What ya think , does SC need more regs on the redfish ?
Hoppy is that you at the bottom of the site making a statement , Dirty Blond Charters .Signed Hoppy
Yes sir that is me, and my opinion!
I’m an advocate for reduced limits on reds. flounder, and trout. As well as for charter guides not being able to count their fish as part of a charter possession limit. Some turd from Columbia called me out a little, but I replied and haven’t heard back from him
It’s coming, and 100% my opinion as well. I’ve been screaming for 5 years! Numbers are WAY down here on juvenile reds, but fishing pressure is only a small piece of the puzzle IMO. SCDNR needs to figure it out. In the interim, reduced limits can’t hurt. Trout are coming back, but I attribute that to the mild back to back winters. The same declines happened in the 90s, early 2000s, and 2009-2010, and 2012-2013. We don’t have many flounder here comparatively speaking, but numbers are down on those as well. While we are at it, sheep numbers and the size are down, too. Before I get pounced on as a tree-hugging liberal, realize I am only giving my personal observations and do not blame fishing pressure with most species. What happened to the annoying hard-head saltwater catfish?
quote:
Originally posted by HoppyYes sir that is me, and my opinion!
I’m an advocate for reduced limits on reds. flounder, and trout. As well as for charter guides not being able to count their fish as part of a charter possession limit. Some turd from Columbia called me out a little, but I replied and haven’t heard back from him
Rad daddy , Hoppy ; ya’ll got my vote also, only fear is the regs usually come down on the rec. fishermen and let the com. Guys off … Probably need something along the same line as the cobia closure ! Smaller slot , lower limit , C&R season, ect,ect…
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Hoppy I think I saw some gray hair on ya head , are you going to change it dirty gray charters , just kidding . I wish I could make it down from the upstate a few times this year , I would love to fish with ya !
Like all fishing and other sports it gets more and more crowded and the catch or kill gets smaller and smaller , so goes life . I and many others used to catch hundreds of crappie , stripers etc and not think anything about it . I just like to take different people and see the smile on their face when they make a catch . Most people I take out don’t fish much up here but the lakes are more crowded like nothing I have ever seen before .
Everyone wants to catch and you can’t blame them . Bass tourneys up here are crazy , sometimes 2 or 3 out of the same landing . They say releasing them don’t hurt the population but I disagree . I think many die that they never know about because the catching is harder and harder compared to what it used to be.
Life goes on , our freedoms get smaller and the gov get bigger , common sense is not very common these days .
I havent caught one of those hardheads in at least a decade.
I kind of have some strange theories/questions on the reds and how they are managed:
Being that we cant harvest the big “breeder” reds, is it possible that the larger fish are outcompeting juvenile and adolescent fish for food and would this prevent the population from maintaining itself? Possibly prevent proper gene mixing if we are preventing strong amd competitive slot sized fish from passing on their genes while the big lazy old fatty gets a free pass and continues to eat all the bait.
Additionally, are we certain that older fish continue to remain fertile as they get older and older? It is my understanding that koi/goldfish will sometimes grow too old and not breed as vigourously as younger counterparts. I suppose its possible there may be a peak age of fertility in redfish after which it may decline some. By not killing bulls could we be reducing the long term fertility of the species and also reducing genetic variability?
I believe that ecosystems must remain balanced for them to be sustainable… Kill too much of one thing, and something else takes over. Kill a little bit of many different things and they will mostly rebound in equal proportions. At least thats how i imagine it. perhaps we need to legislate a way to harvest some bulls to keep the gene pool fresh? Limit of 2 slot fish per person and one overslot per boat? Would be interesting to at least give folks a shot at the state record. Just a thought
Milla I have similar questions, concerns too. I can see the numbers down on smaller Reds. I catch very few slot fish or smaller fish in the past ten years but I have caught the biggest Reds of my life in the past six to eight years. I know some of this is probably because of where and how I fish. I fish with bait mostly and deeper places mostly as in not flats type of places but we catch more very large fish now than I ever have in the past. I am really lost as to whether this is a problem or if we are headed for an even bigger problem in the future.
