Thread: Fish with no limits

This discussion came up on another site, so I thought I would cross-post:

Most commonly caught/kept fish with no size or bag limit in AL state waters:
Whiting & Ground Mullet
Croakers
Spot
Spadefish
White Trout
Black drum
Hardhead cats
Gaftop (sail) cats
Ladyfish (but most guys don't know how to process them to make fish cakes)
Bonita (little tunny)
Mahi-mahi (dolphin)
Hardtails (except on GSPP, where its 10) THey are edible BTW, just have to get one big enough to fillet and cut out the red meat. Taste similar to bluefish.
Bluefish (see note above about cleaning them!)
Jack Crevalle, but outside of tournaments I don't know of anyone who keeps more than one or maybe two.


Other not-so-commonly caught in state waters:
Northern Mackerel (Atlantic Bonito) but I have not seen one caught on GSPP in years
Tuna have a size limit but no bag limit in state waters. (if you catch one, let us know!)
Sailfish (like tuna, don't think this is a real issue!)



What did I miss????

www.outdooralabama.com/creel-and-size-limits

September of '15 we caught bunches of true bonito ("Northern Mackerel") out at the chambers/3 mile barge while trolling for Spaniards. I know that's not the pier, but they have been around.

Cool. We used to catch them back in the late '80/early '90s on the Okaloosa County Pier pretty regularly. Wouldn't mind getting into them again.

Is that list in order?
The information on how much of each species landed recreationally by state by year should be available...

Lookdowns? Remoras - No limit on them, right?

I've caught Northern Mackerel on Gotchas on Okaloosa - a really hard pulling fish and similar to bluefish in taste and consistency, IMO.

Nope, no particular order, I was just listing the "no limit" species as part of a discussion.

Yep, add lookdowns, moonfish and remora!

I didn't include "baitfish" either.

Lionfish. I was a little pessimistic when we got in a couple thousand dollars of spearfishing equipment a while back, but we now keep a lot of it in stock because they have become a targeted species with all the closures and them taking over reefs. They are no different from coyotes, hogs, or pythons because none of them have natural predators to keep them in check.

Originally Posted by john g

Lionfish. I was a little pessimistic when we got in a couple thousand dollars of spearfishing equipment a while back, but we now keep a lot of it in stock because they have become a targeted species with all the closures and them taking over reefs. They are no different from coyotes, hogs, or pythons because none of them have natural predators to keep them in check.

The nearshore reefs look to me like they ought to be great hunting grounds for lionfish. They may not be deep enough for a great abundance of them, but they sure are shallow enough to be accessible to any diver. Makes me wish I were younger.

Have you had any reports of lionfish there?

Originally Posted by john g

Lionfish. I was a little pessimistic when we got in a couple thousand dollars of spearfishing equipment a while back, but we now keep a lot of it in stock because they have become a targeted species with all the closures and them taking over reefs. They are no different from coyotes, hogs, or pythons because none of them have natural predators to keep them in check.

Not to mention they are one of the best eating fish I have had. Makes it even better to kill as many as possible. Just wish I had the money to get certified and dive myself.

Originally Posted by CarlF

Cool. We used to catch them back in the late '80/early '90s on the Okaloosa County Pier pretty regularly. Wouldn't mind getting into them again.

I caught 1 there two seasons ago, as did others.