I'll do catch and release inshore for 3 years as long as commercial shrimp trawling inshore and near shore stops. I've seen it firsthand fishing for cobia the amount of dead fish floating on top of the water is astonishing. And I've seen trawls in Adams creek south river and right in front of oriental doing the same thing it is not sustainable. The fines in North Carolina are laughable when caught illegal gill netting. I only keep enough fish(when I'm catching them) to eat and give away to neighbors. Never freeze any fish except mahi, grouper, and snapper. Why are we the last state to allow some of these commercial fishing practices? I understand the need for it but if every salt water recreational fisherman quit buying licenses and quit supporting local tackle shops, never put gas in the boat, the detriment to the economy would be way worse than if commercial fishing was eradicated. I think the commercial fishing industry is an important to the integrity of the economy and keeping people employed. I don't hate commercial fisherman only politicians that make the rules and legislation.
We have natural resources on land and water. Seems all the natural resources on land are never for sale: deer, turkey, quail, bear, etc. Our commercial land ventures typically involving farming: buying/leasing land, tilling the land, planting the land, harvesting the land. No one can legally go onto that land owned by someone and take things without permission. NC does produce a good amount of farmed hogs and chickens, but these are not free range animals and I would strongly discourage anyone from trying to take one of these animals from the owner of said. When it comes to water, it's more of a free for all. While there are some oyster leases and waterfowl leases, if you have a boat, there is really no place you can't legally go and catch, well, whatever. There is no tilling, no planting, you just show up, throw you line or drag/place your net and, voila, the fish somehow are there. The water has resources just like the land, but we really put zero effort in keeping the water system healthy. I have seen dramatic changes in fishing in my lifetime: offshore tuna is practically gone. Flounder, which use to be plentiful are in trouble. Spanish mackerel catches are substantially reduce. Red snapper season is for all practical purposes closed (unless you want to go out into gale force seas.) The menhaden factories have closed because they can no longer be fished commercially. We are terrible stewards of our waters. We are all to blame, both recreational and commercial. But just like there is no commercial venues for white tail deer (other than paying to hunt for one or two animals) should there be something similar for our waters? Given our history, commercial fishing is a means to an end, and let's remember the natural resources are there for everyone, not for a few. I agree with rotch, I see a whole lot of recreational boats, motors, coolers, rods/reels, food, snacks and the need to maintain all these things. I see a few commercial guys. So maybe we increase our fishing licenses to cover the decrease in commercial licenses. Maybe increase our fees to help support better DNR equipment so they can do their jobs easier and faster. Clearly the way we are going is not viable for fishing, at least not from a historical perspective.
@billhitchcock5117 it was poorly done, I'll admit. It's just an attempt to see if we can get some sort of consensus for the purposes of submitting public comments.
im not saying anything bad about any of this.I dont know about any of it. The only funny thing i see is. Just like the flounder, both the people who makes the rules said the same thing that Recreational fisherman cought more fish then the commercial. I dont know how they know it, looks like follow the leader. say the same thing
I think the reason why the drum haven’t gone away since all these rules is because they aren’t heavily targeted by commercial guys, despite their practices being way more indiscriminate. Granted a commercial guy will take anything he can sell, but I would tend to think the recreational guy likes the drum way more, a rare thing the NC DMF gets right. What’s more suspicious to me is the absolute silence of the decline of grey trout and croaker. Pamlico used to be a hot spot for grey trout and it used to spit out 10lb croakers consistently. Now the side that’s pro inshore netting has nothing to say about those? I guess as long as new guys get into fishing, it will easily get swept under the rug.
Nice! I was complaining that I couldn't find any documentaries about local fish and here one is. Good stuff.
A must watch for all anglers targeting Red Drum.
Very enjoyable. Loved the way it was documented. Thanks
Thanks, Bill. Good to see that you are doing well!
Great job bill thanks so much for all you do
just got back from Cape Hatteras. Red Drum are very neato.
