cracker, That’s the same theory iv been thinking all along. you don’t see the crabs, large numbers of whiting, catfish, or the huge waves of hearing you used to see when the cobia fishing was at its peak. we had 2 crab traps out in the may river for a week last week. 0 crabs. why would these fish stay here “inshore” if there is no food. These guys preaching that overfishing is the problem might want to step back and look at the big picture. no bait no predators!
I went to HHI this weekend to visit friends and ride around in the boat. I live in charleston. I remember reading this thread last year, so I wanted to revisit it. What is the consensus about what sc has done to address the broad river fishery? I also find the reference to the development of coastal area here and how it pertains to whats going on in florida. I have a friend that fishes the upper keys and all the runoff/diversion from lake okechobee due to big sugar has destroyed thousands of acres of grass flats. This stuff doesn’t get reported in the media like it really should, or if it doesn’t get the public attention it should.
quote:I think people should decide whether they want a fishery or tomatoes.
Or a fishery or golf courses.Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
Larry that's the bigger problem , with the # of golf courses being built the moneys going in that direction , wonder if they developing recipes for fried titlest chunks and French fried tees:angry: just wondering!!:roll_eyes:
if the fishermen leave so will the resources to maintain the hatchery there has been a steady decline in boats on the broad last few years the cobia weren’t overfished they were not there to be caught
Cracker Larry,
I worry that you are correct. I too grew up here and remember all the catfish in the broad. Don’t forget the croakers too. I cant remember last time I caught a croaker. Bottom line, don’t take the days you have on the water catching fish for granted. There are no guarantees. Take a kid fishing today!
quote:Originally posted by Cracker Larry
We also used catfish for cobia bait and they were very plentiful and worked great. Snip off the spines and hook them up. Caught a lot of cobes on catfish. Have not even caught a catfish in 3 years. I think it is all related. We don’t have a bounty of shrimp and crabs that we had a few years ago either. I still think it is all related to the amount of new waterfront developments, fertilizers, weed killers, pesticides and everything else that is running into our rivers now. Plantations, golf courses, huge nice waterfront lawns, they don’t happen without chemicals, county spraying regular for mosquitoes… nobody can convince me that they don’t do harm to the food chain, from the bottom up.
How in the heck can we solve that problem?
Capt. Larry Teuton
912-six55-5674
lteuton at aol dot com
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
As kid growing up in Bluffton, I thought that croakers, catfish, blackfish(BSB) and what we called yellowtails were an inexhaustible resource. I would go down on the dock with some dead shrimp and bottom fish for these guys. I would catch as many as we could eat in about 30 minutes. Nowadays, I take my grandsons on the same fishing of the dock expedition and we are lucky if we catch anything. Maybe a toadfish or a small bluefish. Our lower Beaufort County waters in in trouble, thanks to over development.
