OP
I tend to string them where the tail meets the carapace. Lobster have an "open" circulatory system instead of a closed system with complex arteries and veins. So unlike a meat shot in a grouper you don't have a bloody wound hole in the meat from stringing them. We eat ours the same day we catch them and most frequently they are still kicking at the cleaning table despite the hole. If it were more practical for me to carry bag than a stringer I would. Since there are no regs to keep anyone from piercing/stringing/spearing them it just makes more since this way. We rarely find multiple spinys and I have even shot a few grouper while holding two 7# spinys between my arm/chest and knees until one of my bag laden buddies swam by. I guess in the Panhandle, bags are kind of like boats.... its better to have a buddy with one than to have one yourself.
Zieg- It doesn't matter if there is a question of weather or not you speared it or not as piercing is quite legal for shovelnose. That is the point of this thread. Its simply not in debate and there is no confusion at the executive level of any of the regulatory agencies. Please contact the Gulf Council, FWC or the SAFMC if you have any questions. FWC takes about 5-7 business days to respond via "ask FWC" on their webpage. The correspondence would certainly satisfy any legal question about you following the rules, and several people I know carry such emails with them in case there is ever a question from an officer doing a field inspection of your cooler. I am one of them, other fun things to carry in such an event include; all current fishing regs for any waters you fish, how to tell a mangrove from a cubera, the difference between state and federal waters, all current colregs/nav rules and a copy of CFR subchapter T.
Zieg- It doesn't matter if there is a question of weather or not you speared it or not as piercing is quite legal for shovelnose. That is the point of this thread. Its simply not in debate and there is no confusion at the executive level of any of the regulatory agencies. Please contact the Gulf Council, FWC or the SAFMC if you have any questions. FWC takes about 5-7 business days to respond via "ask FWC" on their webpage. The correspondence would certainly satisfy any legal question about you following the rules, and several people I know carry such emails with them in case there is ever a question from an officer doing a field inspection of your cooler. I am one of them, other fun things to carry in such an event include; all current fishing regs for any waters you fish, how to tell a mangrove from a cubera, the difference between state and federal waters, all current colregs/nav rules and a copy of CFR subchapter T.