I'll do catch and release inshore for 3 years as long as commercial shrimp trawling inshore and near shore stops. I've seen it firsthand fishing for cobia the amount of dead fish floating on top of the water is astonishing. And I've seen trawls in Adams creek south river and right in front of oriental doing the same thing it is not sustainable. The fines in North Carolina are laughable when caught illegal gill netting. I only keep enough fish(when I'm catching them) to eat and give away to neighbors. Never freeze any fish except mahi, grouper, and snapper. Why are we the last state to allow some of these commercial fishing practices? I understand the need for it but if every salt water recreational fisherman quit buying licenses and quit supporting local tackle shops, never put gas in the boat, the detriment to the economy would be way worse than if commercial fishing was eradicated. I think the commercial fishing industry is an important to the integrity of the economy and keeping people employed. I don't hate commercial fisherman only politicians that make the rules and legislation.
We have natural resources on land and water. Seems all the natural resources on land are never for sale: deer, turkey, quail, bear, etc. Our commercial land ventures typically involving farming: buying/leasing land, tilling the land, planting the land, harvesting the land. No one can legally go onto that land owned by someone and take things without permission. NC does produce a good amount of farmed hogs and chickens, but these are not free range animals and I would strongly discourage anyone from trying to take one of these animals from the owner of said.
When it comes to water, it's more of a free for all. While there are some oyster leases and waterfowl leases, if you have a boat, there is really no place you can't legally go and catch, well, whatever. There is no tilling, no planting, you just show up, throw you line or drag/place your net and, voila, the fish somehow are there. The water has resources just like the land, but we really put zero effort in keeping the water system healthy. I have seen dramatic changes in fishing in my lifetime: offshore tuna is practically gone. Flounder, which use to be plentiful are in trouble. Spanish mackerel catches are substantially reduce. Red snapper season is for all practical purposes closed (unless you want to go out into gale force seas.) The menhaden factories have closed because they can no longer be fished commercially. We are terrible stewards of our waters. We are all to blame, both recreational and commercial.
But just like there is no commercial venues for white tail deer (other than paying to hunt for one or two animals) should there be something similar for our waters? Given our history, commercial fishing is a means to an end, and let's remember the natural resources are there for everyone, not for a few. I agree with rotch, I see a whole lot of recreational boats, motors, coolers, rods/reels, food, snacks and the need to maintain all these things. I see a few commercial guys. So maybe we increase our fishing licenses to cover the decrease in commercial licenses. Maybe increase our fees to help support better DNR equipment so they can do their jobs easier and faster.
Clearly the way we are going is not viable for fishing, at least not from a historical perspective.
Really great video Bill. I was surprised to see the number of anglers quoted to be 2 million
I can't wait to see what the new survey methodologies produce. th-cam.com/video/3L58Gm9Rh6M/w-d-xo.html
@billhitchcock5117 it was poorly done, I'll admit. It's just an attempt to see if we can get some sort of consensus for the purposes of submitting public comments.
I find that the Bull drums sound like a floor tom on a drumset. the small ones and croakers and speckled trout sound like the one in the video
Very enjoyable. Any further reseach and what are results?
im not saying anything bad about any of this.I dont know about any of it. The only funny thing i see is. Just like the flounder, both the people who makes the rules said the same thing that Recreational fisherman cought more fish then the commercial. I dont know how they know it, looks like follow the leader. say the same thing
I think the reason why the drum haven’t gone away since all these rules is because they aren’t heavily targeted by commercial guys, despite their practices being way more indiscriminate. Granted a commercial guy will take anything he can sell, but I would tend to think the recreational guy likes the drum way more, a rare thing the NC DMF gets right.
What’s more suspicious to me is the absolute silence of the decline of grey trout and croaker. Pamlico used to be a hot spot for grey trout and it used to spit out 10lb croakers consistently. Now the side that’s pro inshore netting has nothing to say about those? I guess as long as new guys get into fishing, it will easily get swept under the rug.
ayyyy
Her name is Nancy Fish?? Lol