# No shark fishing Walton County?



## watergator (Apr 5, 2016)

There's a thread in the general discussion about a Walton county ordinance that bans shark fishing from the beach. What I'm wondering is how many people still do it and if anyone knows of someone getting a citation (if so how much?)? It's a stupid rule in my opinion, especially if you're fishing beyond the surf and/or at night where you pose no threat to swimmers. 

http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/showthread.php?t=802874


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

In the thread you mentioned is a message from the county attorney that explains the ordinance, and the fact that it has actually been in place for some time before the new ordinance. Use of the beaches has become a huge issue for beach users, beach front property owners, and vendors. Thus, the new ordinance came to pass. If you saw the thousands and thousands of people on the beach during the season you would understand why the no shark fishing rule came about. We don't have any isolated beaches in Walton County that are lightly used or could coexist with shark fishing.

The new ordinance is over 20 pages and covers just about everything under the sun on beach use.


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

fishwalton said:


> We don't have any isolated beaches in Walton County that are lightly used or could coexist with shark fishing.


Really? Why not?

(btw ... a lot of beach shark fishing is done after dark ... where's the conflict with that?)


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

Don't know the answer to that. You will have to ask the hordes of people that weighed in on the discussion which were tourist interest and property owners.


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## Chechem (Mar 20, 2016)

AndyS said:


> Really? Why not?
> 
> (btw ... a lot of beach shark fishing is done after dark ... where's the conflict with that?)


It's not simple. As a fisherman I'd rather have fishing ONLY at beaches, and let the sunbathers sunbathe.

But when I visited Langdon last week to fish for pompano, I found heads of bonita floating along the beach and I stepped on a one of these:










Maybe someone else noticed that all of us fishermen don't clean up well after ourselves. Please do.


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

Chechem said:


> Maybe someone else noticed that all of us fishermen don't clean up well after ourselves. Please do.


Well, whenever I shark fish off the beach which is almost always at night ... I often take a bunch of beachgoer trash out with me ..... including sharps and glass. I take that sitting around for hours as an opportunity to leave the place better than I found it. And I've seen other fisherman do the same day and night. From what I've seen the beachgoers trash up the beach far more than the fisherfolk.

But anyways, I guess we need to ban rays since ya can step one of them and get jabbed too?


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

I was actually sitting here thinking about that sputnik picture and how dangerous it seems like it could be to a bare foot. 

But then I started thinking "well, really?" 

Having handled those things and kind of knowing the balance and angles of em, seems maybe to me you'd have to step on it just right and it would have to be positioned at just the right angle to penetrate very far if at all. Most times it wouldn't penetrate at all I'm thinking, the leg would just bend off to one side as the lead got pushed a little deeper in the sand? Or maybe I'm wrong about that? What do yall think? 

I'll have to remember to try a little experiment next time I'm down at the beach. Man-Science time!!! :thumbup:


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## Chechem (Mar 20, 2016)

AndyS said:


> I was actually sitting here thinking about that sputnik picture and how dangerous it seems like it could be to a bare foot.
> 
> But then I started thinking "well, really?"
> 
> ...


Glad to hear that you clean the beach while there. I do too. But people are people; some are good folk, some not.

As per stepping on the sputnik; it cut my foot. Not a deep cut, but it bled.

I posted to encourage fishermen to clean up after themselves, because I noticed it. It's likely that the reason for a possible ban concerns attracting sharks to the beach, NOT any littering by an individual. We all know the sharks are out there, regardless of whether fishermen are present.


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

Chechem said:


> As per stepping on the sputnik; it cut my foot. Not a deep cut, but it bled.


I got a similar cut one time stepping on a broken shell. 

Gotta watch how you walk when you can't see where you're putting your foot down ... I don't care where ya are. The world's full of hazards.

Haven't caught a hook in my skin yet on the beach .... but no doubt there's plenty of 'em out there with all the cutoffs of double dropper rigs from fishermen of various species. Think about all them double droppers just flapping around underwater held in place by a pyramid weight. It's a virtual minefield. Dangerous!  I suppose that'd be the rationale to ban *all *fishing on the beaches? All in the interest of the safety of the tourists, of course. Gotta keep them snowflakes from melting, ya know. Vacay rental owners are worried they might not come back if there's nasty fisherman on _their_ beach in front of their rental property

See, here's the thing. I think fisherfolk have 100% as much of a right to use of the public beach as those who want to sun, read, get drunk, take selfies, play volleyball, and play in the surf. If you don't want to see a nasty fish or don't want your kids to see one .... don't set your chairs, umbrellas, boom-boxes, beach toys, coolers, and all that other stuff next to somebody fishing. Likewise, if I don't want to see some nasty beachgoers (_& I've seen some!_) ... I don't set up next to them & start fishing. 

If somebody's fishing, don't set up next to 'em and then send your kids down to play in the surf right next to them. And I don't know any fisherfolk who would set up right next to a bunch of people playing in the water. And everybody should be taking their trash out with them. It's all just common courtesy and common sense.


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