I was told today by my representative that he proposed the bill based on a suggestion from a guide in north inlet so I guess that answers that question. I agree a study would be a great idea before any changes are made. All I can say is we need to voice our concerns to our representatives loud and clear.
What have been YOUR personal experiences and catch data since 2010, or is this just a knee-jerk reaction? Also, again, who do you think is going to do the study and under whose recommendations? Answer- State biologists and done from creel surveys and observations of those fishing area year round.
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Originally posted by lowcountrygamecockI was told today by my representative that he proposed the bill based on a suggestion from a guide in north inlet so I guess that answers that question. I agree a study would be a great idea before any changes are made. All I can say is we need to voice our concerns to our representatives loud and clear.
RADDADDY SC does not have a population of “saltwater” stripers; they are riverine. Apparently the fish lift was put there for no reason at all. I am not going to provide you with data and I do not know the state of the fishery. The studies should be performed by marine biologists and the DNR. These studies should be the impetus for regulatory changes, not people seeing less fish in the flats. I fish just north of the Charleston harbor in the cooper and the Wando when I fish the salt, sometimes the harbor and sometimes bulls bay. I have success when I fish. I do not know if there are less redfish now than there were four years ago. Again, I have not made that claim. You are the one making the claim. Personal attacks on me do not help to make your case. Your experience as an angler, nor mine, has any bearing on the health of the fishery. I can make no conclusion about juvenile populations and I will not. I have offered some logical suggestions as to why the fish may have appeared to decline to those who are fishing in certain areas. Your position is that I am not qualified because I am not a tournament angler you know or a guide. You are right. I am not. But it does not make my opinion invalid. You are citing “guides” as your data. You trust them. I merely pointed out a contradiction between what you are saying and what I am seeing.
2013 Ranger Z21 Intracoastal 250 hp Yamaha VMAX SHO
We caught good numbers of fish in the winter of 2014/2015 in NI but the numbers have been down in my normal winter holes this year. At the same time though catch rates have gone up for people I know that fish closer to the ocean. Last time I was in NI the water didn’t smell salty at all until you got way out closer to the mouth. Color was off too. I’m no biologist but it seems logical to me that if the water is too fresh they won’t be there. Same goes for the opposite when it was dry a couple summers ago guys I work with were catching redfish all the way up at plantersville on big pee dee while they were bream fishing.
- ALL stripers are riverine then. Ocean stripers go to fresh water to spawn but they can also choose to live in fresh water all year (reason for it being SC state fish). Fresh water stripers move up rivers to spawn, not down to salt.
- The striper fishery is coming back due to little deep water mortality in the summer because of regulations set forth from pressure of knowledgeable anglers.
- Biologists work for DNR, and they WILL be heavily scrutinizing numbers in their creel surveys. They know where to perform creel surveys because of fishermen imput.
- Observation is a part of the scientific process as I am a biologist.
- How often do you fish for reds, and what exactly are you seeing per your catch rates per trip in the past 6 years? (numbers per trip, time of year)?
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Originally posted by Big ShrimpinRADDADDY SC does not have a population of “saltwater” stripers; they are riverine. Apparently the fish lift was put there for no reason at all. I am not going to provide you with data and I do not know the state of the fishery. The studies should be performed by marine biologists and the DNR. These studies should be the impetus for regulatory changes, not people seeing less fish in the flats. I fish just north of the Charleston harbor in the cooper and the Wando when I fish the salt, sometimes the harbor and sometimes bulls bay. I have success when I fish. I do not know if there are less redfish now than there were four years ago. Again, I have not made that claim. You are the one making the claim. Personal attacks on me do not help to make your case. Your experience as an angler, nor mine, has any bearing on the health of the fishery. I can make no conclusion about juvenile populations and I will not. I have offered some logical suggestions as to why the fish may have appeared to decline to those who are fishing in certain areas. Your position is that I am n
Freshwater inflows, ie lots of rain some years, makes a big difference in distribution of most marine species including shrimp, crabs, and redfish. And I am a wetland scientist. Did I see in this thread that there are no saltwater stripers? Maybe there are fewer now but stripers have been making migrations from salt into freshwater since I was a kid at least, and that was a long time ago. I remember my father fishing for them in salt waters 50 years ago and the largest striper I ever saw came from the Broad River in Beaufort County. The old guys used to fish the bar at the Broad River during the full moon in January and caught plenty. The Cosawhatchie River always had a good run of the saltwater fish and the Santee Cooper stripers were saltwater fish trapped when the dams were built.
Olde Man Charters
High water , low water , lot of rain/fresh water , no rain/salty water
all of this is generally short termed seasonal varibles . Over all
continual average low fish numbers are not short term or normal.
I will still put my bet on pollution as main problem as it is affecting the entire food chain not only in lower populations but also in fit for consumption; and trust the thoughts of people who work on the water for a living to have a better idea as to the problem than to the ones warming a chair trying to reason a
rational excuse !!! Just my thoughts again and again and …[:0]
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I caught redfish above the steel bridge (25 miles from ocean) in the Combahee river last week. I caught a few largemouth as well. No way lack of salinity will move the fish out of NI. It is too close to the ocean.
