# Cleaning Fish at The Pier



## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

I am new to this discussion forum, and since I’ve been working on a fishing web site for the last few months, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about fishing in Florida and the Jacksonville/Amelia Island area in particular. I never did much reading about other people fishing before because I was too busy fishing myself. 

Everybody talks about big fish, and lots of time the discussion includes what the bait used to catch the fish was. I’ve noticed that chunks of Bluefish seem to work pretty good in some places to catch big Redfish. 

A few weeks ago I was on a pier when an FWC officer was making his rounds, and I talked to a fisherman who had just gotten written up for cutting up a Bluefish and using it for bait. I didn’t really understand why that was a problem, if the Bluefish was legal sized, and he didn’t understand either. I also think the great majority of fisherman do whatever they can to make sure they don’t break any laws, and I do the same myself.

Anyway, I did some research, and now I know why. Rather than posting the whole mess here, I’ll just provide a link so anyone who wants to can read it. If you fish anywhere in Florida from a pier, it may be something you should know about. 

http://amelia-island-fishing.com/fishing/articles/cleanfish.cfm


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

*That's weird.......*

Up here in Yankee land there is no size limit to blues and you can keep up to 15 a day. I guess it has some good points to. There is nothing like comin up to your favorite spot on a pier and some nit wit left a couple of clams or pieces of bait on the railing or the deck to sit out in the sun instead of givin it away or tossin it over.


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## clinder (Mar 2, 2005)

ive always understood that the reason it was illegal was becuase the fish could not be measured properly if it was in pieces or missing pieces. ive always gutted and removed the gills (((which is legal))) but in no way do you want to remove any part of a regulated fish that would inhibit them from bein measured to insure that they are legal size. i have gotten away with cutting either the tail or the head off a blue fish for bait as long as the piece left was *one piece *of *one fish *that was bigger than the legal size limit as so the fish could be proven to be of legal lenght. but i dont think its completely kosher. also it is legal to clean any fish that is not regulated by lenght.


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## KodiakZach (Mar 16, 2005)

Surffish, that's a great article!! I was always told that you can't cut blues up for bait because they were a game fish. Either way, saw one dude get busted for it on Sunglow pier and I haven't really had the urge to do it since then. Although I must say, out of the 30 Reds that have been caught over 40" at *________* (*deleted my mgmt.) this year, the majority have been caught on Bluefish.


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## Railroader (Apr 13, 2005)

Good post, Surf Fish....

Now there's ANOTHER spot I've got to try....I thought vehicle access was outlawed, now. Do you still have to get a permit from Hall's??? 

I used to hang out on the south end of Fernandina back in the 80's...Before the rich people took over....

I'm told that you can still vehicle access the beach somewhere near Peter's Point, perfectly legally, even though the rich folks have signs up saying "no".

You know anything about that?


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## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

RailRoader, you can still drive on the beach at American Beach. If I remember right, you can only go a couple hundred yards to the south. 
You can also gain entrance at the state park on the north side of Nassau Sound. Drive down the inlet to the beach and maybe another 1/2 mile before you get to the signs telling you to stop.
Bluefish, can you use a whole bluefish over 12" for live bait?


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## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

Railroader said:


> Good post, Surf Fish....
> 
> Do you still have to get a permit from Hall's???
> 
> ...


Nope, no more permits from Halls. Yes, you can drive on a tiny piece of beach at Peter's Point. It's like the end of Sadler Road where you can drive on the beach - about 50' in either direction you find the NO DRIVING PAST THIS POINT sign; just enuff room to turn around and go back. 

Couple years ago we had some nut who lives on the beach plant sea oats all the way down to the water and put up signs trying to keep people off "his" beach but I'm not sure where he was.

Someone mentioned American Beach - I haven't been there in years but used to be a small chunck of beach there you could drive on too.

The south end is the only place with a lot of sand left for a 4x4, Amelia Island State Park. It's a buck to get in the parking lot or free if you have a Florida State Parks yearly card. No houses down there, so nobody to complain. You need to be careful at high tide because the access is along Nassau Sound and it can go under water at a real high tide.

One of the problems with Richy Rich Kid is that he doesn't seem to like to fish, and it bothers him to see other people fishing. Access for fishing here is slowly disappearing, for no good reason. Lot of places we used to fish 20 years ago are now are blocked by fences and no parking signs.

One of the best surf fishing spots on the north end was a beach access with a little sand parking lot for about six cars. Richy and his buddies figured out that if they planted sea oats in the sand parking lot, they could get the county to put NO PARKING signs up because it's against the law to drive on sea oats. So they did, even though the little "parking lot" was actually on a right of way, not on private land.

