. Go fish public numbers and then fish a secret spot and you will see the effects of fishing pressure. I wouldn’t expect to ever get anything back when it comes to regs. First on the species that are actually depleted a cut back doesn’t really help it just slows the damage and stocks don’t recover fast enough. Plus with increasing number of anglers/fishers mathematically it makes since that numbers would go down. 10 fish 5 fishers 2 a piece 10 fish 10 anglers 1 a piece, it’s still 10 fish just divided differently. Total closure for 5 to 10 years is the only way to really help a species quickly recover. For $ome reason commercial fishing always seems to have a season for species recs don’t. The fact that they gave us some black sea bass back was shocking but they breed and grow quick and are down right everywhere these days and aren’t the most valuable fish to commercial fiahing. Even though there seems to be a lot of red snapper, I think because of the high value of them we will always get dicked and the commercial guys will get better seasons. A sea bass is like a tenth of the value of a red snapper and like half of a Vermillion. A limit of Vermillion is the easiest limit there is to catch these days and if you go out to 150ish they are all big.
AGREE 100% WITH THE TIGHTER REGS , BUT CONVINCE ME OF HOW IT’S FAIR TO PUT THE BURDEN OF MORE STRICT LIMITS ON A REC. FISHERMAN THAN ON A COM. BOAT… I IN NO WAY BUY INTO ALL THESE QUOTA NUMBERS SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY FAVOR OR PENALIZE EITHER GROUP , THOSE NUMBERS ARE SOLELY ARBITRARY TO WHOMEVER THEY WANT TO BENEFIT , NOTHING MORE THAN POLITICS IMHO…IF QUOTAS , SEASONS , OR LOCALES ARE FAIR FOR ONE IT SHOULD BE FAIR FOR ANOTHER . ( COM. OR REC. )
When you see “Old Glory” waving in the breeze, know that it is the dying breaths of our fallen hero’s that makes it wave.
author unknown
We have been through this song and dance way to long. Same song, different dance. This time with the Triggers.
Folks on the council have a vested interest/influence in cutting the Rec numbers back. As was stated earlier, some folks don’t even know what they are seeing on their screen. Therefore, not many caught by most.
It’s a Huge ocean out there and Mother Nature keeps the Trigger raping mosquito fishermen on dry land at least 90% of the time.
But hey, these gov’t paid folks need a job, and if no crisis, no need, right. Just create one. Like the ARS for example.
Pissed with SAFMC, but edited due to what I said being out of line. My apologies.
NN
Apathy is the primary reasons recreational anglers get “The Brunt” of fishery management regulations. Very few recreational anglers care enough to be involved in the process. There are lots of opportunities to be involved. But, recreational anglers are always under represented. Thus, our collective voice is weak and unheard.
If you want a bigger piece of the pie, you have to fight for it. I assure you, that is exactly what the commercial interests are doing.