Amelia Island Fishing Articles

FWC publishes a pamphlet called "Basic Recreational Saltwater Fishing Regulations". You can pick one up when you buy your license, at any tax collector's office, or download one from FWC's web site. It seems they publish a new version about every six months. If you fish in a Florida state park, they'll usually have some in the office. There's a link to FWC Regulations on our links page.

The brochure is a list of fish, size and bag limits, and any special remarks or notes that apply to the species. If you think you're covered because you understand everything in the brochure, keep reading. The brochure is VERY basic.

One of the footnotes for a bunch of fish that I catch regularly says that these species "Must remain in whole condition until landed ashore (heads and tails intact)". Obviously that rule was written for boats, right?. That couldn't apply to those of us who fish from piers, could it?

I fish a lot on a very long pier that has two cleaning tables. Both of them are very far from the beach (out over the water). Being that I'm a law abiding citizen (not to mention that I'd rather spend five hundred bucks on fishing tackle instead of using it to pay a fine), I try to keep a good understanding of the Florida saltwater fishing regulations in my head at all times.

I didn't know, for sure, if I was allowed by Florida law to clean fish on the pier, since the cleaning tables are anything but "ashore". So I decided to go figure it out. First thing I did was start asking questions. Problem is, I got conflicting answers.

According the Ft. Clinch staff, it's OK to clean your fish out on the pier. When I asked the game warden the same question, I was told that the cleaning tables on the pier were there before that rule went into effect. I think the answer I got was no, you can't clean fish on the pier. But I still wasn't sure. If there was a law that says you can't clean fish on a pier, it had to written down someplace, and I decided I'd feel better if I read it myself.

So I did a little research. Florida Administrative Code has a chapter with covers fishing. Chapter 68, "Fish and Wildlife Commission". You can download it from this Florida State Web Site if you'd like to view it in it's entirety. It's a 213+ MB PDF file, and it was painful to view it with my Adope PDF Viewer program, but I managed to glean some very interesting information during the painful process.

There is a section in the code for each type of fish that are covered by saltwater fishing regulations in Florida. Here are some excerpts from the Florida Administrative Code regarding saltwater fishing. First, a couple definitions used various places in the code.

Florida Administrative Code, Chapter 68

Definitions:

(1) "Fishing pier" means a platform extending from shore over water, used primarily to provide a means for persons to harvest or attempt to harvest fish therefrom. The term shall not be construed to include any residential dock, marina, or facility at which vessels are launched or moored, but shall include any abandoned bridge serving the function of a fishing pier.

(4) "Land", when used in connection with the harvest of a fish, means the physical act of bringing the harvested fish ashore.

Chapter 68 - Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission

Chapter 68B-22 Red Drum (Redfish)

Chapter 68B-22.006 Other Prohibitions; Applicability

(4) All redfish harvested from Florida waters shall be landed in a whole condition. The possession, while in or on state waters, on any public or private fishing pier, or on a bridge or catwalk attached to a bridge from which fishing is allowed, or on any jetty, of any redfish that has been deheaded, sliced, divided, filleted, ground, skinned, scaled or deboned is prohibited. Mere evisceration or “gutting” of redfish, or mere removal of gills from redfish, before landing is not prohibited. Preparation of redfish for immediate consumption on board the vessel from which the fish were caught is not prohibited.

Chapter 68B-43 Bluefish

Chapter 68B-43.003 Size Limit; Bluefish to be Landed in Whole Condition

(2) All bluefish shall be landed in a whole condition. The possession, while in or on state waters, of such fish that have been deheaded, sliced, divided, filleted, ground, skinned, scaled, or deboned is prohibited. Mere evisceration or "gutting" of such fish, or mere removal of gills before landing is not prohibited.

Chapter 68B-48 Flounder and Sheepshead

Chapter 68B-48.003 Size and Bag Limits

(1)(b) All flounder and sheepshead shall be landed in whole condition. The possession, while in or on state waters, on any public or private fishing pier, or on a bridge or catwalk attached to a bridge from which fishing is allowed, or on any jetty, of any such fish that have been deheaded, sliced, divided, filleted, ground, skinned, scaled, or deboned is prohibited. Mere evisceration or "gutting" of such fish, or mere removal of gills, before landing is not prohibited.