On a really busy day there might have been one or two cars parked there so I'm sure it really ruined Richy's view of the dunes....

The Rec Department (who is in charge of beach access) tell's me "No problem. You can still FISH there." And you can - if you don't mind parking at main beach and dragging your beach cart two miles up the street to get there.



















My fishing buddy and I both complained to the Rec Department and the county about this access going away, but I think maybe they'd listen harder if two hundred people complained instead of just two of us.

One of things I'm hoping to do with the new web site is to organize the local "boatless" fishing community around here so we can fight things like this in the future.

If fifty people who fish were aware of this when it was happening, it wouldn't have happened.


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## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

KodiakZach said:


> I was always told that you can't cut blues up for bait because they were a game fish.


Yep, I think that's the best rule of thumb to go by - if there's a size limit on a fish, don't cut it up for bait. 

The other problem with the pier here is that it's on a state park, and it has cleaning tables. 

Cleaning tables can't talk, but to most people they whisper "Clean Your Fish Here." So the state of Florida is giving fisherman an invitation to break the law in a state park, which makes no sense. 

Monday morning I'm going to visit the park office with some copies of Chapter 68 and see if we can get that fixed. 

I think the current situation qualifies for the old "entrapment" scenario.


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## barty b (Dec 31, 2004)

*Sooo*

If I catch my bluefish and walk back to the beginning of the pier,or better yet off the pier,then take it back out on the pier to the "elicit cleaning table" and hack it into bait strips,then,by the letter of the law,I am within the regulations of article 68  There are so many BS rules out there placed soley to inconvienience fishermen in the name of "fish management" Its getting out of hand. I fish from the SURF off the beach more than I frequent piers. So if I am on a public beach,catch a legal red, I am within my rights to fillet the s.o.b. right there and cook it up if I feel so inclined. Also I can Fillet and release all the blues I wish because they have been "landed" in whole condition,unless a shark decides to sample my quarry before it hits land,in which case I'll just do the "right thing" and throw the remaining illeagal carcass in the trash can and not worry about it.(yeah right) Sorry about the rant.


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## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

barty b said:


> There are so many BS rules out there placed soley to inconvienience fishermen in the name of "fish management"


I don't really feel this is a BS rule. It's easy to understand the intent. If people were allowed to clean fish on a boat and bag the fillets, there's no doubt in my mind that a lot more illegal sized fish would go home for dinner. 

What I do think is BS is the fact that the rule applies to piers and jetties, and that's not properly spelled out in the literature that most fisherman see.

The majority of fisherman abide by the laws. But they need to know what the laws are so that they don't break them.


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## barty b (Dec 31, 2004)

*True*

They need to be more specific in the wording. I can understand about cleaning fish on a boat and agree with you. But piers and jetties might as well be land,I mean come on,whats next, we have to take our catch to an FWC office and check in before we clean it? I better shut up before I give them some Ideas


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## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

BentHook said:


> Bluefish, can you use a whole bluefish over 12" for live bait?


Yes you can. As long as the fish can be measured. Then again, I've used many a small blue as live bait. The game warden doesn't usually even bother looking at the bait you have out. Moral of the story, just don't be the person who has a cooler full of undersized fish for shark bait.


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## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

Emanuel, the reason I brought it up was, twice this year I saw the FWC make people bring in there baits while kingfishing on the Jax pier. Both blue's were of legal size though.
We were also told that we could clean fish on the pier if you had all your gear packed up and it was obvious you were on your way out.But since you can't get the same answer from all the LEO's and FWC, is it worth the risk of a ticket?
Another thing I saw this year was when some of the oldtimers caught a king. They would filet or steak them up and leave the carcass on the deck for hours incase the FWC came by to measure them.


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## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

BentHook said:


> Another thing I saw this year was when some of the oldtimers caught a king. They would filet or steak them up and leave the carcass on the deck for hours incase the FWC came by to measure them.


That's kind of like saving the evidence of the crime  Probably a trip back to the car to put the fillets in a cooler would be a better idea. 

We've heard the same thing here; if you have your rods packed up, it's OK to clean fish on the way out. Problem is, that's not what the law says, so you are still wide open for a ticket like you said. 

Does the new Jax pier have cleaning tables on the pier?

_68B-12.0035 Size Limit. - (2) All king mackerel 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 such fish that has 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._


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## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

I think they have 3 or 4 cleaning tables,all with city water running to them.But, if you have to go to the little boys room, it's a long walk back to the entrance.


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## barty b (Dec 31, 2004)

just hang it over the rail!!


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