# Poll and troll zone violators



## Padre (Jul 29, 2016)

I was fishing off one of the islands right out of the east channel next to the pole and troll last week, (Thursday was the only day I wasn't there) and I saw a boat motor right out of the middle of the P & T. Stirring up mud and everything.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Video these clowns and give the video to FWC when back on shore.

There is only 10% of the wildlife officers that we need.


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## MariettaMike (Jun 14, 2012)

Flats Broke said:


> Do FWC and USF&W no longer bother to enforce the zone anymore?


Anymore? Do you mean like when you were a teenager in the 60's?

I've never seen on-the-water enforcement of any kind in the last five years.


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## Blue Zone (Oct 22, 2011)

MariettaMike said:


> Anymore? Do you mean like when you were a teenager in the 60's?
> 
> I've never seen on-the-water enforcement of any kind in the last five years.


They are thick as flies between Miami and Stuart on the ICW. Ostensibly they are protecting the overpopulated manatees; oddly, both seem to congregate right in front of high-dollar waterfront properties. Follow the money.


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

Blue Zone said:


> They are thick as flies between Miami and Stuart on the ICW. Ostensibly they are protecting the overpopulated manatees; oddly, both seem to congregate right in front of high-dollar waterfront properties. Follow the money.


yup generate revenue.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

You should fish in Texas


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## Flats Broke (Feb 7, 2017)

MariettaMike said:


> Anymore? Do you mean like when you were a teenager in the 60's?
> 
> I've never seen on-the-water enforcement of any kind in the last five years.


Sorry to hear that Mike. I can at least remember when the guys who patrolled the ICW were called the Florida Marine Patrol and they did enforce the poll and troll area around Tiger Shoal in the Lagoon and the manatee zones in the IRL in Brevard County and in the ICW between the north end of the Lagoon and marker 65. However, I have yet to see a single FWC boat on any of my forays into those areas since moving back to Florida. The only semblance of enforcement I've seen since moving back here has been the infrequent Volusia County deputy checking safety equipment at the River Breeze ramp.


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

I've never seen a "no wake" or "no motor" zone enforced in person. I think the marine patrol entities end up working the areas where drunk college students are common. I can't fault them for that though. Drunks kill people while wakes just annoy them. When resources are cut, they have to focus on the highest priorities. 

I don't recommend any type of confrontation on the water or at the ramp. There are lots of people in this world who are crazier than you are. If you are somehow crazier than they are, you are probably part of the problem.

Video the fools and send the footage in. I won't claim it will matter, but you'll feel better and it isn't as dangerous as flipping them off, throwing a Zara Spook in their lap or shooting them. 

Nate


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## Megalops (Oct 23, 2011)

Every time I fish Weedon Island - every time - someone is on their big motor within the NMZ, usually dudes in Pathfinders and Shearwaters. Nothing against Pathfinders and Shearwaters, wish I had one myself, but motoring thru the NMZ they pretty much screwed everyone's chance to catch a freaking red.


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## Preston904 (Sep 9, 2016)

If you get a shot of their numbers they will most likely get mailed a ticket if you can show you are in the pole and troll or a no wake zone.


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## Flats Broke (Feb 7, 2017)

Megalops said:


> Every time I fish Weedon Island - every time - someone is on their big motor within the NMZ, usually dudes in Pathfinders and Shearwaters. Nothing against Pathfinders and Shearwaters, wish I had one myself, but motoring thru the NMZ they pretty much screwed everyone's chance to catch a freaking red.


Funny you should say that. One of the violators who ran right next to my boat was in a Pathfinder tunnel.


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## RunningOnEmpty (Jun 20, 2015)

People in my area are becoming less respectful and the fwc is non existent anymore. I haven't been checked in over 2 years. I bet the poachers love it and the assholes on jet ski's.


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## Tx_Whipray (Sep 4, 2015)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> You should fish in Texas


The last run in I had with TPW went like this:
I was fishing with my cousin and his dad on a family vacation in Port Aransas. We were up in Alan's Bight, and when we jumped his Curlew up to leave, the steering cable broke and the boat didn't want to come out of the spin. We shut it down and figured it out, and realized our only way home was to putt while someone steered the motor. So my cousin ran the throttle, and I manhandled his 90 Merc and we started home down the Lydia Anne Channel. When we got to the area where all three channels come together, there were two TPWD boats sitting in the middle of the channel stopping boats. As we putted by, one of them lit us up with the party lights and told us over his bull horn that he needed to conduct a safety inspection. He came over and we told him what we were doing, and he couldn't have cared less. He ended up writing my cousin up for something like not having a horn on board or something. We asked him if he could give us a hand and tow us into the Port A boat basin, and he was like "Sorry, I'm busy" and took off after another boat. My cousin was HOT. He ended up going to TPWD HQ in Austin and demanded to speak to the highest ranking person there. Someone finally came out and talked to him, and he told them the story. The guy took the citation from him, told him not to worry about it, and that the officer obviously needed "additional training".