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Slot limits…my opinion…If you can only “keep” slot fish, whats left to “catch”?..doesn’t take much to figure out. I say make it a “catch limit” then go home. And for mortality rate of released fish, regulate the rig; 4"-6" max leader length, non offset circle 6/0 max, with a fixed weight no less than 2oz, been working great for me, can’t remember the last time I gut/gill hooked a fish.
again…my opinion…
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Originally posted by FishingpoxHoppy I think I saw some gray hair on ya head , are you going to change it dirty gray charters , just kidding .
I think the blonde part is referring to the droves of ladies he constantly has on the boat…
May all your favorite bands stay together…
Personally I rarely keep a redfish, so it wouldn’t bother me to see the limit decreased, but I think the limit is adequate now. I’ve got nothing to back that up though. I don’t fish nearly as often as Raddaddy or Hoppy, but I’ve also noticed numbers being down in the areas I mainly fish (IOP/Sullivans, Stono, Wando, Cooper). I probably fish 60-70 times a year inshore and that’s usually for reds most of the time. I still catch good numbers of fish, but it just isn’t what it was even three or four years ago. I don’t believe it is due to recreational anglers; I’d love to see some real science behind the increasing/decreasing populations of the red drum over the last 20 years. I would also support a limit of 5 each on flounder, trout, and sheepshead. This is kind of my own personal limit anyways. There’s no reason for me to keep more than that. I enjoy fresh fish; there’s no reason for me to get a bunch and freeze it as inevitably some of it ends up freezer burned and then goes to the crab pot. That’s not good for the resource, so I quit freezing fish about 5 years ago.
May all your favorite bands stay together…
Touche’ 23, I agree on all the limits you suggested, except reds. I wouldn’t mind it bumped up 2-3", but I would like to see a possession limit of 1 fish. And again, I’d like to see the guides limit taken out of the equation for a charter trip.
I’ll tell you a couple of the major reasons for the fish decline (inshorely speaking) - Fishing pressure and boat traffic is relentless. From say The Cove at SI to Capers it’s never ending, non stop, never ever. All the fish may not have been caught and eaten, but those that are alive have said f’ this and moved on or something. I don’t fish many places that aren’t pretty well known and there will be boats in some of them from sun up to sundown, seven days a week when the weather is nice. Even if the fish aren’t being harvested, they’re being harassed out of town. I fish from Shem, so on a half day trip you’re sort of limited time wise where you can travel to fish.
It’s all a numbers game folks, and when we have the numbers of fishermen harvesting the numbers of fish that is legal, the population has to be hurt. That ain’t rocket science, that’s easy cifering. There is very little unknown anymore. With a little legwork, al gores internet, and a gps, you can find many many of the “good places” to fish without any problem. Almost all the places that held great schools of reds along the icw north just five - seven years ago are devoid of fish. It’s sad
I saw a notice the other day that the assessment on redfish was completed and it was dismal. You can expect some serious changes coming very soon…
I wouldnt complain if the possession went down to one per person. I still think it might be worth relaxing the no harvest on bulls. A bull can probably eat several times more than a slot. To me, it seems counterintuitive to try and build a population by preferentially killing the juveniles which are the future of the species.
RAD and I have had private discussions on this, but what eats me (and I am going to state numbers and dates I’m not sure are 100% accurate) is that roughly 200,000 reds were stocked in 2012 in the N Edisto and it seems that almost none of these fish survived. IDK why, but clearly they did not survive as we would have seen a growing population of redfish schools in that area and a surge of juvies over the past several years. If in fact these fish fared well, there would probably (assuming no effect of some mystery environmental problem) not be a problem in that area at the moment. It’s not for me to say why they didn’t survive - thats for the scientists. I do know this however: At my place at Edisto we are 8.5 mi up at the very tidal end of a creek, and we routinely castnet redfish, trout and flounder at about 2" long. The ends of the creeks are the nurseries of the estruary, probably because the young-uns are relatively safe from predation. We do not get a lot of larger gamefish up there. It seems those places would be the best stocking locations (?). Might be inconvenient for those doing the work?
