I got a late start yesterday bc of working untill 3 am, but it was nice to let it warm up a bit. The only bad part about getting out later yesterday was that i missed low tide and spent alot of time searching for fish in an area i had not fished in a couple of months. (Garris) I spent the better part of my day searching for fish without much luck. I spooked a few but for the most part i could not locate anything.The wind along with the late afternoon clouds did not help. The wind picked up enough that in the larger expanses of water i became quite uncomfortable and thoughts i ending up in the water got the better of me. If the water was warm I would have never thought twice, but being more than two miles i did not want to risk anything.
After spending most of the day scouting i fished an area that looked like it might hold some fish. At this point the water had begun to muddy up and the wind was to strong to sight fish from a yak so it was back to guess work. The area had a good size creek dumping out next to a huge dock. I threw out cracked crab and a mud minnow on a cork. Almost as soon as the minnow hit the water my rod doubled over. I fought the fish for about 15 seconds before it broke me off on the oysters. I rigged back up and started tossing gulp too. Over the next 45 minutes i landed several fish on gulp and mud minnows, but nothing touched the crab!!![:0] I did notice they all had parasites. Prob 10-15 per fish. I see them all the time, but normally its only one or two. I can not imagine that these small worm looking parasites can do much damage, but i was still shocked to see as many as i did. A couple of the fish had some big cuts on them that i was guessing were from the dolphin. I also saw a dead otter:frowning_face: I not sure what killed it, but it was big. Atleast 4 feet long.
5 reds b/t 33-20"
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. </font id=“size2”> Hobie Adventure Kayak </font id=“size2”>
nice that you found the fish despite deteriorating conditions, Lost!
i bet dolphins and otters hate each other.
the visible ectoparasites on reds are both copepods and isopods. the trailing red ones on the fins are anchor worms, and the ones stuck inside the gill plate on soft tissue are commonly called fish lice, and are rumored to be able to penetrate all the way to the fish’s heart. the pill-bug looking isopods with hooks for legs are typically on fins- similar to those found in the mouths of menhaden.
it would take a lot of them to significantly damage the fish’s ability to swim and eat, i think. overall stress on the animal makes it harder for them to rid themselves of the nasties though, which is probably why we see more of them on fish in the winter. that’s why a pair of hemostats and an extra 30 seconds out of the water are par for the course on all my redfish. with high dissolved oxygen and low metabolic rates, i believe the short time out of the water is probably far less harmful than a body burden of bloodsuckers.
parasitology is an up-and-coming sub-discipline of marine biology where there are more unknowns than knowns, but we’re lucky to have a CofC professor/DNR researcher who has done more groundbreaking work on parasites of inshore saltwater fish than pretty much anyone else on the east coast (aside from Overstreet in the Gulf of Mexico). her name is Isaure DeBuron, she’s a great teacher and is the reason we know so much about the microscopic parasites that infect spotted seatrout (and subsequently cause the muscle tissue to be so soft). perfectly edible little jerks, though… at least the ones that she’s described so far.
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. </font id=“size2”> Hobie Adventure Kayak </font id=“size2”>SC Chapter- Heroes on the Water http://www.HeroesOnTheWater.org </font id=“size2”>
parasitology is an up-and-coming sub-discipline of marine biology where there are more unknowns than knowns, but we’re lucky to have a CofC professor/DNR researcher who has done more groundbreaking work on parasites of inshore saltwater fish than pretty much anyone else on the east coast (aside from Overstreet in the Gulf of Mexico). her name is Isaure DeBuron, she’s a great teacher and is the reason we know so much about the microscopic parasites that infect spotted seatrout (and subsequently cause the muscle tissue to be so soft). perfectly edible little jerks, though… at least the ones that she’s described so far.
I had Dr. DeBuron’s parasitology class while at C of C and we had a lab where we would dissect fish caught in Charleston harbor and find all the parasites. She guaranteed that every fish would have at least one and most of us found five or more parasites per fish. It’s amazing how widespread the parasites are.
I not sure what killed it, but it was big. Atleast 4 feet long.