Got the word that the bite is on in Montauk again this week with stripers, albies and bluefish. Too much to resist, just finished tying some flies, packing and heading out this afternoon. Pictures to come…

Brandon

North Carolina Saltwater Fishing Reports

Bill from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center reported: ”
September 26, 2008 Fishing Report
The weather has improved but seas were not settled enough today for boats to venture into the ocean. Three open boats fished in the sound. They caught some nice puppy drum, speckled trout and flounders. I took a picture of some of the puppy drum that ould have been great. They were beautiful golden fish of good size. I failed to check the cameras lense protector. Reports indicate that there is some really good fishing coming up next week in the sounds and offshore.

September 25, 2008 Fishing Report
We have had a weather system sitting off our coast for the past week that has curtailed most fishing activities. some fishing has taken place in sheltered areas such as the sound side of Bonner Bridge ans off island by Bodie Light house. Some speckled trout, spots and bluefish have been caught. This system is due to wind down in the next couip[le of days. It is anticipated that fishing will be good as a result. This wind will have moved things along. Strip[ed Bass (rockfish) season opens in the Albemarle Sound management area on the first of October (next Wednesday).The limits as posted on http://www.ncfisheries.net/strbass.htm are minimum length 18 inches, three fish per person per day. The size limit in the ocean is 28 inches minimum size and 2 per person per day same source. Inshore charters and open boats are looking forward to the rock fish season.”

TW’s Bait and Tackle reported: ”
September 26, 2008 Fishing Report
Though the wind has switched we still have high seas. We do have people fishing the piers. The Outer Banks pier reported 4 puppy Drum. One keeper.

September 25, 2008 Fishing Report
I think Trout fishing will be really good after this storm blows over.
Stay tuned.”

NORTH CAROLINA FISHING REPORTS COVERING THE ENTIRE NORTH CAROLINA COAST

Reported from North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

From Knotts Island to Ocracoke:
Ocean: Dolphin catches have been very good with limits being caught on most trips.  Yellowfin tuna catches are much improved, with some nice specimens of 50 to 60 lbs being caught.  Pretty good numbers of wahoo, blackfin tuna, barracuda, greater amberjack, vermilion snapper, black seabass, and assorted billfish were also caught.  Midrange anglers continue to struggle, with only a few striped bass and red drum being caught.  Nearshore anglers are still catching some nice Spanish mackerel and bluefish when the blitz hits, but with much less frequency than last week’s high volume catches.  Croaker, kingfish, and red drum catches continue to improve.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Anglers caught a mixed bag of species in low-moderate amounts. Red drum catches throughout the area were greatly improved, but most were too small to be legal.  Spotted seatrout catches were good under the Washington Baum Bridge in the early morning hours.
Piers/Shore: Anglers caught some very large croakers this week, a few of them weighing in at 3lbs or greater.  Spadefish, blue runners, pinfish, spot, pigfish, kingfish, and assorted skates and rays were caught in moderate amounts.
General Overview: Unfavorable weather conditions have limited fishing efforts somewhat, but conditions are predicted to improve mid-week.  Water temps in the surf throughout the Outer Banks are in the mid-upper 70s.

From Portsmouth to Surf City:

Ocean:  Weather kept most anglers on shore. Bluefish and Spanish mackerel continue to rule the ocean from around Cape Lookout down the beaches to Topsail. There is no offshore report this week.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: The Turning Basin at the Port was active, with anglers catching nice croakers and pigfish. We had a 10-pound flounder hooked. He came from somewhere in the Beaufort-Morehead City area. The inlets continue to have large Spanish and bluefish. Speckled trout continue to be thick in the Neuse River. Anglers are getting their limit in a couple of hours and the fish weigh from 1.5 to a little over two pounds.
Piers/Shore:  Pier fishing was really hot early Sunday morning. A school of red drum passed by and there was a flurry of activity. Bluefish and Spanish were also hooked – many weighing up to two pounds. Nice sized pompano, black drum   and croakers were seen in coolers. The bluefish blitz continued all morning. Beach bank fishing from Fort Macon, Emerald Isle and Topsail Beach was better than usual. Anglers were catching bluefish and Spanish, speckled trout and ladyfish.

From Topsail to Sunset Beach:
Ocean: Offshore, no reports from last week due to high winds. There were some wahoo, dolphin, and sailfish caught before the blow. Nearshore, the fall king mackerel bite is starting to kick off. There were some very nice fish caught last week along the Brunswick County beaches. Yaupon reef and Lockwood Folly Inlet produced some nice catches over the weekend with fish up to 40 pounds reported. Spanish mackerel fishing was also good last week as well in the same general areas where the kings were caught. There were a good many large red drum caught by king mackerel fisherman at Yaupon reef as well.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Fishing seemed to really slow this week. The flounder fishing has really slowed in the Cape Fear River over the last couple of weeks, and the trout fishing, which has been good, slowed last week. Windy conditions all week made fishing difficult. I did hear of some really good red drum catches in the ICW down toward Ocean Isle. Some very nice catches of sheepshead were caught last week at Snow’s cut.
Piers/Shore: Fishing has been getting better every day. Area piers report very nice catches of pompano, black drum, and tons of bluefish. There are also some Spanish mackerel being caught in good numbers when conditions are right. There were some good king mackerel catches last week on most area piers, with the pier on Oak Island doing well on them. The spots should start showing in the coming weeks. No reports from the surf last week due to the high surf, but catches should mirror the pier catches.

