I heard of some seeing a couple of floaters in the Beaufort area, but not many. Was talking with a Crabber in Georgia this week and he told me some horror stories around Ossabaw island. While pulling crab pots finding several full of dead shrimp and seeing a lot of trout floating.
Just curious if anyone has any scientific results on if we really had a major fish kill in our area. I know DNR is requesting catch and release on Trout, just wondering if this is preemptive or a known major fish kill?
Not scientifis, just some first hand experiences. I only found red and black drum floaters that washed up by the inlets, and invent went trout fishing but once and it was a bad day for trout fishing in general plus it was close to the snow days. I’m not sure if the bait died. I’ve seen the creek/ghost shrimp, mud minnows, mullet, glass minnows and some other minnows that look like tiny trout or some sort of guppy. Lots of birds and bait activity this weekend. If even say a odd amount for February. I’ve always heard that white shrimp can tolerate the cold, but I don’t know about the brown and pink shrimp. I know our crabbers are still running pots so there is something out there. But I did see a few washed up stone crabs but I also saw plenty of little stone crabs when oystering. The reds I’ve been catching are about a 50/50 mix of healthy and skinny beat up reds.
They won’t do a creel survey until April, but you can’t ignore science. The water temperatures were cold enough for long enough to kill over 80% of the trout.
They won’t do a creel survey until April, but you can’t ignore science. The water temperatures were cold enough for long enough to kill over 80% of the trout.
Be interesting to see how the creel survey comes out. I’m sure many of the fish that died went straight to the bottom. Crabs should be fat. That was one of the longest continuous cold spells I can remember.
It’s like getting a late frost and loosing a seasons worth of Blueberries or the like. It’s terrible but nothing we can do to prevent it. Let’s hope everyone does their part in being good stewards and let any caught go back to spawn.
i ran through some bayous during and right after the cold weather. saw hundreds of trout and a couple dozen reds still alive and well, lazy, but live. did not see one floater. i do not think they are as bad off as everyone wants you to believe.
i ran through some bayous during and right after the cold weather. saw hundreds of trout and a couple dozen reds still alive and well, lazy, but live. did not see one floater. i do not think they are as bad off as everyone wants you to believe.
With the warming water temperatures, it shouldn’t be difficult to catch a few of those “hundreds” of trout in those particular "bayous ". We look forward to some pics on your upcoming trips.
Rad breaks it down again,great reply.We will know when the reports start coming in,for sure. I wonder if baracuda was in South Carolina or Louisiana when he seen those hundreds of trout in the bayou haha.
As has been mentioned time and again. You can try to argue with the science but, just because one person didn’t see 1,000 trout floating on the surface the day there were out, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a major kill.
It’s pretty simple: If the water temperature gets to a certain point and is sustained at that point for a period of time, a high percentage of the fish won’t survive.
Again, no one is going to starve in 2018 if you don’t eat a trout or a red.
And again, it’s not like this a new phenomenon. Seatrout are a subtropical species that succumb to winter kills. It will take 2-3 consecutive years of mild winters to get back where we were. 2003-2009 was incredible because of incremental increases in trout populations due to weather, but it all crashed in the winter of 2009/2010.
And again, it’s not like this a new phenomenon. Seatrout are a subtropical species that succumb to winter kills. It will take 2-3 consecutive years of mild winters to get back where we were. 2003-2009 was incredible because of incremental increases in trout populations due to weather, but it all crashed in the winter of 2009/2010.
I completely agree. We can all do our part by releasing fish, which means more fish to make baby fish, which means more total fish in a year or two.
Rad breaks it down again,great reply.We will know when the reports start coming in,for sure. I wonder if baracuda was in South Carolina or Louisiana when he seen those hundreds of trout in the bayou haha.
I am currently in LA actually, however i was in SC when i SAW the fish.
Rad breaks it down again,great reply.We will know when the reports start coming in,for sure. I wonder if baracuda was in South Carolina or Louisiana when he seen those hundreds of trout in the bayou haha.
I am currently in LA actually, however i was in SC when i SAW the fish.
When you get back to SC, send me a PM to set a date to show me ONE trout that I can put my eyes on, and I will pay you a typical half day charter rate. If they are there, it should take less than an hour. You game?
My trout hole still has trout but it went from 30 to 50 fish in a hour or 2 to like a 3 trout trout day according to my buddy but I have yet to catch a trout since the kill. I didn’t mean the trout weren’t killed I just said the only floaters I found were washed up drum at the inlets.
