The US Navy has recently reported that it wants to expand it’s bombing ranges within the Pamlico Sound, these bombing ranges are off-limits to recreational boaters and fisherman. The BT-9 and BT-11 bombing ranges in the Pamlico sound have been around for decades but now with stronger and stronger bombs they have decided they need to expand these areas to stay safe. Both areas of off-limits to boats and foot traffic. The BT-9 bombing range is near Brant Island and is already a circular region 6 nautical miles across. If this passes, the region will be expanded so that a boat will have to cross over Brant Island Shoals to pass the island, these shoals are highly dangerous to small recreational fishing boats. The BT-11 bombing range is near Piney Island, if this range is expanded some of our state’s finest shoreline fishing will be taken away. Both of these regions are home to many crabs, shrimp and oysters as well as trout, red drum and flounder. Many see this as a trend of the government taking away public access to our public resources.

Not only are they trying to take away our public access to a fine fishery but they are doing so without a full environmental impact study. No one knows how these high tech bombs will affect local fish habitats but you can bet that they won’t be improved. Please let your local representatives know that you are against the expansion of the BT-9 and BT-11 bombing ranges in the Pamlico Sound.

North Carolina Saltwater Fishing Reports

Bill from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center reported: ”
August 14, 2008 Fishing Report
Ocean conditions while not as bad as were predicted were unsettled enough to keep all but one offshore boat in port. That boat found conditions improving throughout the day. Unless something unforeseen happens it should be a nice day tommorrow. The fishing was good for both dolphin and tile fish. Inshore bluefish and spanish mackerel trolling was good. Open boats went after different types of fish. Only two boats did the same type of fishing. They had good speckled trout and flounder fishing both morning and afternoon. One boat caught puppy drum morning and afternoon. Another boat caught bluefish. Finnally the last boat caught two cobias and a dolphin. Miss Oregon Inlet caught flounders, croakers and sea mullet. I have to get out there and try to catch some of those sea mullet they are really good eating.

August 13, 2008 Fishing Report
Offshore good dolphin and tile fishing. Both fish are good eating. The dolphin are more sporting to catch. For many people the tile fish are their favorite to eat, often compared with grouper. Inshore good trolling for spanish mackerel and tailor bluefish. Open boats also trolled for spanish mackerel and tailor bluefish. Miss Oregon Inlet caught croakers and sea mullet.

August 12, 2008 Fishing Report

Today dolphin combined with tile fish resulted in outstanding catches made at the Gulf Stream. I counted eight white marlin flags and three sailfish flags. Hurrying from one side of the marina to the other I almost missed a god catch. I got there just in time to see the captain tossing fish into a big plastic can. The fish cannot be left on the dock any longer than it takes to get a picture or two. The pickup crew waste no time getting the fish to where they can be kept cool and fresh. Inshore excellent spanish mackerel by all the inshore boats. open boats caught speckled trout and flounders. One boat had a nice catch consisting of a cobia and spanish mackerel. Miss Oregon Inlet caught flounders, sea mullet and croakers in the morning croakers and flounders in the afternoon.”

TW’s Bait and Tackle reported: ”
August 14, 2008 Fishing Report
Surf Fishing Report: Surf-casters are beaching Bluefish and bottom fish.

Sound Fishing Report: The Little Bridge reported Flounder and Croaker. They have also caught Stripers in the 23 in range. Of course you can’t keep them but it is good action.

Pier Fishing Report:
Avalon: Small Blues

Nags Head: Spot, Blues and Spade.

Outer Banks: Sea Mullet, Croaker and Blues.

Inshore Boats Report: Spanish and Blues.

Offshore Boats Report: Good Dolphin and Tile fishing.

August 13, 2008 Fishing Report
Surf Fishing Report: Scattered bottom fish and a few Blues.

Sound Fishing Report: The Little Bridge on the causeway are catching Black Drum and Flounder

Pier Fishing Report:
Avalon: Blues and Spadefish.

Nags Head: Blues and Flounder.

Outer Banks: Blues and a 22 lb Cobia and a 50 lb King this morning.

August 12, 2008 Fishing Report
Surf Fishing Report: Bottom fish and Bluefish.

