# Shark fishing in myrtle?



## Mikekrismac (May 15, 2009)

Caught a tiger shark on a bluefish rig last year about a mile south of cherry grove pier last year. Was that illegal? It was dark. I thought maybe it was a big blue.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Yep.


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## scout04 (Aug 6, 2009)

*illegal*

how was that illegal ?


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

County ordinance, you can't catch sharks in Horry county.


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## Regmann (Oct 14, 2008)

It is all about intent. If you are intentionally trying to catch sharks, it is illegal. If you are trying to catch blues, as the original poster stated, it isn't. If you inadvertently catch a shark or any other creature deemed to be unsafe for swimmers, it must be released immediately.

_Sec. 5-7. Fishing from shore or pier.
It shall be unlawful for any person involved in attempting to catch or take, or catch or take any shark or other marine animals that may endanger the public from any fishing pier, or any beach within the unincorporated limits of shore or any coastal waters where one may fish within this county. Any person(s) who baits, fish for, or otherwise attract sharks or other marine animals that may in danger the public within one (1) mile of the beach or any coastal waters are in violation of this ordinance. All fishermen shall release at time of recognition any and all fish or other similar type animals that may pose any danger to any beach goers, sunbathers, swimmers or any other person where the fish or animal is caught. This prohibition is in effect from March 1st to November 30th each year.
(1) Any person(s) who surf fishes or fishing of any type from a pier or beach, at any time of the year, shall not fish in a manner that presents an unsafe condition to any beach goers, sun bathers, swimmers, or any other person and shall keep a safe distance from the for said.
(2) County jurisdiction extends to one (1) mile in the Atlantic Ocean and includes all beaches and Piers. (S.C. Code 1976, § 5-7-140 and § 5-7-150)
(Ord. No. 104-07, § 1, 6-19-07)_


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Regmann said:


> It is all about intent. If you are intentionally trying to catch sharks, it is illegal. If you are trying to catch blues, as the original poster stated, it isn't. If you inadvertently catch a shark or any other creature deemed to be unsafe for swimmers, it must be released immediately.
> 
> _Sec. 5-7. Fishing from shore or pier.
> It shall be unlawful for any person involved in attempting to catch or take, or catch or take any shark or other marine animals that may endanger the public from any fishing pier, or any beach within the unincorporated limits of shore or any coastal waters where one may fish within this county. Any person(s) who baits, fish for, or otherwise attract sharks or other marine animals that may in danger the public within one (1) mile of the beach or any coastal waters are in violation of this ordinance. All fishermen shall release at time of recognition any and all fish or other similar type animals that may pose any danger to any beach goers, sunbathers, swimmers or any other person where the fish or animal is caught. This prohibition is in effect from March 1st to November 30th each year.
> ...


Intent does not matter. 

"It shall be unlawful for any person involved in attempting to catch or take, *or catch or take any shark* or other marine animals that may endanger the public from any fishing pier, or any beach within the unincorporated limits of shore or any coastal waters where one may fish within this county."


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## justinfisch01 (Feb 19, 2006)

Mikekrismac said:


> Caught a tiger shark on a bluefish rig last year about a mile south of cherry grove pier last year. Was that illegal? It was dark. I thought maybe it was a big blue.


That must have been one hell of a bluefish rig, I wouldn't want to tangle with a Tiger with anything less then 500lb leader


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## scout04 (Aug 6, 2009)

*shark*

another damn good reason to stay away from myrtle beach - sounds like the jack leg political idiots in the movie jaws - as if somehow fishing for sharks attracts them to the beach - hello - they are already there - fishing only proves it to the idiots that want to deny the existence of anything in the water that would ever hurt someone or God forbid bite them especially in the butt and possibly take their wallet with them.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

scout04 said:


> another damn good reason to stay away from myrtle beach - sounds like the jack leg political idiots in the movie jaws - as if somehow fishing for sharks attracts them to the beach - hello - they are already there - fishing only proves it to the idiots that want to deny the existence of anything in the water that would ever hurt someone or God forbid bite them especially in the butt and possibly take their wallet with them.


Oh Myrtle Beach manages to take their wallet. 12% sales tax!? I try to avoid Myrtle Beach and Horry county when I can.


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

SmoothLures said:


> Intent does not matter.
> 
> "It shall be unlawful for any person involved in attempting to catch or take, *or catch or take any shark* or other marine animals that may endanger the public from any fishing pier, or any beach within the unincorporated limits of shore or any coastal waters where one may fish within this county."


Yes intent does matter. If you read the rest of section 5-7 you will see the words "shall release At time of recognition" If you can't see what it is until you get it up to the beach you are not in violation as long as you release it right away. In other words DON'T LET THE TOURIST SEE IT


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## kingfish (Feb 28, 2004)

If the state licenses you to fish from the beach, and you are fishing state waters, which you would be, I think Horry County hasn't got a leg to stand on if you were to take the matter to court. However, you will probably need a change of venue.


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## justinfisch01 (Feb 19, 2006)

Its just not worth the hassel. If you want to catch sharks drive 15 minutes south over the county line and then catch all you want. There is plenty of better things to fish for then sharks


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## smoldrn (Sep 10, 2006)

Had 2 of G'town's finest visit us at GC yesterday. Seems some touron in one of the beach houses behind us that if anybody was in the water within 100 yds (off to the side) that we were endangering them. The cops agreed with us that stupid tourists should not swim in front of jetties and wished us well.


