Hi TBJ,

If you notice, I stated the nets we used were in the past... 10 years ago. Fishing, by the way, is actually worse in Florida, though the CCA promised that people would be able to scoop up fish in baskets 7 years after the so-called net ban.

As far as your statement... "What happened in Florida is that you guys were netting for mullet and porgys ect.... and killing thousands of juvenile redfish, snook, mangrove snapper, sea trout, blue crab, pinfish, pufferfish..." I'm not surprised, guides are in the business for their own reasons. I bet you make slightly more than 20K per year. My earnings should tell you why I am in this fray. It's not for my own good, I'm in it for the environment, economy, citizens and the principles our country was founded upon.

I must take exception to your references about nets, which are the exact same as others I read for years on CCA posts. My nets NEVER caught juvenile fish because the mesh (hole) sizes were large... Thus juvenile fish escaped everytime. I never caught a snook because they busted through the webbing, leaving holes. I never caught mangrove snapper because they lived near structure, not the beach sands I fished. I caught sea trout when they were legal, but never caught them when they were prohibited. I, like most fishermen, know where the trout lived. Bluecrab was an extremely rare catch, though there are millions down here. Pinfish were a rare catch in large mesh nets until the CCA (in 1997 to date) encouraged the FWC to make the meshes on a net a maximum of 2" stretch. (1" square.) I've never seen a puffer fish captured in a net.

The absolute truth is... and you can witness it for yourself in the courtroom video I placed for all to see on my site, the CCA & FWC have intentionally forced Florida Fishermen to use nets with 1" square holes that capture 98% juvenile fish. That's 98% wasted resource. The FWC's own tests (actual documents are on my site) and the court room video is irrefutable. Men throughout this state are CURRENTLY forced to capture ALL of the fish you mentioned (except maybe those puffer fish) and unnecessarily kill and waste all of those fish you mentioned because they are all juvenile fish. Insane? If you have any logic within, the only conclusion a logical person can derive from this is that the FWC and the CCA are insane. Simply watch the video and if you can't see the insanity, then there is no reasoning with you. If you can see what is happening in front of you, then you aren't blind or a "lemming."

The so-called gill nets that supposedly wiped all life out of the sea (CCA Claim) were more selective than any gear invented. My by-catch with a large mesh net was only 2%... Yes, 2%. The CCA/FWC turned that net into a 98% by-catch waste machine, and continue to fight to keep that environmentally disasterous standard. (See video)

To those of you who mock my description of how the CCA have entered our state and have taken over the resource, well, that's your poragative. But, if it happens to you, don't say you weren't warned.

Those of you who have any sense of fairness, judge me by the content of my message. Anyone that hates someone simply because he is a commercial fisherman (and I've seen it in posts for 10 years) will be blind to the truth anyway.

By the way, on my site is the actual tests using a 2" CCA backed net versus a 3" net that we proposed was the minimum size hole. As you can clearly see, the CCA backed 2" net had a 98% by-catch rate while killing many of the species the writer I just responded to claimed were killed in the past. The 3" net set side by side had only a 2% by-catch rate... Just like the nets I fished in the past had. So which net makes sense? This is the truth. One thing I've learned about the rabid Koolaide drinking CCA'ers is that when confronted with the facts, the next thing they do is to call me names.

If you like catch and release... as most guides do, here's some food for thought. (BY THE WAY, I'M NOT AGAINST ANYONE'S WAY OF FISHING IF THE RESOURCE IS NOT IN DANGER OR UNNECESSARILY KILLED AND WASTED) Is there anything really CONSERVATIVE about a catch and release fishery? Fossil fuel is used simply for someone to feel a fish struggle on the end of a line, then let it go without benefit. On top of that, there is a mortality rate on caught and released fish. Some fish like the snook (Florida Sportfish) have a 30-35% catch and release mortality rate. Think about it. Most guide don't want to because they make a great amount of money working their business. That's just something to think about. I am not condeming the practice... My feelings are as long as there is a forever sustainable harvest or fishery, live and let live.

In Florida we are restricted to two 500 square feet of mesh area nets. (A combined total pile of netting that is of 37 yards long by 3 yards deep.) Who out there really has a problem with that size of net to make a commercial living with? And we aren't fighting for MORE net, just nets that don't unnecessarily kill and waste 98% of the resource.

Dave