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Originally posted by lowcountrygamecockWe caught good numbers of fish in the winter of 2014/2015 in NI but the numbers have been down in my normal winter holes this year. At the same time though catch rates have gone up for people I know that fish closer to the ocean. Last time I was in NI the water didn’t smell salty at all until you got way out closer to the mouth. Color was off too. I’m no biologist but it seems logical to me that if the water is too fresh they won’t be there. Same goes for the opposite when it was dry a couple summers ago guys I work with were catching redfish all the way up at plantersville on big pee dee while they were bream fishing.
I cannot find the article now due to the firewall I am behind. It once was popular thought that the local striper population was the same as the ocean variety that inhabits from the NC SC border all the way up the East coast. It was discovered that the variety of stiper in our state winters in the estuaries of our state, are more acclimated to fresh and brackish water, and do not migrate offshore like their close northern relatives. This is a relatively recent discovery. When I am able to locate the article I will provide it. I will not continue to debate the state of our local redfish population. I have made my thoughts and concerns clear.
2013 Ranger Z21 Intracoastal 250 hp Yamaha VMAX SHO
Translation- Per juvenile redfish numbers, I don’t possess enough personal knowledge, experience, or observation data to give a relevant opinion.
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Originally posted by Big ShrimpinI cannot find the article now due to the firewall I am behind. It once was popular thought that the local striper population was the same as the ocean variety that inhabits from the NC SC border all the way up the East coast. It was discovered that the variety of stiper in our state winters in the estuaries of our state, are more acclimated to fresh and brackish water, and do not migrate offshore like their close northern relatives. This is a relatively recent discovery. When I am able to locate the article I will provide it. I will not continue to debate the state of our local redfish population. I have made my thoughts and concerns clear.
2013 Ranger Z21 Intracoastal 250 hp Yamaha VMAX SHO
Translation- Radddaddy = Fallacious argument only.
2013 Ranger Z21 Intracoastal 250 hp Yamaha VMAX SHO
Only to someone with zero knowledge on the subject.
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Originally posted by Big ShrimpinTranslation- Radddaddy = Fallacious argument only.
2013 Ranger Z21 Intracoastal 250 hp Yamaha VMAX SHO
FYI. Here is a link to one of numerous articles I was talking about pertaining to our states estuarine/riverine stripers. The one I originally read was by a biologist on the DNR’s website but I cannot get to their website through the Brazilian server. The articles on the DNR also describe the river flow rates, water temperatures, and river distances required for a successful spawn; explaining why the Congaree, Wateree, and Santee all combine to make one of three self sustaining inland Striper populaions in the US. Before ran across this information a couple years ago, I thought the Striper population was anadromous as well.
http://www.boats.com/reviews/boats/low-country-stripers/
2013 Ranger Z21 Intracoastal 250 hp Yamaha VMAX SHO
Sharks dadgumit !!
No it’s the Coywolves, remember?
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Originally posted by dadgumSharks dadgumit !!
http://www.southcarolinasportsman.com/details.php?id=5156
Fishing Nerd
“you win some, you lose some…but nothing beats getting some!”
Not quite sure how striipers got into this conversation, and I don’t fish for reds much, so I have no opinion whether there are fewer than five years ago. They are certainly not where I used to catch them. I think that I’ve read that reds spawn " near inlets in the ocean, and the newly hatched fish ride the tides into the marshes". Every other problem has been discussed as the culprit, so I’ll throw this one in: could the explosion of Black Sea bass be hurting the red fish. Their range doesn’t normally overlap, but that might have changed since NOAA got involved.
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Originally posted by RealfinNot quite sure how striipers got into this conversation, and I don’t fish for reds much, so I have no opinion whether there are fewer than five years ago. They are certainly not where I used to catch them. I think that I’ve read that reds spawn " near inlets in the ocean, and the newly hatched fish ride the tides into the marshes". Every other problem has been discussed as the culprit, so I’ll throw this one in: could the explosion of Black Sea bass be hurting the red fish. Their range doesn’t normally overlap, but that might have changed since NOAA got involved.
Dang it! pollution and all other stuff aside. BSB might just be a factor:question: Not being a smart arse, really I wouldn’t doubt that BSB could be a factor along with a multitude of other issues.
I can say that I do remember the days that Spot tail were along the lines with bow fin bass. Both got eaten and were caught in mass numbers, but were not the favorite table fair. Now that was a few years back.
I personally have not seen the a decline in my personal ability to catch a spot tail, other than my deep inshore areas that have been inundated with much fresh water.
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
Winyah bay has the second largest amount of freshwater on the east Coast after The Chesapeake. With really high tides I could see it affecting NI. Even when salt and fresh water mix, the reds may still be around, just in different spots. Remember salt water is beneath the fresh.
Ill be honest I have not read all of the posts on this thread but I may have something else for you to “chew on”. As far as I know there are two known spawning locations for red drum in SC (Charleston Harbor and Port Royal sound). Red drum eggs float in salinities moderately high (18 ppt and greater I think-Full strength sea water is 35ppt). Spawning times I believe start in late August and go through October (maybe a bit later?). These spawning times also coincide with our storm season. If thee are only two KNOWN, and I stress “KNOWN” spawning locations how do redfish end up in the other systems? My guess is that they float there as eggs or juvies. Stocking information has led researchers to believe that in most cases there is fidelity to the area where the juvies are stocked. So what would you think about the relative lack of large storms (hurricane’s, T.S.'s and T.D.'s) in recent years as being incapable of spreading the eggs and fry along the coast to populate other systems? I Hope this makes sense and adds to the discussion that has occurred to this point.