Those friends I have polled all have said they would gladly pay $$ if they knew it would go directly towards more stocking efforts, more frequently, in more locations. I know I would drop a Benjamin at a moments notice for it. Seems that increased stocking and research into successful survival rate is a good short term solution to increased pressure which is unavoidable.
Thoughts?
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quote:Reds are stocked every year out of the Waddell center from my understanding. They mark the hatchery fish with a chemical that binds
Originally posted by OptikerRAD and I have had private discussions on this, but what eats me (and I am going to state numbers and dates I’m not sure are 100% accurate) is that roughly 200,000 reds were stocked in 2012 in the N Edisto and it seems that almost none of these fish survived. IDK why, but clearly they did not survive as we would have seen a growing population of redfish schools in that area and a surge of juvies over the past several years. If in fact these fish fared well, there would probably (assuming no effect of some mystery environmental problem) not be a problem in that area at the moment. It’s not for me to say why they didn’t survive - thats for the scientists. I do know this however: At my place at Edisto we are 8.5 mi up at the very tidal end of a creek, and we routinely castnet redfish, trout and flounder at about 2" long. The ends of the creeks are the nurseries of the estruary, probably because the young-uns are relatively safe from predation. We do not get a lot of larger gamefish up there. It seems those places would be the best stocking locations (?). Might be inconvenient for those doing the work?
Those friends I have polled all have said they would gladly pay $$ if they knew it would go directly towards more stocking efforts, more frequently, in more locations. I know I would drop a Benjamin at a moments notice for it. Seems that increased stocking and research into successful survival rate is a good short term solution to increased pressure which is unavoidable.
Thoughts?
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.ralphphillipsinshore.com
too many people, too many boats, too many guides, too many gigging, too many shooting with bow/arrow, and still see gill nets if you know where to go.
where I used to see 1 or 2 dudes wading for tailing fish back in the day, I now see 4-6,plus kayaks and flats boats, and I’ve lived in the same area for nearly 49 years.
I have probably caught thousands of red drum in my time, still to this day don’t see the infatuation of a simple fish with a spot on he tail.
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Originally posted by poly balltoo many people, too many boats, too many guides, too many gigging, too many shooting with bow/arrow, and still see gill nets if you know where to go.
where I used to see 1 or 2 dudes wading for tailing fish back in the day, I now see 4-6,plus kayaks and flats boats, and I’ve lived in the same area for nearly 49 years.
I have probably caught thousands of red drum in my time, still to this day don’t see the infatuation of a simple fish with a spot on he tail.
Thank you very much. And, if we have to rely on DNR stocking fish, doesn’t that just scream there is too much pressure, harvesting, etc?
Here’s an arbitrary question - If DNR discontinued hatchery / stocking programs, what would the state of our fishery be? Would it be dismal? So, is the DNR stocking program really a band-aid which is really masking the real issues we face?
definitely too much pressure, maybe DNR biologist could alter the drop off sites for where they place hatchlings? You think they ever run to Santee pass, or the narrows and release them?
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Originally posted by poly balldefinitely too much pressure, maybe DNR biologist could alter the drop off sites for where they place hatchlings? You think they ever run to Santee pass, or the narrows and release them?
Probably not, but again, the bigger picture - What if DNR suspended stocking programs? To me that says that artificial insemination is keeping our fishery afloat. If that is indeed the case, what’s the cause? Bag limits, development, pollution, over fishing, golf courses, etc, etc, etc??
No stocking= no fish.
you were here when we couldn’t hardly manage a couple a day. They(DNR) started the stocking program, and Ben Moise started busting a lot of red neck azholes for illegal gill netting, and quickly they returned strong.