Monday, October 30, 2006

Rebuilding of Jennette's Pier Stalls

Although the rebuilding of Jennette's Pier seemed to be all ready to go just last month, it now appears that fishermen will have to wait a little longer. At a meeting last week Nags Head Town officials and The NC Aquarium Society met to discuss the future of the pier rebuilding project. The ownership of the pier and surrounding property was expected to be transferred to the North Carolina Aquariums agency this month but the state still needs time to finalize the plans. We are hopeful that the rebirth of Jennette's Pier will push forward soon, we are looking forward to the giant concrete behemoth that's been planned. More on the Jennette's Pier delay is available from the Outer Banks Sentinel.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Fishermen Sue to Block Black Sea Bass Quotas

Commercial fishermen in North Carolina have been arguing against the new regulations on black sea bass for several months. After the National Marine Fisheries Service finalized the regulations on Monday, 3 commercial fishermen are suing NOAA (the parent agency of the NMFS) claiming the lay unfairly target NC commercial fishermen, shift too much of the total quota to recreational fishermen, and are based on faulty data. Commercial fishermen stand to lose a large percentage of their income with the new black sea bass quotas yet many are claiming it to be a significant step toward recovery of some of our most popular game fish. More on the pending litigation is available from the News & Observer.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

New Snowy Grouper and Black Black Sea Bass Regulations

This past Monday the National Marine Fisheries Service passed new regulations on snowy grouper, golden tilefish, vermilion snapper, red porgy and black sea bass. Amendment 13C to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region imposes quotas and individual trip limits on catches and changes the minimum length for many species. Offshore reef populations have been struggling for several years and officials are optimistic that these new regulations can reverse the trend. Highlights of the regulations that impact recreational anglers are listed below for each species, full details on the new regulations are available from the NMFS.
Snowy Grouper:
•limit possession to one per person per day within the 5-grouper per person per day aggregate recreational bag.
Golden Tilefish:
•limit possession to one per person per day within the 5-grouper per person per day aggregate recreational bag.
Vermilion Snapper:
•increase the recreational minimum size limit from 11-inch total length (TL) to 12-inch TL.
Black Sea Bass:
•establish a recreational allocation that would decrease over three years from 633,000 lbs gw in year 1 to 560,000 lbs gw in year 2, and 409,000 lbs gw in year 3;
•increase the recreational size limit from 10-inch TL to 11-inch TL in year 1 and 12-inch TL in year 2; and
•reduce the recreational bag limit from 20 to 15 per person per day.
Red Porgy:
•increase the recreational bag limit from 1 to 3 red porgy per person per day.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Good Bye to Sportsman's Pier

We've all known it was coming for a long time but Sportsman's pier is closing down for good this weekend. Originally built in the 1950's, the 1000 foot long Sportsman's Pier has always been a popular destination in Atlantic Beach. Like thousands of other fishermen, our staff also grew up fishing Sportsman's Pier and remember catching some of our first saltwater fish from it. As a final farewell the pier will be having a customer appreciation day on their final day Sunday with free fishing. Press and politicians are expected to appear and Paul Graham of savencpierfishing.com will be presenting an update on the petition. Do your part to help preserve pier fishing in North Carolina, sign your name to the online petition. The pier has had a good drum bite the last few weeks, this weekend could be a great time to land one last fish from Sportsman's Pier.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Monday, October 16, 2006

NC Fisherman Dies, Another Hospitalized

One fisherman is dead and another was hospitalized after what appears to have been carbon monoxide poisoning. Late last week Jason Sadler, captain of the 42-foot fishing vessel Nathan Lewis out of Manns Harbor, awoke with a bad headache and found his fellow fisherman, James Dixon, unresponsive. Coast Guard vessels responded to the Nathan Lewis and were able to rescue Sadler 20 miles out of Oregon Inlet. He was hospitalized in critical condition, officials are still investigating the details. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families. More on the accident is available from the Outer Banks Sentinel.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Happy Birthday Fishing-NC.com!

