Those of us who have a passion for inshore fishing watch the weather each winter pretty closely. If we get cold weather early in the season we all begin to get a bit nervous about what old man winter has in store for us and our inshore waters. This year started our pretty mild. We experienced warm weather through November and most of December and then January hit. The first week of January saw several inches of snow and ice on the ground and over night temperatures in the teens.
The aftermath of this extended cold front was not good. There were reports of dead and dying fish in several different areas and we were all left wondering just how bad the fishery had been damaged. Some species are more effected than others when it comes to temperature extremes. In our case the Seatrout are hit the hardest by low water temperatures because the stay in the rivers and estuaries and do not move offshore during the winter months.
The last time we experienced a winter fish kill was at the end of 2010 into early 2011 and we have all seen that it took some time for this species to bounce back. Recent warm winters have really rewarded us with some outstanding trout fishing with great numbers and some very large fish.
It is now time for us, as angers and good stewards of our resources, to step up and help the trout population to recover. The SCDNR has asked that anglers voluntarily release the trout they catch through the end of September. This allows us to help keep the numbers up, allows these fish the opportunity to spawn and hopefully helps the species to recover more quickly.
To learn more you can go to the SCDNR website at www.dnr.sc.gov
Andy Pickett
CharlestonFishing.Com</font id=“blue”>