Delta Guide Service: South Carolina Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report for January 1 through March 31, 2005
Another mild winter has come and gone, at least pretty much gone. The reds have been here in good numbers and were fairly easy to catch on most days. We had some really good days, and also had some that were not so good. Most times, the “not so good” days seemed to fall on days when there hadn’t been much sunshine, and the water had cooled several degrees. And, on days where we had had some sunshine for a previous day or so, they seemed to bite just fine. Another fish that has shown up in good numbers, in recent years, is the black drum. We have been catching more of them in the last year or so and this winter was no exception. Most of them are in the 2 to 5 pound class, but every so often, we catch one that’s 9 pounds or over. In the last three years, I’ve heard of three black drum that were over 40 pounds and have seen the photo of one that was caught, here in Georgetown, that weighed in at over 80 pounds! Most blacks are caught using bait on the bottom. Shrimp or mullet seems to work just fine. During the last week of March, we also had a few sea trout show up. No numbers, but the ones we caught were good, big fish. The big females normally show up inshore around April and May and will be loaded with eggs. If you can restrain your self, please try to let these really big ones go since they are literally the ones that will repopulate the area. We don’t know why the sea trout have been in such short supply for the last few years. There is no end of speculation as to why they haven’t recovered to past levels, but no real answers. On another note, many of you probably heard about the attempted passage of an increase in the bag limits for reds. In January, Rep. Thomas Rhoad, D-Bamberg, proposed Bill H3372 which called for the recreational daily bag limit for red drum to be increased from its current two fish per day to five fish per day. The bill did not pass, but, as usual, there is a never ending battle going on over these fish. Now, Rhoad has tried to get the bill tacked onto a piece of catfish legislation but that was also stopped. Remember, these “stops” are only temporary since the legislators that are trying to pass the more liberal bag limits are determined to do so. The politically appointed head of our DNR, John Frampton, has publicly stated that he and the DNR have no objection to some increase in our bag limit for reds. I have to wonder why a well educated person like Frampton would ignore the data from DNR’s nationally respected biologists and pursue a management decision that is so contrary to good science and the states desire for an abundant fishery. It can only be one thing, one politician scratching the back of another, and to hell with the fish, the scratching must be done!! You need to call your legislators and tell them you want them to stop this legislation. You can also make an impact by joining the CCA here in SC. They are the only ones that are organized and are fighting for restraint. You can visit their site at http://www.ccasouthcarolina.com/
Thanks,
Gene Dickson
Delta Guide Service www.deltaguideservice.com
Georgetown, SC 29440
843-546-3645