Sound Fishing Report: The Melvin R. Daniel Bridge on the Nags Head/Roanoke Island causeway are decking Flounder and Black Drum.

Pier Fishing Report:
Avalon: Sea Mullet and Blues.

Nags Head: Blues, Spanish, Spot, and Flounder.

Outer Banks: Blues and Spanish early. Spot, Sea Mullet and seven keeper Flounder.

Inshore Boats Report: Open boats are catching Flounder, Bluefish, Trout and Cobia. Trolling boats are catching Spanish, a few King were caught also.

Offshore Boats Report: Dolphin. Limits of Tilefish are caught. Many Billfish caught and released on Monday.”

NORTH CAROLINA FISHING REPORTS COVERING THE ENTIRE NORTH CAROLINA COAST

Reported from North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

From Knotts Island to Ocracoke:
Ocean: Offshore anglers caught limits of dolphin with moderate amounts of wahoo, king mackerel, amberjack, and billfish.  Very few tuna were caught.  Midrange anglers caught king mackerel, cobia, and very large striped bass 6-8 miles offshore.  Triggerfish, sheepshead, and black sea bass were caught around most of the artificial reefs.  Inshore anglers caught limits of Spanish mackerel with very little effort when seas were calm enough to access them in the near shore surf zone.  There were also some good catches of bluefish, flounder, and kingfish.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Spotted seatrout and flounder were most prevalent with most specimens being caught in the early morning hours throughout the area.  Keeper ratios have been very good for both flounder and trout.  High numbers of croakers were caught on a daily basis with a few kingfish mixed in.  Sheepshead, tautog, and black drum were caught around the bridge structure at Oregon Inlet.
Piers/Shore: Anglers had similar success to the inshore boaters.  Spanish mackerel catches were the best I have seen in recent memory, with limits being caught by everyone targeting them.  King mackerel catches off piers were very good, with a few citation size ones being recorded this week.  Bluefish were caught in short-term high-volume numbers.   

General Overview: Water temps in the surf are very warm with upper 70s to lower 80s throughout the area.  Catch rates continued to improve ccross the board.  Weather is predicted favorable for the coming week.

From Portsmouth to Surf City:

Ocean:  The Spanish mackerel bite is still strong off the beaches, particularly around Shackleford and Cape Lookout.  Smaller fish in the 10 to 12-inch range have been holding closer to the beach while larger fish of up to 2-3 lbs are in deeper water.  Look out for the occasional small king mixed in!  Small kings, larger Spanish, some keeper flounder, and lots of sharks have also been reported from the near shore artificial reefs and wrecks.  Large black sea bass were caught at AR 300.  Offshore, the dolphin bite appears to have slowed, but many grouper and triggerfish were caught on hard bottom.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: The sheepshead fishing is still good.  In and around Beaufort Inlet, anglers caught some of the biggest sea mullet of the year, along with a mix of spot, croaker and pigfish.  Anglers in the New River/North Topsail area reported catching sheepshead and some nice speckled trout.

Piers/Shore:  Look for bluefish, small sheepshead, spot, croaker, and the occasional black drum or Spanish mackerel.

From Topsail to Sunset Beach:
Ocean: Offshore, bottom fishing in the 30 to 50-mile range has been producing red, gag, and scamp groupers, along with an assortment of other reef fish. Closer to shore there are some kings around but fishing has been a little slow. Most ledges in the 10 to 20-mile range are holding a few fish along with amberjacks, barracuda, and the occasional sailfish. The near shore reefs are holding some nice flounder and spadefish.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Fishing has been decent, considering we are in the dog days of summer. There are still some nice trout catches taking place. Oak Island/Southport area is were most of the trout are being caught. Along with the trout there are some decent flounder catches as well, with fish up to 8 pounds reported last week. Carolina Beach Inlet has produced some nice flounder over the last couple of weeks. Sheepshead and black drum are biting. The ADM dock and Snow’s cut are two good spots to try.

Piers/Shore: Fishing picked up this week. Topsail Island piers saw some spots show up along some pompano and sea mullets. They also saw some more tarpon catches last week. New Hanover and Brunswick county piers reported Spanish, blues, pompano and some keeper flounder. Until Next Week, Tight Lines! Dalton

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will hold a public hearing regarding proposed new regulations that would establish state fisherman registries at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27 in the DNREC Auditorium, Richardson & Robbins Building, 89 Kings Highway, Dover. The new regulations would go into effect Jan. 1, 2009.

