I was using drop ring nets not a cage type. They sit on top of the net until you pull it up. And yes that's exactly what they were doing. He would drop his shrimp on top of the net and when one grabbed it he would reel it up so she could get a net under it lol. You can get shot here too for robbing traps. A lot of commercial guys coat ther ropes with black grease and it someone pulls them up by hand it's obviously slippery but it will leave a black greasy mess all over their boat which is a telltale sign that they were robbing traps. On the east coast of fla they do the same with lobster trap ropes.

Well if you're giving the immigrant a pass because it was so bad where they came from I'm not buying it. Nobody said anybody crosses the border to poach crabs.
At this same location the game warden was called re an ASIAN lady keeping trout out of season.When he arrived she ran into the bathroom and whoever reported her pointed out to the warden that she ran into the restroom. He waited until she came out and asked her if she was fishing and she replied no. After talking to her for a few minutes while KNOWING from the caller that she took the fish in there,he asked her to remove her jacket. She had 3 jackets on with 8 illegal sea trout in the pockets. She WAS Asian. She did INTENTIONALLY hide the fish. She UNDERSTOOD every word he said and she DID get a ticket for 8 illegal fish at $400 a piece and a ticket for no license. She was well aware of what she was doing and she was well aware that she was trying to hide them and none of this had a thing to do with local poachers. Although snce she lives here Id have to say she's a local poacher herself.
In the words of Mr. Robert J Samples...
"Just sayin" lol 😂 ✌

It wasnt a slam on immigrants its just a fact of what I see/experience. Theres no doubt plenty of locals just as bad. If I see them I'll report them too. I see a lot of commercial guys that poach jjst as much but they have their game down pat and are hard to catch. The amount of commercial guys in the keyes that keep short lobster to bait traps with (and eat) is off the wall,but again they are hard to catch
But they dont do much to commercial guys. One of the largest fish houses in fla is in the panhandle. His son got caught with 72k pounds of oversized illegal redfish back when blackened fish hit the scene and was a big thing. All they recieved was a $5k fine and they confiscated the fish. That's it. If it was recreational angler they would have been fined up the ying yang and lost their boat,gear,truck and anything else they had with them.
The game is rigged.

hahaha...now that's funny😂

Amen brother. Dont leave home without it. In fla you can open carry to and from fishing/hunting and wear it the entire time you're fishing. I cc because its nobodys buisness but I could open carry if I choose.

Probably speak it well until they get caught😂

It was kinda like that on the east coast of fla but over here on the west coast they're on top of it. It's amazing sometimes when you see them and never knew they were there until you finally notice them. They do a good job over here.

I've always just drove right thru Chattanooga. Next time I'm up there I'll have to spend some time there and check it out more. Those are some beautiful pics

My dad started me fishing somewhere around 1963. Almost exclusively for snook,bass and specks(crappie). In my opinion I can still catch just as many today as back then. It's not hard for me to catch 10 to 15 snook in a day/night. Bass are still as good compared to how good of a fisherman you are and it's not hard to get a limit(50) of speckled perch if you know where and how.
Biggest decline I see is mullet and other baitfish. I believe the old adage...10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish is true.

Best way to live. Wish I did.

My kids live just north of Chattanooga. My son is in Cleveland and my daughter is in Sweetwater. It's nice up there.

Cynlaker...
Good on you👍 I really dont play with poachers. If I see it going on I report it. Two FWC officers gave me their personal phone#'s to call them directly.
Last winter I was catching big sea trout which are out of season down here until may of 2021. Three older guys walked up and asked if they could have a few. I said no they're out of season. One guy pulls his phone out and shows me on the FWC page that new regulations go in effect on Feb 1st and they were legal. I said no they're not. That just means any new regs are in effect and I doest cancel standing regs.
They were from NY. 30 min later they show back up with poles and shrimp. I warned them at least 6 times not to keep any. Well they finally caught a couple and after a few min I asked my buddy if he ever heard them throw the fish back. He said no but look at that bag they have. A yellow bag next to them was flipping all over the place w the fish in it.
I went on the fwc site and it will GPS where you are and I reported it. 30 min later an officer showed up and caught them leaving with the fish. They got fined $400 per fish,3 fines for no licenses and 3 fines for something I cant remember. After the office walked out and thanked me for reporting them and asked if I'd like a reward. lol. Half kidding I said...sure figuring I'd get $20 or a tshirt. 2 months later I recieved a Visa card in the mail from the FWC for $300. The officer called a week later and asked if I ever recieved the reward. Told him yes I did and how much it was. He said great. We want to reward folks for reporting violations because it out of hand especially with immigrants and asians that take every single thing they catch.
I told him no problem. I'll turn this into a side job in the winter😂 I could bust 2 or 3 a day in the winter😂

Your probably right lol

Lol. Well I wasnt very nice about it. The husband was kind of shaking. Anybody within 30 yards knew I was pissed. They were gone immediately after.
Flyguy....😂 I never considerd that but the guy i was talking to came out on the dock and was laughing . Said ...man I thought you were going to throw them in for a minute. 😂 I may have mentioned that to them in my rant.😇

Yep. I've used pro cure since it came out. Shrimp,menhaden and mullet. It diesnt just mask...it attracts. Proved it to my buddy one weekend.