Passport to be required for offshore fishing!!!!!!

[Deep C]

LAw or no law we frequently get stopped comming back from swording. Some nights several times... We get customs, border patrol, Coast Guard, fwc, sherriff and local all playing dog pile on the rabbit.
We only fish 12-14 off the beach and they still grill us. Bust out the ID stuff and they give us caca for not packing passports.
Starts like this"Where yoou been tonite"
"Swordfishing"
"Were you in the Bahamas?"
"No... Just twelve or so out"
"WHere did you leave from"
"That dock right there"
Then they get all weird from that point on..."ANd you're comming back to the same place?"
About now I start getting irritated... "That's where I dock my boat."
"Are you sure you weren't in the Bahamas. Lets see some ID's guys..."
Now these guys see my boat there most every day and know but they like to pound their chests I guess...
The Fish and Game ones though really take the cake... They see a boat running in from way off. They light it up and its got a pit full of 50w and 80w gear and usually a sword flag flying if not a sword or two in the pit.
"Have you been snooking????"
"Ummmm.... Officer? Do you know ANYTHING about fishing... They live behind you, along the beach, in the inlet or inshore. You are sitting in two hundred plus feet of water and just watched me come in from 1500'. No good sir, we have not been snooking. You're welcome to look. Just make sure to put the roast manatee back under the short lobsters when you get done tearing my boat apart... "
Thanks for reminding me. I need to remind my passengers to tote them for our Bahamas runs this year. Even official birth certificates are no longer being accepted...

[thejack]

Good points made!!!

[capt. woodward]

LAw or no law we frequently get stopped comming back from swording. Some nights several times... We get customs, border patrol, Coast Guard, fwc, sherriff and local all playing dog pile on the rabbit.

That's why I don't live on that side. Too many rulemakers tripping over each other to defend their position, while the cargo ship goes unchecked. Real smart!

We are required to notify port authorities when we are 96 hours out, then 72, 60, 48, 24 and finally 12. Then it's a phone call for customs clearance. No sweat.

Birth certs are only good for putting your children into govt schools and getting a drivers license and/or a passport.