fish/invert collection in FL

[devgru]

what are the laws(if any) on collecting fish and crabs/snails/clams from the coasts of florida?im only aware of coral and LR as restricted.

[macronut]

check with your States Fish and Wildlife. I would think they could help you or at least direct you to the appropriate agency.

[Anteverius]

here ya go (http://myfwc.com/marine/recreational/recharvestmls.htm)

[DaveG99]

I used to collect down in Islamorada in the florida keys. I have also found lots of nmice things at peanut island in west palm beach. I collected emerald crabs, hermits, snails, fish, shrimp, and other things. I live in Texas now and I really miss my weekend trips I used to make from Orlando to collect. They charge $12 fora damn emerald crab around here and I used to be able to collect as many of them as I wanted. All you need to collect is a fishing license.

[devgru]

thanks guys,youve steered me in the right direction.daveg99,maybe if i can get things going with setting up my holding tanks and get the time off to go ill ship you some $0 emeralds...any other good spots...and roughly where are the two you talk of?

[AcuraCl1]

Sorry to hijak this thread.

How cold is it in florida around middle of october and middle of november. I would love to go to florida and do this. I have never done this before. What would be required to do this.

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358437#post13358437 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AcuraCl1
Sorry to hijak this thread.

How cold is it in florida around middle of october and middle of november. I would love to go to florida and do this. I have never done this before. What would be required to do this.

Depends where in Florida your talking about. I used to live in Miami and go to the keys to collect crabs and fish. I have gone in December before and its mid 80's in the keys but farther north would be cooler. The water is damn cold though after about October though in my experience. I remember when I first moved to Miami it was November and I tried swimming in the ocean and it was freezing! I wondered why I was the only one down at the beach that day going into the water :D

[devgru]

not sure of water temp but air temp is low 70's.dont know all equipment but for snails and crabs i would imagine just find them and grab them.ive research nets on AES website and luckily for me their only 2-3 miles from my home.slurp guns have been mentioned but at 60+ dollars its not what im lookung for(have seen DIY slurpguns made out of PVC,so theres an option) so far the only thing ive taken from the ocean/gulf is reef sand(it sells for up to $3.99 a lb here).ive just acquired several 20g long and 55g and 10g drilled tanks so i was hoping to set up my 110g coral tub and use my 100g rubbermaid stock tank as the sump.then go collect some native species and hope to get enough of them to use the other tanks for breeding?

[DaveG99]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358285#post13358285 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by devgru
thanks guys,youve steered me in the right direction.daveg99,maybe if i can get things going with setting up my holding tanks and get the time off to go ill ship you some $0 emeralds...any other good spots...and roughly where are the two you talk of?

Email me daveg99@gmail.com and I will show you the two locations I usd to go to on a google map. Both locations are in 2-4 feet of water and lots of nice rocks, corals, and livestock. I even used to catch coral banded shrimp and even saw a small octopus.

I used to go all year long. I went to Islamorada in February and the water was 68degrees. Not bad in a wet suit.

[JustinReef]

BTW, you are allowed to collect Soft Corals except most Gorgonians. Although that was about 5 years ago that I lived there, so you may want to double check that your still allowed.

It was really fun trying to catch eels! Never actually got one but I used to try...

[devgru]

inverts and fish..,NOT CORALS.didnt want to give anyone the idea that thats what i intended.dont even think of taking an broken off piece of coral even off the ocean floor.

[DaveG99]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358493#post13358493 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinpsmith
BTW, you are allowed to collect Soft Corals except most Gorgonians. Although that was about 5 years ago that I lived there, so you may want to double check that your still allowed.

It was really fun trying to catch eels! Never actually got one but I used to try...

You are allowed to take anything but liverock and hard coral. I didnt know this 5-6 years ago and I got about 2 coolers worth of liverock one time. The rock was really nice but I had abotu 5 mantis shrimp in my tank from that rock! Mantis shrimp are everywhere down in Florida.

I normally just used my hands to catch stuff. The trick is to turn over every rock you can find. The critters hide under the rocks. I also used to use a slurp gun and suck shrimp and fish into it.

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358504#post13358504 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by devgru
inverts and fish..,NOT CORALS.didnt want to give anyone the idea that thats what i intended.dont even think of taking an broken off piece of coral even off the ocean floor.

As far as I know, soft corals are allowed to be collected. As of 5 years ago anyways...

[devgru]

i was under the impression that NO corals were allowed.on FL's restricted harvesting page it lists what cant be taken and corals...and gogonians are tops.some fish,couple of conchs,certain eels.

