Punta Gorda Anglers do Battle with Bottlenose Dolphins

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Bottomfeeder

Bottomfeeder

Dovii
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Aug 4, 2008
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I read an article in Waterline, a Punta Gorda Fishing Newspaper that my Grandpa sent me. Bottlenose Dolphins are getting to be too much. At a pier in Charlotte Harbor, Dolphins circle underneath the pier and steal live baits from lines. The author of the article said he saw an angler set out a live Blue Runner Jack, only to have a Dolphin strip the hook. Someone within the authors earshot said that he would rather have them shot. I don't agree with this, although a pellet gun shot into the water might scare them off...along with the Mackerel they're targeting. One dolphin reportedly went too far in eating a live Jack and got hooked (I didnt know they did that) and, from a pier, the angler was forced to tighten the drag and break it off. I like Dolphins and seeing them jump in the wake of the dinghy I was fishing from is one of the highlights of my fishing experiences, and I would never like a Dolphin being killed, but if I released a fish...which I always do...I would want it to survive, not be snatched by a Dolphin, tossed up in the air, and gulped down. And if that happened, I would be pissed.
 
:nilly: another PETA thread
 
Stuff like that happens when you go fishing. I've had porpuise and sealions take my bait and or fish. I've had a-sealions grab onto clients 200# plus halibut and "show off" its catch to the boat. But there is not much to do about it. Just part of fishing.

A pellet gun won't be felt or hardly even heard (in a way that would bother them) by dolphins. Many of the hatcheries in ak play orca sounds underwater to keep other fish eaters away.
 
yeah i doubt a pellet would even go far in the water. did you see that episode of Myth Busters where they shot all these guns into the water? most bullets disintegrate a few feet after they hit the water. Flipper will be safe for now :D
 
I hate dolphins stol about 12 snappers and 8 groupers from our boat we would get them halfway up and then it fells a sherman tank being drop onto your line. We could tell what we lost because they would come up and gloat. We outsmarted them with one thing a water bottle tied to a snapper they just couldnt firgure it out and kept trying to get it off but couldnt.
 
Dolphins are so freaking annoying. It sucks when I can keep only two red snappers a day even though I just fed flipper a dozen short ones while getting my limit!! :irked:

Ive had them take off my fish from the hook occasionally but they have never hooked themselves. Most of the time they just wait till you toss the fish back and eat it!!
 
Dolphins are part of Florida fishing. If they take fish to bad. Its illegal to fire a pellet gun,etc in the water to scare them as it should be.

I wouldnt fish there as would be afraid of hooking one .
I am no PETA person esp since I fish and eat some of the sea fish I catch here and there but I love the laws which make it a crime to annoy dolphins .

They are taking fish to survive we are not.
 
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