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Summoning Assistance
From 2/15/01
The summer before last I was working in Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey collecting sediment samples when I heard "Pan-Pan…Pan-Pan…Pan-Pan" broadcast over the our research vessel’s VHF radio. I immediately stopped the winch and shut down the generator so I could hear the call clearly. The call continued "All stations this is commercial fishing vessel Sunrise, we are located 5 miles east of channel marker M-2 and require immediate assistance. One of our thru-hull fittings has popped loose and we are taking on water faster than our bilge pumps can handle. We have a crew of four on board and our current location is latitude 40 degrees 10.33 minutes north, and longitude 74 degrees 01.12 minutes west this is fishing vessel Sunrise, over." There was a brief period of silence and then I heard "This is United States Coast Guard Station Manasquan," and the Coast Guard continued by asking the captain of the Sunrise a few more questions before deploying a cutter with a pump to render assistance to the fisherman. Following the conversation with the Coast Guard several vessels responded to the fisherman’s call hailing the Sunrise on channel 16, identifying themselves, providing their position, bearing, speed, and estimated time of arrival on the scene and letting them know that once they arrived they would stay with the Sunrise until the Coast Guard arrived.
Read the article HERE

South Carolina Waters Open To Commercial Shrimpers May 23
     The S.C. Department of Natural Resources will open state waters to commercial shrimp trawling 8 a.m. Wednesday, May 23. Special provisional areas were opened on May 8, accounting for the availability of fresh local shrimp earlier.
     The decision to open the season comes after biologists with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) sample state waters and determine that an adequate number of roe shrimp have spawned.
According to Mel Bell, DNR's Director of Office of Fisheries Management, "Sampling this spring by our Marine Resources Division has noted fair to good quantities of spawners, aided by a mild winter temperatures. It appeared with warming temperatures in late March that we would see spawning early this year, but the cold spells and winds in April slowed the process greatly. With the large tides of last week, we finally saw evidence of significant shrimp spawning activity. Projected spring landings may be somewhat less than the totals in 2006, when trawlers harvested over 400,000 pounds of shrimp."
     Three seasons define the commercial shrimp calendar. The first, white roe shrimp season, opens 8 a.m. Wednesday, May 23. The white roe shrimp season generates the most value for fishing effort. The brown shrimp season typically occurs during the summer months, and the larger fall white shrimp season, composed of offspring from the spring roe crop, carries out the remainder of the three seasons in the late summer and ends in winter.

Atlantic and Gulf Coasts – Circle Hook Requirement for Tournaments Suspended Until 2008
NOAA Fisheries has suspended the mandatory circle hook requirements for participants in Atlantic billfish fishing tournaments through December 31, 2007. The circle hook requirements will be reinstated without change on January 1, 2008. These regulations will require anglers fishing from Highly Migratory Species permitted vessels to use only non-offset circle hooks when deploying natural baits or natural bait/artificial lure combinations while participating in Atlantic billfish tournaments. The temporary suspension is intended to increase post-release survival rates of Atlantic billfish in the long-term by providing an additional phase-in period during which Atlantic billfish tournament anglers can become more proficient with the use of circle hooks and more familiar with their ecological benefits.
For more information, read the final rule or contact Russell.Dunn@noaa.gov.

Tailing tides again this week! Inshore action has been good this week in the late evenings and early mornings for reds in the grass. Fish are hitting Berkely Crabs and weedless Johnson Spoons. Trout and flounder action has been good as well. The trout are hitting DOA shrimp, topwater baits, and mud minnows. Flounder are hitting grubs and mud minnows bumping them along the bottom during the outgoing tide. Sheepshead action remains good in and around Charleston Harbor as well as on the nearshore reefs. The menhaden are showing up in the inlets and the Spanish are following just off the beaches. A lot of Kings were caught last weekend during the James Island Yacht Club Tournament. Cobia are showing up fairly regularly at the reefs as well as in the Broad River.
Offshore action is turning on big time. A few reports of billfish at some big Wahoo, huge schools of Dolphin and scattered Yellowfin. Bottom fishing remains good for large black sea bass, snapper and grouper.

Tight lines…
Captain Tim Pickett
CharlestonFishing.Com