01/22/18 Fishing Report
Yes, yes, yes... I know, it's been a while since the last fishing report but it's been for good and bad reasons. If you live ANYWHERE along the gulf states or the entire Atlantic Coast you could probably take a really good guess as to why.... IT'S FREEZING!
Temps have warmed up lately but for a good stretch there it was just unbelievably cold! We got snow.. TWICE. For the first round of cold weather, the Crystal Coast got a few inches of snow so of course all the bread and milk was gone from the stores and there were snowmen posted up waving in everyones front yard. A few of the guys from Pogies got together and decided it would be a good idea to do some kayak sledding so it got a little intense when a couple folks almost sent it straight off an 8' wall into the White Oak River. When that round of snow came though, it got cold and stayed cold for a long time. A lot of the creeks were completely frozen over and some of the Bogue Sound even began to freeze along the edges. Boats were iced in and there was nowhere to go. The main concern for this prolonged freeze was of course the fish kill. There were plenty of reports of large numbers of frozen or dead speckled trout in the creeks and even some redfish were scattered amongst them. The state of North Carolina issued a notice that the harvest of speckled trout was closed until June 15, 2018 to help insure the survival of enough trout so they could rebound and continue to thrive. You are able to still catch them, they just have to be released alive and well.
There was another round of snow that came just last week, but that was merely just a dusting, maybe an inch at the most for our area. West of us towards Raleigh got up to 8" from what was reported. This is where the "good news" part of the gap in posting comes in. The wife and I were enjoying some vacation time down in Costa Rica!!! We had a great time with some family taking a break from work and hitting the reset button. Zip-lining, ATV tours, surfing and plenty of beach days with endless Rum Runners and Pina Colada's are good for the soul. We flew back in the day after the second round of snow and things are back in full swing.
Some more good news is that a lot of the redfish escaped the freeze and made their way out to deeper water. Numerous large schools have been found in the surf and it looks like a lot more are making their way back into the marsh to warm on the mud flats of the area. It looks like I have plenty of scouting days coming up to make up for time away. Charters are coming in for some great winter time action so it's time for me to go, jump on the skiff and get to work!
