03.04.26 South Carolina moves to help the redfish....

     I've never ran a fish and take charter business. You know the ones, especially in areas where it's a big tourist destination. I'm not talking about head boats or a fly fishing charter. I'm talking about, but not picking on, those destination operations that cater to the thousands of summer, mostly, visitors that may want to jump on a half or full day charter. Dad, or Mom, or maybe the Grandparents, will make the arrangements and bring the family or just the kids out to catch some fish. For most guides, in most places, it's easy to get someone on the boat a bite, especially if you're soaking bait, mores if it still has a pulse. 

     And of course the Captain will hoot and holler when a sport on board hooks up with a, well anything, to make the experience complete and justify the cost by the paying customers. Jack or Jill, say they're the kids on board, just reeled in their gut hooked redfish and after a picture, or these days a video, the question is what to do with it? Of course a fish with an arterial bleed should be kept if it's legal but the question is what about all those other fish on so many charter trips? I'm not going to go MRIP on you but it's a question worth raising. And remember most tourists don't have a full kitchen and the required things to make a good meal out of a catch. 

     People love to eat fish. People love to catch fish. Some people love to catch and then eat the fish they catch. In a perfect world that would be great. It would even be great for an angler to take that long walk up Dunnfield Creek in Worthington State Forest and harvest a wild brook 

trout or two. Wait what? Taking a wild trout to eat? Yes, it can happen, and yes it can be good, it kind of thins the heard if you will. And that is especially true if the big fat slob of the tiny pool is harvested, it gives the others a chance to eat and grow. But the problem is in today's world, with so many anglers and so much intel, things would be cleaned out in no time if we didn't have strict regulations, with some smarts and ethics on the anglers side thrown in. 

     So back to guides and fishing and tourists, well let's say there's a mix of locals and tourists that go fishing. So yes, as stated, people like to fish and catch and eat fish, but do they all really? How much waste have we seen in the for-hire, well all, fishing industry both on the recreational and for-hire sectors? Remember those burlap bags filled of rigor-mortised gator bluefish you'd see coming off the head boats? Or how about the dumpsters at the marinas of giant striped bass racks still full of meat and cheeks that goes wasted with a lot of it spending their last days before the landfill welded to the bottom of the freezer?

     I touched on South Carolina and redfish in a post last week. Recently Senate Bill S.961 was released and will soon make it's way in front of the South Carolina Legislature for a vote to make changes in redfish regulations following the SCDNR and ASMFC stock assessments

which found that redfish were overfished and overfishing was occurring. That bill addresses three things, the slot limit, the bag limits, and the gear that would be required when bait fishing for redfish. It sounds like what we went through here up north with the striped bass. 

     Currently the regulations are two fish per day at 15- 23 inches, that would change to one fish per day, or two per boat, with a revised slot at 18-25 inches. Revising a slot is smart as it protects certain year classes of fish as they move into and out of the slot. We thought the ASMFC would do that with striped bass but they punted, after tons of push back from mostly the for-hire sector. In addition the new law would make using offset circle hooks a requirement when using bait, which is a go to for many anglers during fishing outings, either just going fishing or paying someone to take you out. Live shrimp and swimming baits are fish killers, no matter where you are fishing or what you are fishing for. 

     Taking these steps will reduce harvesting and protect spawning sized fish. Even though there's a slot, like with striped bass, the mortality, or F, that occurs when big fish are caught would hopefully be reduced with the implementation of the circle hook use requirement. While most redfish are small, there's the run of bull reds that occurs, that are targeted for catch and release fishing in and around South Carolina. But, like with striped bass, if you take all the babies, and have increased F with catch and release fishing, the SSB will reflect a species that is overfished with overfishing occurring. 

     These changes proposed in SC Bill S.961 seem to make perfect sense. It takes the weight off of the Captain by only allowing that "one for the table" and having to use gear, in 4/0 off-set circle hooks, to allow for catch and release fishing. This is all a far cry from the 1996 regulations regarding red drum in South Carolina waters, back then it was, 

     As you can see the slot was 14- 27 inches with a catch limit of five fish per angler per day. That means a charter with four people, plus the Captain and mate, could come back to the dock with 30- 25 inch redfish. I'm not sure how the regulations would affect gigging for redfish, which is basically spearing them, which is currently legal in South Carolina with seasonal closures. 

     I searched "redfish gigging" and found an article on the Flylords website written by Dan Zazworsky, HERE. It told about a Florida guide who landed the above fish with a gig stuck in its head. While gigging is legal in Florida for flounder, it isn't for redfish. They gig for species at night using bright lights, and I guess it's more a form of hunting than fishing. 

     In the end they were able to catch and release the redfish after doing some skiff-side surgery. To the red drum it must have felt like taking off a weighted vest before swimming off freely. 

     I can't speak to much on anything that has to do with fishing and South Carolina but I am encouraged that the state is taking measures to protect the fish, and the fishing businesses that rely on that gamefish. While I have to come to love fly fishing for striped bass in waters that move from say left to right sight fishing for them will remain my favorite. But I can tell you after seeing tailing redfish amongst the grass I might be ready to move onto a fish that is better respected and managed than we see with the striped bass. Fly fishing for striped bass these days, for me, has lost it's magic, primarily due to the overall poor numbers and all the pictures of fish that surely won't make it when tossed back into the water. Time will tell if redfish replace striped bass as my favorite fish.