Fishing

Temperatures in the 60s have been heating up the inshore waters of Brunswick County, and though the water is still relatively cold, the action on redfish is hot.

“We’re poling to get to them in the tidal pools of the shallow creeks,” said Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow Minded Charters. “They’ve been a little bigger lately. We usually see lots of fish in the 16- to 20-inch class this time of year, but lately we have been catching lots of fish in the 22-to 26-inch class with an occasional 30-incher mixed in.”

Brant McMullan achieved some life goals when he attended and spoke Feb. 24 at the United We Fish rally at the U.S. Capitol to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Conservation and Management Act. But another goal—passage of a bill to amend the act—is still in doubt.

“I thought it went really good,” McMullan said about the rally. “If I were to guess, 40 percent were from the New York-Massachusetts area, 40 percent from the Carolinas and the remainder from Florida, up and down the East Coast. A couple of people came from Alaska.”

The weather has been harsh on area fishermen, but that hasn’t stopped some anglers from getting out and catching a few winter redfish anyway.

Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow Minded Charters reports redfish have been biting well in the shallows despite bad conditions.

“I fished (last week) and it was absolutely brutal, cold and windy,” Dickson said. “We only were out there about an hour but caught four small redfish 16-18 inches.”

The Ocean Isle Fishing Center is joining with the Recreational Fishing Alliance and Southern Kingfishing Association in support of The Flexibility in Fishing Act, a bill that has been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate.

Congressman Mike McIntyre is one of the co-sponsors of the bill, which is attempting to require more flexibility from the federal fishery managers, the NOAA, in managing stressed fish resources. This action and bill occurs as a result of total closures of several important fisheries and establishment of more and more “no fish” zones.