Atlantic Coast surf and shore fishing

I love having the option of targeting (keeper) stripers in North Carolina’s sounds during the fall and winter months.  The striper season proclamation is most definitely an annual rite of fall and gets me jazzed about the possibility of finding that full moon bite, when the violent shudder of a fiesty mid-20 inch schoolie hitting your topwater plug on every cast into the shadowline makes you forget all about your frostbitten fingers.

In NC (as well as VA and MD), our regs. recognize two main populations of stripers – the resident soundside fish (the subject of this proclamation, which are further subdivided by management area or river system), and the jumbo migrating ocean fish.  Popular wisdom has it that the stripers from our river systems join up with the ocean migrators once they reach a certain age/size.  Seems reasonable, since we rarely see the bigger stripers in the sounds/rivers except for a brief time during the spring spawn.  The fish I usually get in “the back” range from about 18-26″ and 2-8 pounds – pretty much a total blast plugging topwater with the trout rod.  Well, more on this topic as we move deeper into fall, I hope.

A short but sweet wintertime creel

Soundside combo for dinner tonight!

FF-49-2009

PROCLAMATION

RE: STRIPED BASS RECREATIONAL SEASON – ALBEMARLE SOUND MANAGEMENT AREA

Dr. Louis B. Daniel III, Director, Division of Marine Fisheries, hereby announces that effective at 12:01 A.M., Thursday, October 1, 2009 the season for striped bass taken for recreational purposes in the Albemarle Sound Management Area shall open with the following restrictions:

I. AREA DESCRIPTION

The Albemarle Sound Management Area as defined in Marine Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3R .0201 (a).

II. SEASON, MEANS AND METHODS

A. Striped bass may be taken for recreational purposes seven days a week during the open season.

B. Recreational Commercial Gear License (RCGL) gill net(s) with a mesh length of 5 ½ inches and larger are required to be equipped with floats that do not exceed 2 inches in diameter and 6 inches in length, with float placement no less than 10 yards apart. The net(s) shall be set so as to fish on the bottom not to exceed a vertical fishing height of 48 inches. The net(s) shall be attended when used from one hour after sunrise through one hour before sunset.

C. The recreational season for striped bass in the Albemarle Sound Management Area shall close at 6:00 P.M., Thursday, December 31, 2009, unless closed earlier by a proclamation.

III. SIZE AND CREEL LIMITS

A. No person shall take or possess striped bass less than 18 inches total length taken for recreational purposes from the Albemarle Sound Management Area.

B. No person, including RCGL holders, shall take or possess more than three (3) striped bass taken in any one day for recreational purposes from the Albemarle Sound Management Area.

IV. GENERAL INFORMATION

A. This proclamation is issued under the authority of N.C.G.S. 113-170.4; 113-170.5; 113-182; 113-221.1; 143B-289.52; and N.C. Marine Fisheries Rules 15A NCAC 3H .0103, 3M .0201 and 3M .0202.

B. It is unlawful to violate the provisions of any proclamation issued by the Fisheries Director under his delegated authority pursuant to N.C. Marine Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3H .0103.

C. The intent of this proclamation is to allow the recreational harvest of striped bass in the Albemarle Sound Management Area within the striped bass harvest allocation established by the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission in cooperation with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

D. Recreational seasons for striped bass in the Roanoke, Eastmost, Middle and Cashie rivers are under the management jurisdiction of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and are exempt from this proclamation.

E. Hook-and-line fishing equipment is not commercial fishing equipment in the striped bass fishery and it is illegal to sell or purchase striped bass taken by hook-and-line in accordance with N.C. Marine Fisheries Rule 15A NCAC 3M .0201(b).

F. Commercial fishing equipment authorized by the RCGL is not considered commercial fishing equipment in the striped bass fishery and it is illegal to sell or purchase striped bass taken by this method in accordance with N.C.G. S. 113-173.

G. All striped bass that do not meet the 18 inch size limit shall be immediately returned with minimum harm to the water where taken.

H. This proclamation supersedes FF-82-2008, dated December 16, 2008.