One year today we launched Fishing-NC.com with our very first post on funding threats to NOAA Marine Forecasts. 177 posts later and we're still going strong. We had been hoping to have some new updates rolled out for the site in time for today but it looks like everyone is going to have to wait just a little longer to see what we've got cooking. Thanks go out to our loyal visitors and friends for all the support they given us over the past year, we never could have made it this far without your help.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Friday, October 13, 2006

New Oyster Shell Recycling Sites Open Ahead of New Law

As oyster season gets ready to kick off in North Carolina officials in Oslow County just completed two new oyster shell recycling sites to help ensure shells stay out of landfills. A new law making it illegal to dispose of oyster shells in landfills begins January 1st. The law was originally scheduled to begin in 2009, but was moved up before the General Assembly adjourned in July. "In reality, probably nobody's going to be arrested or be cited for throwing away a bunch of shells," said Craig Hardy, with the Division of Marine Fisheries. Instead he believes that the new law should draw attention to the value of recycling shells. In addition to helping filter and clean coastal waters, oyster shells also offer some of the best fish habitat available. More on the new oyster shell recycling sites is available from the News & Observer; great video footage is available from the Jacksonville Daily News.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Bumper Crop of Speckled Trout

Speckled trout have long been a favorite catch for North Carolina anglers and this year is proving to be one of the best years for specks in a very long time. Last year's mild winter and a boom in shrimp populations has led to 3 and 4 pound speckled trout being caught in record numbers. Right now the specks are just about everywhere on the NC coast and inshore anglers couldn't be happier. Deep sloughs along the edge of the marsh, the edge of oyster rocks or points, and outside bends of small creeks are great spots for finding specks, soon as the water temperatures start to drop into the 60's they will be moving to deeper water through the inlets. Many anglers prefer live shrimp for bait, we've had great luck with Gulp's nuclear chicken jerkbaits and shrimp on 1/4oz jigheads. Dan Kibler has a great article in the Winston-Salem Journal with some tips and tactics for filling your cooler and it is certainly worth a read.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Sunday, October 08, 2006

New NOAA Rules Require Circle Hooks for Tournaments

Offshore anglers and tournament officials have been anticipating a ruling from NOAA on the required use of circle hooks for almost two years. Last week their decision was finally revealed and it appears to be a compromise. Only tournament anglers will be required to use circle hooks and blue marlin tournaments can apply for an exemption from the ruling. Recreational anglers will not be required to use circle hooks. Circle hooks have been found to significantly reduce catch and release mortality rates, especially for billfish. NOAA officials say the use of circle hooks in tournaments could save an estimated 300 billfish each year. More on the NOAA circle hook ruling is available from the Virginian-Pilot.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Friday, October 06, 2006

Emergency Plan to Dredge Bogue Inlet

Bogue Inlet simply has to be dredged. After being left out of the state's Shallow Draft Navigation dredging budget for the second straight year, a new plan is in the works to reapportion money from the NC's other inlets in order to keep Bogue Inlet navigable. In last year's federal budget there were no funds allocated for maintenance dredging of any of the state's shallow draft inlets. However, the Senate budget had allocated $3 million for maintenance dredging of all of the state's five shallow inlets except Bogue Inlet and its connecting channel. "No one really knows why it's been left out of the budget for two years now. My thoughts are that they got confused with the $9.8 million that was funded for moving the Emerald Isle inlet and didn't realize this was the connector channel and a whole different issue," said Greg Rudolph of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office. Bogue Inlet is not only important to fishermen, but also the area economy, we're hopeful that a creative funding solution can be found since legislators seem to have overlooked its importance. More on the dredging plan is available from the Tideland News. An aerial photographic history of NC's inlets is available from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Oslow County Ready for Tsunamis

Drivers crossing the bridge between Sneads Ferry and North Topsail Beach now have a reason to scratch their heads, a sign that reads, "Tsunami Zone - In case of tsunami evacuate the beaches." In what has to be one of the mostbizarree use of tax dollars we've seen in a while, Oslow County is striving to be the first county in NC designated as "tsunami ready". Years ago it appears that Oslow County was the first to be designated as "storm ready" by NOAA and now they are building upon that proudtraditionn. The NOAA "tsunami ready" designation requires signs, education, and response plans. While we do support educating school children on what to do in the rare event of a tsunami, the signs seem a little silly even by federal government standards. There are currently no records of a tsunami in North Carolina. More on Oslow County's quest is available from the Topsail Voice, more on tsunamis is available from NOAA.

Archive Link 0 Comments Tell a Friend