He posted photos of fish on Instagram. That caught police attention
A Florida Keys charter fishing captain was jailed last week after police said he made illegal catches that he bragged about on social media.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said one of their officers saw that the captain had posted on Instagram photos of an out-of-season hogfish snagged in January and, in June 2020, a blue parrotfish longer than 12 inches.
Randall David Jones, 52, of Tavernier, was arrested Feb. 12 on two misdemeanor charges and taken to the Monroe County jail on Plantation Key. He was released the same day after posting a $10,000 bond.
Jones was also cited for not having a valid charter fishing license, said FWC spokesman Officer Bobby Dube.
On Instagram, Jones is “Capt. Davey Jones,” and he posts under an account named “Munstersfishing,” which has nearly 48,000 followers. Munsters Fishing Charters is based in Islamorada and is also called Dave Jones Fishing on its website.
FWC said Jones goes by Davey Jones and David Jones.
Jones admitted to taking the hogfish off Islamorada on Jan. 18 and catching the parrotfish on June 12, 2020, according to the arrest warrant.
“We made a mistake with the hog,” Jones posted in a comment on the Instagram post after someone asked if hogfish season was closed, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife. Jones added that it’s “hard to keep up with the rapid changes,” the warrant states.
Jones didn’t return a phone message on Tuesday. FWC rolled out its current hogfish regulations in 2017.
An FWC investigator spoke with Jones on Jan. 26.
“He said that he didn’t realize it was closed, otherwise he would not have put it in the picture,” FWC said in the warrant, of the hogfish incident. “He stated that he tries real hard to do everything legal.”
The maximum size of a harvested blue parrotfish is 12 inches.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 4:39 PM.
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