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## kingfish (Feb 28, 2004)

justinfisch01 said:


> Its just not worth the hassel. If you want to catch sharks drive 15 minutes south over the county line and then catch all you want. There is plenty of better things to fish for then sharks


you might want to google that driving time, and a lot of folks like to target sharks as well, maybe even congest one(that the bluefish way). It is 60 to 90 minutes for me to drive to Gtwon county, and i can get to Nc much faster but that requires an out of state fishing license, not too cheap either, I should have to pay twice to fish in the ocean not 5 miles from my rsidence. I have both states licenses and dont like shark fishing, what does that have to do with it, nothing. What about the walking man, he can't have no shark meat to eat. License says he can keep a precious few. The state would have you pay to fish and regulate what you can catch and keep, then the county would say, you cant have none. eat me

Thing is, every time you go down the path of lost freedoms, pay your fees at penalty of law for those lost privelages, without struggle, you have earned what awaits at the gate.


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## c0ch3s3 (Jul 10, 2009)

kingifsh,
georgetown county actually starts about a half mile south of the gc pier. there is a big sign that says "georgetown county." you cant miss it. so, georgetown county would actually only be about a 15-20 min drive. now, the actual city of georgetown would take you about an hour or so coming from little river.


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## kingfish (Feb 28, 2004)

I've only been making the drive for over thirty years, you must have found a short cut i'm unaware of. Tell you what I'll do, you come on up here and we'll drive down to that big old gtown sign, and if you make it in less than twenty minutes you can have my suburban or $20,000, your choice, of course if you don't I'll expect to own that rocket ship you drive,or $20,000, my choice, loser.


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## c0ch3s3 (Jul 10, 2009)

didn't mean to offend there, kingfish. surely didnt expect to be called a loser. still, i don't believe it takes 1.5 hours to get to gt county from little river. from my driveway on 707 in murrells inlet, its only 1.5 hours to wilmington. and my car is no rocket ship, i promise.


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## Bobmac (Oct 11, 2008)

Sounds like recess to me!
if one checked the fine print, one may find that there is provision for local ordnance to take precedent over state regs in quite a few areas. This would be one probably be one of them.


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## kingfish (Feb 28, 2004)

c0ch3s3 said:


> didn't mean to offend there, kingfish. surely didnt expect to be called a loser. still, i don't believe it takes 1.5 hours to get to gt county from little river. from my driveway on 707 in murrells inlet, its only 1.5 hours to wilmington. and my car is no rocket ship, i promise.


you wanna be a winner take the bet, but my money says you loose.
In fact I'll double the time to 40 minutes if you stay within the speed limit and obey traffic devices.Hell I'll triple the time to an hour if you try to go between business hours, want some yet


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## c0ch3s3 (Jul 10, 2009)

you win man.


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## dunedevil (Jul 30, 2009)

Farewell and ado all you fair Spanish ladies, Farewell and ado you ladies of Spain, for we've recieved orders for to sail back to Boston.........A TRUE STORY: I used to fish Apache pier in Myrtle Beach years ago. I fished King Mac. tournaments on that pier along with tons of other guys and gals. One year a friend of mine had something take off about 150 yds of line fast and nobody saw what it was. The Horry County police were patrolling the pier real hard, as a lot of tourists were around, in and out of the water, walking the pier etc. This cop down there heard someone in the back of the crowd mention that it could be a shark. When this Horry Co. cop heard that, he told my friend to cut his line. My friend not knowing what he was battling at the other end of his line, tried to explain to this officer that he hadn't seen it hit, and that he wasn't sure what it was. This officer told him again to cut his line. Again my friend tried to tell the officer that he wasn't sure what it was, and that he just wanted to get it closer to make sure it wasn't a king or something. The officer then reached behind his back and brought out his handcuffs, and told my friend cut your line now, or your going to jail. Is that a crock or what? Horry County has an assanine shark policy in play down there, and they will harrass you to no end!! They don't want tourists down there to see sharks brought up on the pier! I guess it's okay to have them swimming amongst the swimmers where people can't see them, but don't bring them up on the pier. What a bunch of paranoid assholes!! The local guys that fished Apache tried to talk to the city council down there about letting fishermen keep some of the sharks to cut down on the numbers in the area there, and they didn't want sharks visible to the public for fear that it might cut down on their profits. The county council down there is naive, and I no longer fish there for that reason. The Horry County council sucks!!! Thank God for the piers along the Outer Banks, and a much more layed back fishing environment. I don't miss the cracker-jack cops looking over my shoulder trying to intimidate the normal, law abiding citizens, there trying to have a good time.


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## dunedevil (Jul 30, 2009)

scout04 said:


> another damn good reason to stay away from myrtle beach - sounds like the jack leg political idiots in the movie jaws - as if somehow fishing for sharks attracts them to the beach - hello - they are already there - fishing only proves it to the idiots that want to deny the existence of anything in the water that would ever hurt someone or God forbid bite them especially in the butt and possibly take their wallet with them.


Scout 04 Great Point!! I was one of about 100 or so fishermen that went to a council meeting in Myrtle Beach to try and get that point across to the council, but they weren't going to have any of it. It is just like the movie Jaws, and you have to laugh. You hope a big old tiger shark or bull shark bites on of the council members right on the ass and maybe they will wake up. This happened about 10 years ago when me and my father fished king tournaments in the spring and fall there.


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