Take a gun deep sea fishing

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andrewdl007

andrewdl007

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Now, I would understand taking a gun with you if you were heading into the hills to go fishing and would need it to possibly protect yourself from predators, but does anyone take a rifle/pistol/or shotgun out on a fishing boat on the sea. I have read many Hemingway stories in which characters have guns on their fishing boats (be it a Thompson SMG or a Mannlicher-Schoenauer). One, is there a law against having a gun on a boat or firing a gun from a boat? If not, do any of you fishers out there take a gun fishing or know of anyone who does?
 
My Dad and I used to do a lotta fishing off the coast of So Cal in the early 70's---14 Mile Bank off of Newport Beach for rock cod, the back side of Catalina for white sea bass, yellow tail and huge halibut and a lot of trolling between there and San Clemente Island for marlin, albies and swords. Good times back then. We'd bring a Hibachi, steaks, our surfboards....and both his Sears .22 semi-rifle and his 1911 that he brought back from his little free vacation he took to Okinawa in the 40's, courtesy of Uncle Sam. The .22 was a blast to use on seagulls or balloons that we used to toss off the stern, and the 1911 worked wonders on the eight foot blue sharks that grabbed our hooked fish, or even better, putting 200 pound swords & blues to sleep before dragging them up and over the transom.

Gawd but I sure miss those days hanging out with him......:D
 
Gun & fishing boat = Don't leave home without it.

Unfortunately, you are always subject to the laws of the coastal waters or inland lakes & rivers you are on with the boat.

So, no, you can't just grab your Thompson and jump in the Pilar in San Francisco de Paula Cuba.
Or much of any other place in the world anymore, without a team of paramilitary hardcore guys you don't want to meet when they are all excited.

Besides that, you ain't Hemingway, and you can't get away with half the shix he did without getting thrown in some roach motel with a bunch of non-english speaking butt bandits for the rest of your life.

Which will be drastically shortened, even in the best outcome possible.

rc
 
My wife's uncle has done a lot of sailing off in the Gulf from FL (including some races to Cuba). He said that once during the night, they could see the lights of another boat trailing them for hours. He had some guests on board and armed some of them (he had a shotgun and a handgun I think). Eventually they lost sight of the other boat and nothing happened.

I'm not sure of the coastal laws regarding guns in boats, but once you're twelve miles out, you're in international waters.
 
The pistol is for pirates. There are at least one or two make shift Cuban boats beached around here in the FL Keys every week. If I were to see one coming in, I would call it in. The Cubans don't want anybody calling attention to them especially professionals that may be running them in.

The shotgun is for the things under the surface that you can't see or can't imagine. One time when I didn't carry the shotgun a shark decided to taste my outboard lower unit. He didn't like it but that was after he'd already disabled my steering. Then I started fishing for them and one thing for sure, you don't want to bring a live shark of size on board. I only did that once. I learn from my mistakes. An old cheap no name single shot 12 gauge with several coats of rustolium(sp ?) outside and inside used to tame them really well but, with all the limits on shark fishing now, its more ore less for the unimaginable things. It will even shoot the 12 gauge flares. And my understanding of FL law is that the CCW allows the carry of firearms on board just as if it were your car.
 
In FL you don't need a CWL to have a gun in your boat. It is a "private conveyance" just like a car, and the law says any handguns must be "securely encased" (basically, inside something that closes), but long guns may be kept anywhere, in any state of readiness.

I open carried a Sig P228 on my last trip ofshore, about 20 miles straight out of Canaveral. It was a warm fuzzy feeling that could only have been made warmer and fuzzier by having my 1911 rather than that 228 9mm.
 
Oh heck yeah! At our place in Grand Cayman we go out all the time with some seriously stupid firepower. Just so happens my buddy is a Sgt. with the RCIP :) He has access to fully auto fun toys.
 
I always carried a Mossy Mariner on my sportfish boat trips out of Canaveral to the Bahamas.
The only time it came out was for the Bahama authorities. They demanded an additional customs fee for firearms and it was supposed to be locked up at all times in the boat while there.
 
