There are waters in every state which is declared ‘inland waters’ and commercial fishermen are specifically banned from practicing their trade. It is told that in many cases these inland waters are in the very upper parts of tidal creeks where there’s a very limited amount of space for sport fishermen to cast their lures or baited hooks.
This is the right time for speckled trout, puppy drum, striped bass and other species concentrated in a small area. It makes for very good angling but also makes for a great place for commercial netters to take large amounts of fish in a short period of time. As gill netting is not legal in inland waters the fishermen usually use sink nets that leave no above water signs that the nets are there.
Even it is illegal it appears that commercial fishermen had invaded their special speckled trout area and were not even trying to hide it. This obvious violation of state law and the invasion of sport fishing turf were getting to be a little too much for some sportsmen. It is said that there is old batter between the commercial and sport fishing fraternities regarding this.
Even with the netters waving a red flag in their faces, fishermen (and hunters too for that matter) generally try and keep to themselves. They don’t like to report violators in many cases because of the age-old rule of “don’t rat on your buddy.” The sport fishermen are heaping kudos on the enforcement officers who apprehended the netters.