Chapter 68B-37 Spotted Seatrout

Chapter 68B-37.003 Size Limits

(3) All spotted seatrout harvested in or from Florida or adjacent federal Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters shall be landed in a whole condition. The possession, while in or on state waters, on any public or private fishing pier, on a bridge or catwalk attached to a bridge from which fishing is allowed, or on any jetty, of a spotted seatrout that has been deheaded, sliced, divided, filleted, ground, skinned, scaled, or deboned is prohibited. Mere evisceration or "gutting" of spotted seatrout, or mere removal of gills before landing is not prohibited.

I didn't bother to dredge through the big ugly PDF file to find every type of fish I've ever seen caught on the pier, but I think the above sampling of Redfish, Bluefish, Flounder, Sheepshead, and Seatrout cover the majority of what comes off the pier and may be headed for the dinner table on any given day.

Basically the above boils down to this: It is illegal to clean (certain) fish on the pier. Well, it's not really illegal to CLEAN them, it's just illegal to have them in your possession AFTER they've been cleaned.

Of course, that doesn't apply to all fish. It only applies to the ones that have a size/bag limit, I think, so if you catch a cooler full of Whiting, grab the fillet knife, stop at the cleaning table, and go for the gold. To be really safe, I guess you should print out all 568 pages of Chapter 68 and take them fishing with you...

People don't realize that it is illegal. I have broken that law, based on the fact that I was told by park employees it was OK to clean fish on the pier. I have friends who are fisherman who have also broken that law, and they would not have done it either had they realized it wasn't allowed. None of us were trying to "get away" with anything, none of us were cleaning undersized fish, we just thought that cleaning tables were for cleaning fish. Apparently they used to be, but they aren't anymore.

You may have noticed that in the section about Bluefish, the specific language about "piers" has been omitted. I would assume this is an accidental omission, based on the fact that I personally spoke to a gentleman who had just been written up by an FWC officer for cutting up Bluefish on the pier.

My evenings worth of research, coupled with the article I read the other night that says public fish cleaning tables are a great source of all kinds of bacteria, has me convinced now that I'm going to be doing all my fish cleaning at home.

Can you clean fish on the beach if you're surf fishing? Looks like it, because they qualify for the state of Florida's official definition of having been "landed", but what a sandy mess that would be. But if you're fishing in a boat, don't get caught cleaning fish until after you get out of the boat either.

Are you still confused a little bit? I am, but at least now I know better than to clean my fish on the pier. I know for sure it is illegal. I also think I know why I'm still a little confused. Laws are written by congressmen and lawyers. Not all congressmen and lawyers are fishermen, at least it looks that way. Why am I still confused? Well, the law doesn't say you can't cut up Bluefish on the pier, but the FWC officer who writes tickets does, and I'm sure he doesn't make things up. Maybe the law about you can't cut up Bluefish is written down someplace I haven't read yet, or the law implies that "landed" includes piers and jetties in the case of Bluefish, but it actually says that in the case of other fish.

Why can I clean a Redfish on my boat and then eat it right away (love that Redfish sushi) but the law doesn't say I can eat a Flounder sushi on my boat? If it doesn't say I can't eat Flounder sushi on my boat, does that mean I can? I guess it does, providing I can swallow a whole Flounder and not cut it up first. I understand the PURPOSE and INTENT of the law. Anybody would. It's to keep people from cleaning undersized fish. But then for some unknown reason, somebody wrote in a loophole that allows people to EAT undersized Redfish on a boat? What is that all about?

I'm all in favor of conservation. I'm all in favor of sensible laws to protect our natural resources. I never want to see a kid go fishing when there are no fish left to catch. But it seems pretty obvious to me that the Florida saltwater fishing laws need some cleaning up and clarification so that people like me don't unintentionally break them. I know, ignorance of the law is no excuse. But Walmart didn't tell me about Chapter 68 of the Florida Code when I bought my fishing license. And I doubt most fisherman, even those who try not to break any laws, are going to download a 213 MB PDF file and read it all to insure that they don't.

Believe it or not, it took me about four hours to write this article, because a 500+ page Adope PDF file is impossible to use, even on my state-of-the-art brand new computer. So if the law is that hard to READ, imagine how much time it took to WRITE all that stuff; no wonder it could use a bit of fixing up.

Amelia Island fishing is a lot more fun if you don't get busted for cleaning your legal sized fish.

Article By Amelia-Island-Fishing.Com Staff