In between work and downsizing and packing I spend a lot of time looking at real estate listings down in Sun City Hilton Head where we hope to relocate in the next six months. We're motivated, and working hard, the question is will we get the house ready and sold in time for it to happen this year. We're gunning for it and hopefully we'll get it done.
I also look at the Hilton Head Island Packet, the area's daily newspaper, from time to time. Recently I saw an article about schools of redfish wintering in the estuaries around Bluffton, the town we hope to relocate to. Drone operator Jason All captured hundreds of large redfish in and around the May River marshes a few weeks back. These fish come into the shallows where the warmest water can be found during the winter. It's kind of like when striped bass come up onto the mud flats in the bays during the spring here in New Jersey.
When I was down there in January I looked for those low tide fish but didn't find them. While low tides are key in the winter it's the high flood or King Tides you look for in warmer months. I can say I've been on the flats during high tides and the fish do come way up into the skinny water rooting around for fiddler crabs and baitfish. But those low tides are tough as getting to the water on foot can be difficult and dangerous. Surely that's where a skinny water boat is surely needed.
I'm lucky in the short amount of time that I've have fished Hilton Head to have done it from a skiff and on foot. You know me, and how I'd rather be in waders or wading boots then perched on the bow of a skiff, but skinny water fishing and boats, of several varieties, have their weight in gold. On thing I discovered while down in the Lowcountry was their pluff mud. I would describe pluff mud as a combination of silt, clay, and organic and microscopic debris. It's a huge part of the tidal estuary ecosystem and supports crabs, shrimp, and baitfish, which in turn, attract predator fish like redfish, sheepshead, triple tail, and sharks.
During my first trip down in 2023 I thought I could be cool and get away with using a pair of Walmart water shoes. Those lasted a few outings and served me well avoiding the razor sharp oyster shells that lined the waterways. On our next trip down I invested in a pair of Orvis flats boots which was definitely a step up. And it was also where I learned the importance of knowing when, where, and how to step around pluff mud.
I was attempting to cross from one oyster mound to another far away from the resort we were staying in. I stepped with both feet into some "mud" that looked like it could be a transition from shell mound to shell mound. Within a second I was up over both knees in what I could only describe as the closest thing to quicksand I've ever been stuck in. Needless to say there was a brief moment of panic before I was able to unclick my stripping basket and use it to help pull one foot out of the suction trap that was pluff mud. I could only think of rescuers finding my headless body after the gators made an easy meal out of a hot dog stuck in the mud which was me. And that's why fishing from an anything is better in the Lowcountry. Some kind of watercraft will either give you a solid platform or the ability to pull up to a flat that you can walk around.
I've also learned that if I thought that moving south would take me away from fisheries management drama, like with the striped bass up north, and the ASMFC, then I was surely mistaken. Redfish, or correctly, red drum, have their own fight going on especially down in southern waters, and the ASMFC is in the thick of it.
The ASMFC looks at two different stocks when it comes to red drum, the northern, New Jersey to North Carolina, and the southern, South Carolina to Florida. While the northern stock looks good, the southern stock is currently overfished and overfishing is occurring. I just can't escape this shit. What makes matters worse, to me, it seems like the ASMFC depends on the flawed
NOAA MRIP data when determining the health of the red drum stock. While I think I have a decent grasp on striped bass admittedly I don't know all the ins and outs of things regarding southern redfish. I kinda feel like Al Pacino in Godfather 3...
In the Hilton Head Island Packet article they talked about changes that may be coming with red drum in South Carolina. Currently the bag limits for red drum are two fish per day per angler in a slot of 15 -23 inches with a maximum of six per boat. It seems they are running into the same problem we are seeing with striped bass, hammering down on slot sized fish and then wondering where the SSB, or Spawning Stock Biomass, fish are. Well if you take all the babies out you won't see the adults, ever.
South Carolina banned commercial fishing for red drum in 1987. Remember New Jersey stopped their commercial fishery in 1990, and started the New Jersey Striped Bass Program (SBBP), when commercial fishing was stopped and it was designated a game fish. Like striped bass in New Jersey, it is illegal to sell, or have redfish on the menu, in South Carolina. So in January the SCDNR brought the need to reduce harvest of red drum to the SC legislature. They based the 24% reduction need based on three things,
and in order to increase the red drum SSB changes need to occur, which could include reduced bag limits, or even changes like No Target and No Harvest, and us Yankees know how those options went with the striped bass. I'm sure the same bullshit that occurs with the ASMFC and the politicians and the recreational vs commercial, in terms of charter operations, with striped bass, happens down south in regards to redfish.
They point out that catch and release mortality, or F, is a major factor in the reduction of red drum. That coupled with changing environmental conditions, God that sounds like the Chesapeake, and over development in and around the estuaries, God that sounds like New Jersey. What people don't remember is that with development you have runoff, not only from rain and storms, but things like fertilizers and chemicals as well.
Red drum aren't anadromous like striped bass. In the late summer and fall they spawn in high salinity waters just outside of the larger sounds and bays where the eggs hatch and then the larva are carried into the low salinity estuaries where they mature. That's why small red
drum, or puppy drum, are abundant in the skinny waters and on the flats. That's right where the 15 - 23 inch slot is in effect, and fish are taken regularly by locals and tourists alike. And if they're not harvested there's always catch and release mortality. Maybe they need those circle hook regulations down there when using bait.
So just like they say, "The grass isn't always greener...", I guess fishing and drama go hand in hand no matter where you are, or where you hope to land one day. It's looks I might be going from one species that's in trouble to another. I just can't win, and it seems the fish never will.