My trout hole still has trout but it went from 30 to 50 fish in a hour or 2 to like a 3 trout trout day according to my buddy but I have yet to catch a trout since the kill. I didn’t mean the trout weren’t killed I just said the only floaters I found were washed up drum at the inlets.
No I haven’t seen them but I trust my buddy wouldn’t lie and he does know what a trout is. I’m gonna give them a try this week. I haven’t fished for them because I wanted to give them some time to re over. Last time I went there was a tester right after the cold but I saw no signs of life not even bait or birds which are both usually there. I fished some shallow water small creeks for reds and I usually catch a mix of fish here but nothing was there and the contours had changed greatly in the past month. I usually fish he spot at low but its like 6 inches at low now.
No I haven’t seen them but I trust my buddy wouldn’t lie and he does know what a trout is. I’m gonna give them a try this week. I haven’t fished for them because I wanted to give them some time to re over. Last time I went there was a tester right after the cold but I saw no signs of life not even bait or birds which are both usually there. I fished some shallow water small creeks for reds and I usually catch a mix of fish here but nothing was there and the contours had changed greatly in the past month. I usually fish he spot at low but its like 6 inches at low now.
I was pointing my response to baracuda. Any trout to be caught now will be deep enough not to be seen. Of course there are a few around, but seeing hundreds is a fairy tale.
i ran through some bayous during and right after the cold weather. saw hundreds of trout and a couple dozen reds still alive and well, lazy, but live. did not see one floater. i do not think they are as bad off as everyone wants you to believe.
At the risk of opening myself up for comments, I have a couple of comments based on experience:
It is not uncommon to see trout in very shallow water during or right after a hard cold front. I can’t really explain this, but my theory is that they either are trying to get as much sun as they possibly can, or they are trying to stay out of the jaws of the dolphins. Also, while seeing these fish alive is a better than seeing them dead, keep in mind that the fish don’t have to freeze to death. SLow stunned fish are easy picking. On a trip to the Chechessee River shortly after the freeze I saw flocks of about 50 white pelicans scouring the bank. The entire ■■■■■ would land in a pocket between oyster bars around low tide and paddle through feeding, then get up and fly to the next pocket. Land, feed, repeat. Just outside of the shallows that the pelicans were scouring there were dolphins cruising back and forth. Serious cold is bad for some/good for others. I don’t have a vested interest in dolphins or pelicans, but I love to fish for trout and red drum, so I hate freezes.
The area a few problem with putting hard numbers on the damage done by a freeze. It’s impossible to document fish that die and sink out of sight or are eaten by crabs, dolphins, birds, etc. Also, it is pretty normal for catches to be low this time of year, plus there is normal variation based on weather (even short of freezes - just sun versus clouds, calm versus windy, etc.), etc. Over time though, we will get to see the results. One or two bad fishless trips don’t mean much, but when it continues for multiple trips over several months, you can add up the numbers.
I understand a lot of people want quick answers. Quick easy answers are often unsubstantiated. Scientists are cautious by nature and by training. They will not make a statement without evidence to back it up. What they do know is that conditions similar to the ones we experienced during and just after the freeze have resulted in major kills in the past (doc
At the risk of opening myself up for comments, I have a couple of comments based on experience:
It is not uncommon to see trout in very shallow water during or right after a hard cold front. I can’t really explain this, but my theory is that they either are trying to get as much sun as they possibly can, or they are trying to stay out of the jaws of the dolphins. Also, while seeing these fish alive is a better than seeing them dead, keep in mind that the fish don’t have to freeze to death. SLow stunned fish are easy picking. On a trip to the Chechessee River shortly after the freeze I saw flocks of about 50 white pelicans scouring the bank. The entire ■■■■■ would land in a pocket between oyster bars around low tide and paddle through feeding, then get up and fly to the next pocket. Land, feed, repeat. Just outside of the shallows that the pelicans were scouring there were dolphins cruising back and forth. Serious cold is bad for some/good for others. I don’t have a vested interest in dolphins or pelicans, but I love to fish for trout and red drum, so I hate freezes.
The area a few problem with putting hard numbers on the damage done by a freeze. It’s impossible to document fish that die and sink out of sight or are eaten by crabs, dolphins, birds, etc. Also, it is pretty normal for catches to be low this time of year, plus there is normal variation based on weather (even short of freezes - just sun versus clouds, calm versus windy, etc.), etc. Over time though, we will get to see the results. One or two bad fishless trips don’t mean much, but when it continues for multiple trips over several months, you can add up the numbers.
I understand a lot of people want quick answers. Quick easy answers are often unsubstantiated. Scientists are cautious by nature and by training. They will not make a statement without evidence to
