• A wide variety of shark species inhabit the waters of the Florida panhandle.shark image by Irena Hnidkova from Fotolia.com
  
  The waters of the Florida panhandle host an array of sea life. A plethora of fish species, including a variety of sharks, entice anglers to travel to the Florida panhandle to test their skill. When it comes to fishing for sharks, Florida has a few regulations that fishermen should keep in mind. Some have to do with prohibited species while others have to do with bag limit and minimum size requirements or tackle restriction for taking sharks.
  
  

Prohibited Species

• According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), it is illegal to harvest certain shark species in Florida. The most recent addition to this list, as of 2010, is the lemon shark. Other prohibited shark species include the longfin mako, narrowtooth, night, silky, sand tiger, sandbar, sevengill, sixgill, smalltail and white sharks. According to the FWC, "it is unlawful to harvest, possess, land, purchase, sell, or exchange" any of these species of sharks. It is, however, legal to fish for spinner sharks, bull sharks and blacktip sharks and other species.
  
  

Daily Bag Limits and Size Restrictions

• According to Dixie Diver, a scuba diving and fishing web resource, vessels fishing for sharks in the Florida panhandle may keep one shark per person per day or two sharks per vessel per day, whichever is less. Also, it is illegal to fin and fillet sharks while still at sea. The FWC delineates some other restrictions on size and bag limits for specific sharks. For example, spinner sharks and bull sharks must be at least 54 inches in length to be kept, while there is no size limit on blacktip sharks or bonnethead sharks.
  
  

Gear and Tackle Restrictions

• In Florida, according to the FWC, it is illegal to harvest sharks with anything other than line and hook equipment. Also, it is illegal to use riggings with multiple hooks while using any type of live or dead natural bait to catch sharks. Snag-hooking, or snagging, is not a legal means of taking sharks in Florida, either. Underwater Thrills, a diving and fishing blog, points out that the regulation on using multiple hooks when fishing for sharks with natural baits effectively outlaws the use of treble hooks for shark fishing with natural bait.