We posted a lot about herring in our blog here; we need the herring to be abundant as a food source for a lot of other fish like striped bass, bluefin tuna, and all the other larger fish that swim in the Atlantic waters. Make your opinion known in your area.

Atlantic coastal states have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for River Herring. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will also be conducting a hearing though the details have not been finalized. Once available the hearing details will be posted to the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/meetings.htm.

The dates, times, and locations of the scheduled meetings follow:

Maine Department of Marine Resources
December 2, 2008, 6 PM
Wiscasset High School
272 Gardinner Road
Wiscasset, Maine
Contact: Terry Stockwell at (207) 624-6533

December 8, 2008, 6PM
Ellsworth High School
299 State Street
Ellsworth, Maine
Contact: Terry Stockwell at (207) 624-6533

December 11, 2008, 6PM
University of Maine Machias Science Center
9 O’Brien Avenue
Machias, Maine
Contact: Terry Stockwell at (207) 624-6533

New Hampshire Fish and Game
November 5, 2008, 7PM
Urban Foresty Center
45 Elwyn Center
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Contact: Doug Grout at (603) 868-1095

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
December 1, 2008, 6PM
Plymouth Radisson
180 Water Street
Plymouth, Massachusetts
Contact: Melanie Griffin at (617) 626-1528
 
December 2, 2008, 6PM
Annisquam River Marine Fisheries Station
30 Emerson Avenue
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Contact: Melanie Griffin at (617) 626-1528

Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife
November 6, 2008, 6PM
URI Narragansett Bay Campus
Corless Auditorium
215 South Ferry Road
Narragansett, Rhode Island
Contact: Phillip Edwards at (410) 789-0281

Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection
November 6, 2008, 7PM
Marine Headquarters
333 Ferry Road
Old Lyme, Connecticut
Contact: David Simpson at (860) 434-6043

New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation
December 8, 2008, 7PM
Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve
256 Norris Point Way
Staatsburg, New York
Contact: Andy Kahnle at (845) 256-3072

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife
November 6, 2008, 7PM
Galloway Township Public Library
Galloway, New Jersey
Contact: Tom McCloy at (609) 292-7794

Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources
October 27, 2008, 6PM
Matapeake Natural Resources Police Training Academy
Conference Room
Stevensville, Maryland
Contact: Bob Sadzinski at (410) 643-6776 x 2121

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries
November 18, 2008, 6:30PM
College of Albemarle
1208 North Road Street
Room FC121B/C
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Contact: Sara Winslow (252) 2643911

South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources
October 14, 2008, 6PM
Santee-Cooper Auditorium
1 Riverwood Drive
Monks Corner, South Carolina
Contact: Bill Post at (843) 953-9821

Draft Amendment 2 seeks input on proposed requirements for river herring population and bycatch monitoring, as well as commercial and recreational management measures. It is anticipated that the majority of coastal states will be conducting public meetings on the Draft Amendment; information on those meetings will be released once they become finalized.

The Draft Amendment has been developed in response to widespread concern regarding the decline of river herring stocks. While many populations of blueback herring and alewife, collectively known as river herring, are in decline or remain depressed at stable levels, lack of fishery-dependent and independent data makes it difficult to ascertain the status of river herring stocks coastwide. Between 1985 and 2004, commercial landings of river herring dropped by 90 percent from 13.6 to 1.33 million pounds. In 2007, Commission member states reported river herring landings of approximately 1.1 million pounds. In response to declining stocks within their own waters, four states—Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and North Carolina—have closed their river herring fisheries. River herring stocks are a multi-jurisdictional resource occurring in rivers and coastal waters. River herring bycatch continues to be a significant concern. Preliminary analyses indicate that, in some years, the total bycatch of river herring species by the Atlantic herring fleet alone could be equal to the total landings from the entire in-river directed fishery on the East Coast.

The Draft Amendment proposes a suite of management measures to address these concerns and ensure the survival and enhancement of depressed stocks or the maintenance of presently stable stocks. The Draft Amendment proposes mandatory data and bycatch monitoring provisions, as well as options to close fisheries by river system or establish a coastwide moratorium on the river herring fishery.  Specific commercial measures include area closures, escapement provisions, and landings reductions by river systems, as well as limited access. Recreational measures include recreational license/permit, limiting recreational harvest by the days of the week, coastwide creel limit, gear restrictions, and area or seasonal closures by river system.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Amendment 2, either through attending public hearings or providing written comments.  Copies can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News.  Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM on January 1, 2009 and should be forwarded to Kate Taylor, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for Management, 1444 ‘Eye’ Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: River Herring).  For more information, please contact Kate Taylor at (202) 289-6400.