(A) The season for taking nongame fish other than American shad and herring in the freshwaters of this State with a gill net is from November first to March first inclusive. A gill net may be used or possessed in the freshwaters in which their use is authorized on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays only. A gill net used in the freshwaters must have a mesh size not less than four and one-half inches stretch mesh. A gill net measuring more than one hundred yards in length must not be used in the freshwaters and a gill net, cable, line or other device used for support of a gill net may not extend more than halfway across any stream or body of water. A gill net may be placed in the freshwaters on a first come first served basis but a gill net must not be placed within two hundred yards of another gill net. However, notwithstanding another provision of law, along the Little Pee Dee River upstream of Punch Bowl Landing, no net may be set within seventy-five feet of a gill net previously set, or drifted within seventy-five feet of another drifting net. Use or possession of a gill net at any place or time other than those prescribed in this subsection is unlawful.
(B) Nongame fish taken in shad nets lawfully fished during the open season for taking shad may be kept. A sturgeon caught must be returned immediately to the waters from where it was taken.
HISTORY: 1981 Act No. 170, Section 1; 1985 Act No. 51, Section 2; 1986 Act No. 505; 1990 Act No. 353, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1263; 1976 Code Section 50-13-1170; 2012 Act No. 114, Section 2, eff July 1, 2012; 2013 Act No. 17, Section 1, eff April 23, 2013; 2014 Act No. 154 (H.4541), Section 1, eff April 7, 2014.
Effect of Amendment
The 2012 amendment renumbered and rewrote the section.
The 2013 amendment, in subsection (A), added the second to last sentence, relating to the Little Pee Dee River.
2014 Act No. 154, Section 1, in subsection (A), in the second to last sentence, deleted reference to placing or setting a net within 75 feet of the confluence of a tributary.