I am in the sportfish brokerage business and have financial intrest in charter fishing operations in Cabo san Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, Baja Sur, Mexico as well as owing and operating 2 of my personal sportfish boats here in the Chesapeake and Atlantic, so i spend a lot of time on boats fishing. In Mexico guns are a NO GO!! Years ago we experimented with a dove shooting operation north of Cabo in the middle of the penninsula but it was just to big of a bureaucratic nightmare with rented guns so that went the way of the spotted goose. I have stainless "marine" shotguns on all of my personal boats and always have whatever i happen to be carrying that day on board. We routinely fish the gulf stream which is ,in some instances ,international waters. I have always taken the marine shotguns offshore with no issues. Traveling up the bay into Maryland waters we shed the weapons as Maryland does not reccognize Virginia gun laws, likewise traveling up the Atlantic coast to NE waters.
 
LongTimeGone said:
I always carried a Mossy Mariner on my sportfish boat trips out of Canaveral to the Bahamas.
The only time it came out was for the Bahama authorities. They demanded an additional customs fee for firearms and it was supposed to be locked up at all times in the boat while there.
Click to expand...
I thought guns, (any type) were seriously against Bahamian law. Does some one know anything about the rules to have guns on board in Bahamian waters?
 
this is generally the rule: Tourists who arrive by private boat are required to declare firearms (and every round of ammunition) to Bahamian Customs, and leave firearms on the boat (in a secure compartment) while in The Bahamas. In the event of your being boarded by Customs or the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the information on your cruising permit will be checked carefully against your actual supply. Ammo' must match cruising permit exactly.
 
take a gun where ever you can, and then some.
I know you can get to the Bahamas in a open John boat but most places you will be on a Documented boat that is technically U.S. property.

Then again, some of this depends on the state you are going in and out of. I suspect most LEO's here don't even know it, but it is illegal to have a rifle on a boat in S.C.
 
this is generally the rule: Tourists who arrive by private boat are required to declare firearms (and every round of ammunition) to Bahamian Customs, and leave firearms on the boat (in a secure compartment) while in The Bahamas. In the event of your being boarded by Customs or the Royal Bahamas Defence Force , the information on your cruising permit will be checked carefully against your actual supply. Ammo' must match cruising permit exactly.
Click to expand...

Yep, but it may have changed, it's been 6,7 years (sold the big boat). But they didn't really search you or anything. At West End they walked on the boat to look at the storage for the gun. I'm sure I had shells stashed that I didn't remember and I didn't declare. .
But fwiw, I never had a Bahamanian authority of any sort approach my boat in the many trips we took around the Abaco's .
 
i dont do a lot of transports these days but when i was knee deep in doing that i noticed that if the boat was a USCG documented vessel with some size and amenities...like a Lazzara motor yacht etc...no one paid any mind but once i took a very custom Apache go fast down for a client and they were on it like white on rice!
 
lowerunit411 said:
this is generally the rule: Tourists who arrive by private boat are required to declare firearms (and every round of ammunition) to Bahamian Customs, and leave firearms on the boat (in a secure compartment) while in The Bahamas. In the event of your being boarded by Customs or the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the information on your cruising permit will be checked carefully against your actual supply. Ammo' must match cruising permit exactly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information, I recently bought a small sailboat, and while it will be sometime before I am skilled enough to want to sail to the Bahama's, that was always a place I had in mind. While I will of course, (in a few years) check with their authorities for the exact requirements, you do take a load off my mind, as I was under the impression under no circumstances were guns allowed.
 
if the boat was a USCG documented vessel with some size and amenities...like a Lazzara motor yacht etc...no one paid any mind
Click to expand...


Yep, It was the same way in US coastal water as far as CG and local game and fish guys.
And I had a bought new, 40 ft Luhrs, nice boat but no Lazzarra,:D.

Edit;
I have been checked in my 20 ft fish boat many times here in FL. but I never mention a gun to them.
 
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