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358525#post13358525 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DaveG99
You are allowed to take anything but liverock and hard coral. I didnt know this 5-6 years ago and I got about 2 coolers worth of liverock one time. The rock was really nice but I had abotu 5 mantis shrimp in my tank from that rock! Mantis shrimp are everywhere down in Florida.

I normally just used my hands to catch stuff. The trick is to turn over every rock you can find. The critters hide under the rocks. I also used to use a slurp gun and suck shrimp and fish into it.

Did you ever catch eels?

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358538#post13358538 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by devgru
i was under the impression that NO corals were allowed.on FL's restricted harvesting page it lists what cant be taken and corals...and gogonians are tops.some fish,couple of conchs,certain eels.

I just looked at the link above and it says all soft corals are fine except gorgonians. So nothing has changed.

[AcuraCl1]

Thanks, so would I just need to get some scuba gear, certified, equipment for catching fish and inverts, and a saltwater license and I would be good to. This would be my first time ever scuba diving, and catching fish and inverts. I have always wanted to do this.

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358581#post13358581 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AcuraCl1
Thanks, so would I just need to get some scuba gear, certified, equipment for catching fish and inverts, and a saltwater license and I would be good to. This would be my first time ever scuba diving, and catching fish and inverts. I have always wanted to do this.

I never used scuba gear to catch my stuff. Depends what your looking for. I just got a fishing license, a few nets, buckets, rubbermaids a small battery powered airstone and heater that I hooked up to the cigarette lighter in my car.

Then I went to a few different spots where the water was like 2-3' deep and started moving rocks around. LOL. I just kind of caught what I could find and then released whatever I didn't want. All kind of small fish but mostly I collected macro algae, crabs, shrimp and the odd soft coral. I will confess that I also took a bit of LR rubble...maybe about 3 lbs. Everything went into buckets and then when I got back to the car I put it all in rubbermaid containers with the air stones and heater for the ride back to Miami.

Nothing fancy. Nothing died either.

[JustinReef]

Oh and I used to collect lots of sponges. Just keep them under the water when putting them in buckets. You can find lots of beautiful colored sponges around. Some are way too big to take though. I guess you could but it would be hard and really a shame to take them. I kind of liked to take the smaller stuff.

[AcuraCl1]

Thanks, I wasn't sure if you needed scuba gear or not. I figured you may for trying to catch fish like angelfish, tangs, etc.

[JustinReef]

Well you would need scuba gear for some bigger fish and even then it would be pretty hard to catch them. I only ever caught small guys. I found a large Trigger once that was very curious and in shallow waters. He would have been easy to catch but way too big!

[Magga Pie]

When I go to the keys which is about every other week depending on my schedule you can just snorkle around and find some really neat stuff.

[DaveG99]

Yeah all you need is a mask and snorkle. And I use a small plastic bucket with a screw on lid. Its really easy to catch stuff

[pbradley0]

Anyone know of places you can do this around Tampa?

[devgru]

ive heard that you want to stay away from ports...exhaust from boats and especially large ships and vessels.

[pbradley0]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13359939#post13359939 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by devgru
ive heard that you want to stay away from ports...exhaust from boats and especially large ships and vessels.

That seems like a reasonable statement but I would argue that if the animal, rock, coral, etc was living in polluted water then it certainly could live in a pristine (or at least semi-pristine) tank.

[pbradley0]

This thread reminds me of a previous RC thread about collecting pods. It's an interesting read...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1296173

[dwd5813]

pbradley, people collect snails and other things at the skyway bridge. head into the tampa bay club forum here and ask around, people will fill you in.

[seafansar]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358539#post13358539 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinpsmith
Did you ever catch eels?

My dad caught a small eel in the Keys. Don't ask me how he caught it. He just called me over and said, "look what I found!" I still can't believe he kept it. I mean he didn't even have a tank set up at the time. He made me hold it for him until he could go buy a tank and set it up! It's really pretty, oscillated moray, but it'll eat any fish you put in the tank with it.

[aslavatortin]

I bet the nature nazis are convening this very minute planning to hijack this thread...

[DaveG99]

there arent any ports in the florida keys. Only large port is Miami, Cape Canaveral, Tampa, and JAX.

[devgru]

Pbradley0 That seems like a reasonable statement but I would argue that if the animal, rock, coral, etc was living in polluted water then it certainly could live in a pristine (or at least semi-pristine) tank.

i was thinking more along the lines of contaminating my tank with whatever was collected within those areas.....