No sooner did Waterfront Times report last month on a curious scarcity of early-season schoolsize dolphin than they began showing up in encouraging numbers.

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) Commission’s enforcement folks stopped a boat at St. Lucie inlet, where officers measured 16 dolphin that were short of the 20-inch minimum length. There were two anglers aboard, so each was ticketed for possession of eight undersized fish.

FWC officer Eric Rogers stopped another boat with three undersized dolphin in the cooler, which had a measuring sticker stuck inside. The sticker said the minimum size for dolphin is 20 inches.

From the FWC’s public report, verbatim: “When Officer Rogers asked the subject why he had kept the undersized fish, he advised he could not find mahi-mahi on his regulations ruler. The subject was issued a citation for possession of undersized dolphin and was educated on the two names.”

Harassment not permitted

Another FWC report, from Martin County, says a fishing guide with a client on his boat was chumming in a waterfront development along the Intracoastal Waterway when a security guard came along on a skiff and told him he wasn’t allowed closer than 2 feet from the property line.

The guide, whom FWC did not name, refused to be pushed around. The security guard goosed his engine and began running wake around the guide and his sport, turbulating the water, rocking their boat and possibly scaring off fish.

Snobs take note: You can’t do that in Florida.

Really, it’s against the law. Though the land property is private, the water is public in this state that takes care of its fishing-doers.

The guide called FWC officer Rick Cobo of FWC’s field office in Jupiter. Cobo told the guard’s captain that it’s illegal to harass fishing-doers or hunters.

It’s also forbidden to disturb or interfere with fish for the purpose of spoiling someone’s legal attempt to catch some.

Fishing-doers who feel an urge to attend the security guard’s trial and clamor for his execution will have to stand down this time. Instead of throwing him in jail, officer Cobo warned him that he’d better never do it again.

Is this a great state or what?

Freshwater black bass species

The fishing regulations, they are achanging. Again. The long-planned changes for all five species of freshwater black bass took effect in July.

You are now encouraged to keep the little largemouths and required to turn the big ones loose to grow even bigger.

There’s no longer a minimum size for the iconic largemouth, but there is sort of a maximum — up to 16 inches. It’s sort of, not absolute, because you can keep one that’s 16 inches or bigger in a day’s limit of five bass.

There are four species other than largemouth: Suwannee, Choctaw, spotted and shoal bass. The 16-inch size rule applies to all. So does the five-fish daily limit.

The non-largemouth bass do have minimum keeper sizes, 12 inches for each of them. Bass rules, formerly varying from region to region of the state, are now the same everywhere.

There are certain exceptions for tournaments, though. See http://myfwc.com/fishing/freshwater and click there on the “Black Bass Tournament Exemption” headline.

Snook season

Snook keeping season will be reopened statewide on Sept. 1, but the size slots are not uniform. Snook caught in Atlantic waters — not including the Keys — have to be no shorter than 28 inches and no longer than 32 inches, total length.

In waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Everglades National Park and Monroe County (the Keys) the maximum length is 33 inches. In any waters, we’re allowed to keep only one per person per day.

Permit keeper season reopens on Aug. 1 in the Special Permit Zone, which is south of a line from Cape Florida (Key Biscayne) on the east to Cape Sable on the west. The minimum size is 22 inches fork length and the bag limit is one a day. The zone has been closed to harvest since May 1. There is no closed season elsewhere.

Outside the special zone, the permit restrictions are a slot limit of 11 to 22 and a bag limit of two a day. For more details on permit and the pompanos — FloridaandAfrican—visitmyfwc.com. From the home page, click on fishing and then saltwater regulations.