In order to improve upon present means of determining recreational catch and effort in marine waters, Congress authorized the National Marine Fisheries Service to compile a nationwide registry of all anglers fishing in saltwater beginning in 2009 and to begin charging for participation in this registry as of 2011. According to existing federal plans, fees generated by this program will be deposited in the federal treasury and not returned to the states.

“These proposed additions to Delaware’s tidal and non-tidal fishing regulations will allow us to meet these new federal requirements, with no additional cost to our anglers,” said DNREC Fisheries Section Administrator Roy Miller. “The federal National Marine Fisheries Service has been tasked to identify saltwater anglers for survey purposes. If we can provide a complete registry of Delaware’s marine recreational fishermen from our state-issued fishing license program, our anglers will be exempt from participating in the federal registry and federal license fees.”

Delaware Code currently requires a general fishing license to fish in tidal and non-tidal waters, and license applications contain most of the information needed for a state registry, with one important exception. “Under the new regulations, the first question we would ask our license applicants is ‘fresh, salt or both?’ Presently we have no way to determine this, and the Fisheries Service is only looking for saltwater angler information,” Miller said.

A complete registry would also need to include Delaware saltwater anglers who are not legally required to have a fishing license, or National Marine Fisheries would classify Delaware as non-exempt. Current Delaware fishing license regulations allow the holder of a recreational boat license to take any number of non-licensed anglers with them on the licensed vessel, and therefore these unlicensed anglers would not be included in a database of Delaware anglers. In addition, resident senior citizens age 65 and older also are exempt from Delaware recreational fishing license requirements.

Therefore, to avoid a federal determination that Delaware is a non-exempt state, the proposed regulation will establish a state-level registration process, to be known as the F.I.N number (Fisherman Information Network), for all anglers fishing in Delaware.

The new regulation would require all prospective Delaware anglers age 16 or older, licensed or not, to obtain a F.I.N number on an annual basis before fishing in Delaware waters. This requirement is similar to a federal registration system known as the Hunter Information Program (H.I.P.) for all who intend to hunt migratory birds.

The F.I.N. number would be available at no cost to anglers by calling a toll free number or by providing requested information online. Anglers would be asked for their name, address, phone number and whether they intend to fish in freshwater, tidal water or both. Each person who requests a F.I.N. number should write this number on his or her Delaware fishing license, or for those who are legally unlicensed, be able to produce this number when asked by an authorized enforcement agent.

Both the website address and toll-free number would be advertised and made readily available to all Delaware anglers.
Once all Delaware fishermen have obtained a F.I.N. number and the National Marine Fisheries Service has a copy of Delaware’s saltwater angler registry, Delaware will be exempt from the federal marine recreational fishing registry and charges.

Individuals may present opinions and evidence either at the public hearing or in writing to Lisa Vest, Hearing Officer, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901 or via e-mail to Lisa.Vest@state.de.us.  The hearing record will remain open for written or e-mail comments until 4:30 p.m. Aug. 31, 2008.
For more information, please contact the Division of Fish and Wildlife, Fisheries Section, at 302-739-3441.

Just in from the National Coalition of Marine Conservation

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As the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) deliberates over whether or not to approve a permit for a single vessel to explore a west coast longline fishery in federal waters (3-200 miles off the U.S. coast), the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has turned its attention to the high seas (seaward of 200 miles). The Council recently announced alternatives for a high seas longline fishery, which is being developed as Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan for West Coast Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP). Minimally, the fishery would consist of 20 vessels deploying over 1 million hooks. An option for an unlimited fishery (in terms of vessels and hooks) is also presented. The law requires NMFS to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed action, and comments from the public are being accepted until September 8, 2008.

Contact the National Marine Fisheries Services to oppose the west coast high seas longline fishery, and to demand that they include in the EIS a comprehensive analysis of the impact on all species expected to interact with the proposed fishery.Despite some modest successes in gear modifications, longlines kill indiscriminately with detrimental effects on sea turtles, marlin, sharks and other imperiled species.

Read the full story on our web site which includes instructions on sending comments.