nets in river

[Prolinejoe]

I just read post on NN and the one titled Last Saturday Rapp Bottom Fishing by rwfeer refers to nets in river and croakers being caught such as hundreds in net. My question is how does one get a license for this and what happens to hundreds of croakers that are most likely small on such a situation. Most died and were of little economic value. How come we still tolerate this ?

[SlateDog]

You can net them recreationally (I do not think recs can leave their net) or commercially (permits required). No limit on croaker and they are in abundance so I am not sure there is anything to really tolerate at this point. They can be sold.

Here is the quote from rwfeer's post "When we got back to the marina the guy on our dock had set a gill net outside of Broad creek and he had over two hundred large croaker in it". In his post he was complaining all HE caught were small croaker not the gill netter. Gill nets can be a PITA sometimes if you are not watching for them but they are genreally just waterman trying to make a living like everybody else.

[rwferr]

The person has a license to set the gill net I was not complaining about the fact that I caught small ones or he caught large ones I just thought it was funny that I tried all day and caught small ones and he set a net and caught 200 nice ones. The croakers he caught were all nice ones although the small ones probably went into crab pots or such.

[Tom Powers]

You can get a license for a recreational gill net that is 100 yards or less long. If you are fishing them above the saltwater/recreational line then there are other rules that apply one being that the net can only be 100 feet long. You do have to Tend your recreational net.

There are net size and permit rules for those with a commercial card.

One reason that he may be catching larger ones is that a gill net is selective in the size of fish that it catches. Use a slightly larger mesh and the smaller fish can swim right through. Further with a smallish mesh the larger fish will TEND not to be entangled.

There are a number of mesh size rules, some seasonal, some area. . If you are interested in getting a gill net license study the rules before doing so in order to avoid getting a ticket.

This time of year moving a few hundred feet can make a big difference on the size of the fish. From a time of day the larger fish seem to like to moved to shallow water around sunset (at least in my area). Lastly are you drifting or anchored? Sometimes you can only catch nice croaker when you anchor up.

[SlateDog]

The person has a license to set the gill net I was not complaining about the fact that I caught small ones or he caught large ones I just thought it was funny that I tried all day and caught small ones and he set a net and caught 200 nice ones. The croakers he caught were all nice ones although the small ones probably went into crab pots or such.

Fishing and complaining are so hand in hand I made a bad assumption!!!

[WhitestoneCharlie]

Were you fishing the same depth and tide as the netter? Big croakers often visit shallows in the evening on the incoming tide.

[jwas1]

I can confirm croaker in shallow water in the evening. I often take my skiff into 3 feet or less near Parrott Island around sunset. I cast a small drone or leadhead in hopes of catching small rockfish for fun and often catch big croakers. In such shallow water, they stay on top when hooked.

[SlateDog]

I can confirm croaker in shallow water in the evening. I often take my skiff into 3 feet or less near Parrott Island around sunset. I cast a small drone or leadhead in hopes of catching small rockfish for fun and often catch big croakers. In such shallow water, they stay on top when hooked.

Agreed. My biggest croakers so far this year (about 16 inches) came out of three feet of water on an artificial curly tail grub.....

[rwferr]

Thanks for the tip I will give it a try.