quote: Almost makes me think it is a water quality issue of some sort, but that is nothing more than pure speculation. I hope they can get to the bottom of it.
Me too. Shrimp are down, crabs down, bait fish down, catfish are gone. Food chains work from the bottom up. I’m sure that in the Charleston area yall have a lot of fishing and boat pressure, that’s why I quit fishing around Savannah. But where I fish we seldom even see another boat. Everything is still down, maybe not as much as it is there, don’t know, but it’s not fishing pressure here that is hurting the fishing.
Yes. Reds are opportunistic and given any easy meal, they will take it. I’ve seen a redfish come out of the water to eat a mouse as well as choke to death trying to devour a 10" terrapin…- Sailfish23
Not sure why you sat there and watched that happen.
Yes. Reds are opportunistic and given any easy meal, they will take it. I’ve seen a redfish come out of the water to eat a mouse as well as choke to death trying to devour a 10" terrapin…- Sailfish23
Not sure why you sat there and watched that happen.
Are you for reel? That thing was belly up when I got dere Bo…
Here’s a thought - I fished a tiny spot this morning that’s for the most part unharassed. 8 years ago when I figured it out we would catch 30+ reds. It’s been steadily declining over the years. Today we caught 2. Where’d they go cuz??
I was on the ICW all day today and there were easily 300 boats out and about in the area between Ben Sawyer and the ramp. I think it would be foolish to not think boat traffic played a major role in this decline.
Lot’s of good ideas and thought on this post. But no real answers, just speculation. I like the 3 limit rule and don’t stay trying for another 30-60 fish. I think people are just too stressed out on catching numbers rather than a meal.
If any kind of limits be placed on Spot tail let them be in crowded city areas and on all those that love to target the large non-keepable Breeder fish. Let’s shut down the Jetties and reefs that hold the big ones that supply our inshore areas with keepers a few months out of the year?.
Let’s pick just the last 5 years, I wonder how many people across America have their picture with an over the slot Spot Tail taken from our coast… (the jetties in particular) ? I know it’s nice to put a stranger on a big fish and a lot of our guides do a great job getting a picture and putting the fish back in the water. But what about all the ones that get bear hugged and kept out the water too long? Pretty much all guides are guilty of this at one point or another and even more weekend warriors are guilty of it.
Was out at the Jetties a few weeks ago and watched some youth anchor a few yards from us. Brought two big spot tail on board one may have lived the other was put back in the water belly up after both couples had pictures taken and all four had individual pictures taken. There is your reduction in Spot Tail, IMO. Too many breeders getting killed. but that is just speculation on my part.
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
Something is going on farther down at the bottom of the food chain. Like everyone else, I definitely have noticed it. Shrimp are declining. Pretty much everything eats shrimp, so what do the shrimp eat? Find the piece of the puzzle that’s missing and figure out why its missing and everything will recover pretty quickly.
Something is going on farther down at the bottom of the food chain. Like everyone else, I definitely have noticed it. Shrimp are declining. Pretty much everything eats shrimp, so what do the shrimp eat? Find the piece of the puzzle that’s missing and figure out why its missing and everything will recover pretty quickly.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
Why do you think shrimp are declining? I’ve not noticed the same.
I’ve had several invites to go help a friend when he is short on help to run his shrimp boat. Shrimping this year and last was fantastic in and around St Helena Sound. I think the heavy rains made it ruff for recreational guys, but still saw and heard of some good catches.
Not trying to be a smart ass, I’ve heard a few others say that shrimp and crabs are down. I just have not seen it in the areas I frequent. Crabbing especially has been good.
Also if you talk to a DNR agent or research Spot Tail diet they will tell you mainly crab. Personally I’ve never butchered a spottail and found a shrimp in it’s gullet. I’ve found mullet and crab though. I’m no scientist and no professional on this subject, just stating personal insight.
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
Our baiting seasons have gotten progressively worse and worse every year. I use to put up 200 lbs minimum every year, and the last few years keep going worse. Year before last, I only put up one cooler. Last year doesn’t count for me, because I didn’t get to go, but my brother in law only put up 2/3 of a cooler on 3 trips. I know there is a decline in at least the brown shrimp.
You are correct about the spot tails being crab eaters, though. Usually when I clean them They are full of fiddlers or blues and some form of either mullet or menhaden.
Maybe flipper is the problem. They don’t have any pressure on them, and who knows how many spot tails they eat every year.
Maybe flipper is the problem. They don’t have any pressure on them, and who knows how many spot tails they eat every year.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
I love watching dolphin, but not as much as my wife and kids. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them, but it does make me wonder just how much they take from the fish herd. Seeing lots way up our rivers.
Talking about natural predators, makes me think we need to do like they did on the lake and deplete some cormorants. I know for sure they take a lot of young trout, wonder about juvenile spottail?
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
They are a major part of the problem here, but I don’t think they are fully responsible for the rapid decline as seen in the past 5 years.
quote:Originally posted by Fred67
quote:Originally posted by tigerfin
Maybe flipper is the problem. They don’t have any pressure on them, and who knows how many spot tails they eat every year.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
I love watching dolphin, but not as much as my wife and kids. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them, but it does make me wonder just how much they take from the fish herd. Seeing lots way up our rivers.
Talking about natural predators, makes me think we need to do like they did on the lake and deplete some cormorants. I know for sure they take a lot of young trout, wonder about juvenile spottail?
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
Here’s my idea for conducting a real test of the environment. Pick a species a year and make it catch and release only. If the particular species doesn’t improve dramatically after that year, you have a pretty good idea that something is amiss in the ecosystem. This may be tough to take, but there is definitely a problem and I believe drastic measures are called for.
I respect everyone’s thoughts and theories on this matter and appreciate this open forum. Raddaddy (Ron Davis) is spot on with his analysis of the Wadmalaw and Edisto rivers fish populations. Further toward Beaufort, my “honey holes” have basically dried up in much the same pattern described by Ron.
Whatever the cause (overfishing, illegal possession, dolphins, cormorants, sharks, disease, in-species predation, pollution, boat traffic, fresh water runoff, etc., etc.) of the current state of redfish decline, a fix needs to found and implemented pretty darn fast or we will lose a valuable natural resource. It may not happen in our lives, but our children and grandchildren will surely see declines much worse than we now in the future.
Is there anything we can do as concerned citizens and lovers of this beautiful slice of heaven we call the Lowcountry do help find and implement a change. If so, count me in!
Seems to me if they were “just dying” we’d see floaters, which I never ever see floaters. When we have a trout kill we know it b/c we see floaters. I think it’s more of not reproducing efficiently and over harvesting. Simple math of more fish being taken and killed than are new fish being spawned and making it to any size. Fishing and boating pressure isn’t killing them, but that’s causing them to move or something.
I’ll also say this, the number of “rats” I catch now has reduced by an easy 80%. As little as 3 years ago, there were places you couldn’t get away from them
Fish are completely safe from me. I fish and fish and fish and then sometimes there is a completely brain dead fish that decides to have pity on my and get on my hook. LOL.
So…if I am lucky enough to even have it within regulations, I am removing a mentally deficient fish from the gene pool.
