Thread: Beach fishing & swimmers

And there are other ass'inine aspects to this law, prime example is the 300 foot rule.
You can chum and blood bait all you want 300' off the beach, like sharks can't smell blood from a much longer distance.

I don't know anyone, myself included, that uses chum/blood in our land based sharking, just whole or chunked fish/rays and smaller sharks.
Even large fish/rays chunked don't spread scent more than maybe an eighth of a mile depending on current, and the effective time at distance is short.

Obviously he had bait, but the section refers to chumming" for any species", including sharks. I don't believe bait is chumming. I agree it is poorly written, but sometimes you have to look at the intent. Here, it was written to prevent you from claiming your chummimg for pompano or any other species!

One day on the beach in Panama City I saw a bunch of Ladyfish schooled up about 50 yards off shore. I waded out past some swimmers and hook up. A couple of hooked fish swam towards the swimmers down the beach. Believe me the swimmers will move quickly.

Originally Posted by fshntime

Obviously he had bait, but the section refers to chumming" for any species", including sharks. I don't believe bait is chunking. I agree it is poorly written, but sometimes you have to look at the intent. Here, it was written to prevent you from claiming your chummimg for pompano or any other species!

They don't care Todd, the touristas come first.
The road to tyranny is paved with good intentions.

I witnessed this a few years ago. The officer told all the bottom fishermen they had to move due to swimmers, but I was fishing with a lure and he didn't say a word to me. I decided to be safe and ask him if I needed to move also, he said "No, you're not using bait."

I looked at my artificial bait, and at him, and shrugged my shoulders and went back to casting.

I guess I now know what he meant, because that incident left me confused.

Originally Posted by Viking Guy

I witnessed this a few years ago. The officer told all the bottom fishermen they had to move due to swimmers, but I was fishing with a lure and he didn't say a word to me. I decided to be safe and ask him if I needed to move also, he said "No, you're not using bait."

I looked at my artificial bait, and at him, and shrugged my shoulders and went back to casting.

I guess I now know what he meant, because that incident left me confused.

yep. gotchas and other lures cast at distance could never hurt anyone.

i swear i'm honestly surprised we still get to fish at all.

That way of thinking is very foreign to me. In Michigan the hunters and fishermen have laws passed to protect them from harassment by other users of the water and land.

Thanks Finchaser. Now my eyes are burning

Originally Posted by CarlF

Thanks Finchaser. Now my eyes are burning

At least this is a family oriented forum, imagine how bad your eyes would be burning if this wasn’t a family oriented forum.