Regulations coming soon

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

There are some regulation changes coming to speckled sea trout and Rredfish starting on Feb. 1. Rather than lose something in the translation of the new laws, I will post them directly from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s website.

Sea trout
• Removing regional season closures (removing the current February closure in northern Florida and the November-through-December closure in southern Florida)

• Raising the recreational bag limit in northeast Florida from five to six

• Changing commercial seasons based on regions — lengthening them from three to five months in the northwest, southwest and southeast regions and from three to six months in the northeast region

• Allowing spotted seatrout to be sold 30 days after the close of the regional commercial season

• When there are two commercially licensed fisherman aboard, changing the commercial vessel limit to 150

• Redefining the areas where spotted seatrout are managed by splitting the state into four management zones instead of three

Redfish
• Create three management areas for red drum (the northwest, northeast and south) instead of one statewide management area

• Increase the number of red drum that a recreational fisherman can take per day in the northeast and northwest regions of the state from one to two red drum

• Establish a statewide vessel limit of eight red drum

• Limit the number of red drum that can be transported on land to six drum per person

Agree with it or not, these will be the new regulations. Do I agree with them? No. I believe in the long run, these regulations will do more damage than good. Six or seven years ago, I could remember catching four or five trout a day that went between 4 to 6 lbs. These days, I’m lucky if I get that many size fish in a year, and I do a lot of trout fishing. Shame on the FWC.

The wind has been wreaking havoc with the fishing lately. It’s been difficult to chase redfish in the flats. The wind dirties the water, and makes it difficult to locate fish, especially if you’re trying to sight fish. It also makes it difficult to fly fish or try to cast a lure on an exact spot.

The flounder run is about over for the year. Target trout in deeper water using small flies on an intermediate line or small plugs that dive to about six feet. Good fishing!!