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## Whiskey Angler (Mar 20, 2015)

Tx_Whipray said:


> The last run in I had with TPW went like this:
> I was fishing with my cousin and his dad on a family vacation in Port Aransas. We were up in Alan's Bight, and when we jumped his Curlew up to leave, the steering cable broke and the boat didn't want to come out of the spin. We shut it down and figured it out, and realized our only way home was to putt while someone steered the motor. So my cousin ran the throttle, and I manhandled his 90 Merc and we started home down the Lydia Anne Channel. When we got to the area where all three channels come together, there were two TPWD boats sitting in the middle of the channel stopping boats. As we putted by, one of them lit us up with the party lights and told us over his bull horn that he needed to conduct a safety inspection. He came over and we told him what we were doing, and he couldn't have cared less. He ended up writing my cousin up for something like not having a horn on board or something. We asked him if he could give us a hand and tow us into the Port A boat basin, and he was like "Sorry, I'm busy" and took off after another boat. My cousin was HOT. He ended up going to TPWD HQ in Austin and demanded to speak to the highest ranking person there. Someone finally came out and talked to him, and he told them the story. The guy took the citation from him, told him not to worry about it, and that the officer obviously needed "additional training".


I get pulled over by the Coast Guard in Freeport /S. Galveston more often than TPWD. They have always been very cordial/professional during our stops.


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## Sublime (Oct 9, 2015)

Tx_Whipray said:


> The last run in I had with TPW went like this:
> I was fishing with my cousin and his dad on a family vacation in Port Aransas. We were up in Alan's Bight, and when we jumped his Curlew up to leave, the steering cable broke and the boat didn't want to come out of the spin. We shut it down and figured it out, and realized our only way home was to putt while someone steered the motor. So my cousin ran the throttle, and I manhandled his 90 Merc and we started home down the Lydia Anne Channel. When we got to the area where all three channels come together, there were two TPWD boats sitting in the middle of the channel stopping boats. As we putted by, one of them lit us up with the party lights and told us over his bull horn that he needed to conduct a safety inspection. He came over and we told him what we were doing, and he couldn't have cared less. He ended up writing my cousin up for something like not having a horn on board or something. We asked him if he could give us a hand and tow us into the Port A boat basin, and he was like "Sorry, I'm busy" and took off after another boat. My cousin was HOT. He ended up going to TPWD HQ in Austin and demanded to speak to the highest ranking person there. Someone finally came out and talked to him, and he told them the story. The guy took the citation from him, told him not to worry about it, and that the officer obviously needed "additional training".


Dang, So much for him looking after the safety of the boating public, which is his job. That intersection is crazy busy and usually bumpy. Not a place I'd want to send someone on their way hand steering a 90 horse.


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

I wish they'd drop the hammer more often in the Upper Tampa Bay areas. Yesterday, I watched three different boats run on plane deep into the No Wake section there off Cypress Point and the Hyatt flat. The whole section is No Wake all year long...so ignorance is no excuse.

And most locals I know don't even bother with Weedon anymore.


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## zthomas (Jan 14, 2014)

WhiteDog70810 said:


> There are lots of people in this world who are crazier than you are. If you are somehow crazier than they are, you are probably part of the problem.


Very well said. It's amazing the number of people who are (or profess to be) ready to cast a jig at, punch, shoot, ram, etc. someone on the water.

Not trying to call out the OP, who only said it was tempting. I know it can be tempting, which is fine as you long as you can separate fantasy from reality.


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## mtoddsolomon (Mar 25, 2015)

Before I moved away from Tampa i got to the point where I would only go to weedon if I was able to somehow go fish during a weekday. I can remember being back in there one day and a guy on a New mako skiff wearing his orange bargain PFD cruised past me at least half throttle. Lots of other places to fish in the bay, the sandbar on the back side is a different story. That makes a pretty good beer drinking spot.


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## TylertheTrout2 (Apr 21, 2016)

Wow...sounds like this issue is very wide spread. Just this past weekend between Wiggins Pass all the way up to Ft Myers Beach was packed with crazy boaters (boat clubbers/Miami's finest on PWC's)...did not see one County or FWC boat at all. They could have had a field day out here this past weekend...unreal...We have a "no combustion engine' zone in Lovers key...was literally filled with boats all weekend...


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

The merger killed marine law enforcement.

It is easier to sit in a air conditioned car somewhere in the woods than bounce around in a boat out in the sun.
If one were to check out who the actual commissioners are one would see they are rich landowners/cattle/growers or their friends. The old GFC is running the show and they have no interest in the marine side. The last of the FMP folks have been sent packing because they were still trying to get the marine job done.

Someone should write a FOIA request for the enforcement numbers on the marine side and that will tell the tale.

We got fed a bunch of BS by ole Jebby.


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

TylertheTrout2 said:


> Wow...sounds like this issue is very wide spread. Just this past weekend between Wiggins Pass all the way up to Ft Myers Beach was packed with crazy boaters (boat clubbers/Miami's finest on PWC's)...did not see one County or FWC boat at all. They could have had a field day out here this past weekend...unreal...We have a "no combustion engine' zone in Lovers key...was literally filled with boats all weekend...


That is why I started fishing 10000 island area I have fished Lee county waters for 41 years of my life and it sickens me to see what this area has become.


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