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Trident Fishing Week 37

Photo of the Week

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Recipe of the Week

Shrimp Jambalaya

Ingredients:
2 lbs. shrimp peeled and de-veined
1 clove garlic finely chopped
2 cups raw rice
1/4 cup parsley finely chopped
3 cups water
1/2 cup onion tops finely chopped
3 tbs. oil
1- 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1/2 bell pepper
1- 6 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tbs. flour
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups onions finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup celery finely chopped

Directions:
Heat oil and flour, cooking slowly and stirring constantly until golden brown. Add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic. Cook slowly until transparent, stirring often, add stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce and let cook until oil rises to the top. Stir in raw rice, raw shrimp and 3 cups water. Cook covered over very low heat until rice is tender about 20 or 30 minutes. Add more oil or water if mixture appears to be too dry. At the very end when cooked stir in parsley and onion tops. Makes 4 to 5 servings

More Recipes HERE

7.23.2009 Volume X Issue #23

This Week's Article

Putting Their Foot Down
     Most of the time it is the unfavorable actions of just a small group that bring about punishment for everyone; in this case it is the unfavorable actions of a vary large group that has effected everyone.
     In the past Cummings Point on Morris Island has been a popular gathering spot for weekend boaters. Offering a large sandy beach even during high tide and easy access from Charleston Harbor this barrier island has been a good spot to take the family for a game of horse shoes on the beach and some burgers on the portable grill. During the spring and fall it has also been a poplar spot to build a small camp fire and pitch a tent for a long weekend
     Over the past 4 to 5-years the summertime crowds at Cummings Point have started to grow significantly, especially during the popular summer holiday weekends. Combine the ever increased numbers of boat owners with the recent closing of several other barrier island beaches and gatherings on the still open beaches have exploded.
Click here to read this article

This Week's News

Angler breaks previous white grunt state record
     After the first ever state record white grunt was added to the South Carolina saltwater marine game record list, that record has now been broken a second time by a veteran Summerville angler.
     Paul C. Godbout caught a 5-pound, 10-ounce white grunt July 16 about 40 miles off the coast of Charleston near the South West Banks. The new record beats the previous state record, set by Jason Edgerton of Mt. Pleasant, on March 10, 2008, by 10 ounces.
     Godbout, 43, headed off shore from Charleston with friends, Trent Lee and Mike Obstfeld, for a fun-filled day of bottom fishing aboard Obstfeld's 24-foot Grady White, the "O–Baby." The three man crew had great success, catching their limit of grouper in just over an hour, including red grouper, scamp, vermillion snapper, red porgy, triggerfish, and the new state record white grunt. Godbout was sure that the white grunt trumped the previous record as soon as it broke the surface. The fish was hooked and landed in about two minutes, using a 5-foot 8-inch Shimano Trevala fishing rod paired with a Shimano Stradic 8000 reel with a live menhaden on a Carolina circle hook 9-ounce weighted rig. Godbout took the big catch to The Charleston Angler's Summerville location to weight the fish on their certified scale. Weigh-master Mike Holtsclaw weighed the fish, and Godbout's wife, Marla, served as the witness. Godbout then brought the fish to the Marine Resources Center, where Amy Dukes, DNR fisheries biologist and State Record Marine Game Fish Program coordinator Amy Dukes verified the new state record. Bryon White, Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction program (MARMAP) fisheries biologist, determined the white grunt was male, and took samples from the fish to determine the age and maturity of the fish.
     Contact Amy Dukes with the Office of Fisheries Management at (843) 953-9365 or email DukesA@dnr.sc.gov for more information on South Carolina’s State Record Marine Game fish.

Reedy River fish populations recover from spill, but problems still lurk
     South Carolina Department of Natural Resources biologists report that Reedy River fish populations have recovered from the devastating 1996 Colonial Pipeline oil spill. However, stream habitat degradation and pollution resulting from poorly planned urban development now pose the greatest threat to Reedy River fish populations.
     Colonial Pipeline Co. pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with a 1996 spill of almost one million gallons of diesel oil into the Reedy River near Fork Shoals. The spill killed all fishes in a 23-mile river segment downstream of the spill, all the way to Lake Greenwood.
     Today, little evidence of the oil spill remains. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) biologists report that population recovery was largely achieved by late 2000. More than 33 species of fish are now found in the affected river segment, and their numbers are similar to those observed in unaffected segments. Fish re-colonized the spill area from upstream and from the smaller feeder creeks that drain into the river.
     The Reedy River has a history of pollution, and has displayed a strong natural resiliency to events like the oil spill. Prior to the 1970s, municipal and industrial wastes were routinely dumped into the Reedy. Local residents may recall stories of the river running a different color each day of the week—depending on which color dyes the textile finishing plants used.
     Today, we have laws that ban these types of dumping practices. Biologists recognize that Reedy River fishes have survived a legacy of pollution, including the 1996 oil spill. The Reedy River is resilient, but one might ask…is there a tipping point?
    DNR biologists are answering that very question by studying both the Reedy River and the river's smaller feeder creeks, or tributaries. This type of watershed study gives insight into the health and strength of the Reedy River system as a whole. The small streams and river are inextricably linked as a single system, bound by their common water course.
     DNR's research indicates that Reedy River feeder creeks residing in more urban and suburban settings, such as those in and around Greenville, are in bad shape. Cathy Marion, DNR fisheries biologist, said: "We don't see certain fish species in these creeks near Greenville –when we know they should be there."
     "Major pollution events like the 1996 oil spill are obviously devastating to fish assemblages," said Kevin Kubach, DNR fisheries biologist, "but assemblages can recover from these short-term localized impacts, and we have research that proves this."
    "Poorly planned urban development and expansion can cause destructive in-stream habitat changes over time," Marion said. "This type of constant degradation of streams may prove to be much worse than an oil spill in the long run.
     "We are no longer dumping our concentrated wastes into the Reedy," she said, "but we are now degrading the system in less obvious ways. Land development associated with urban and sub-urban growth can really alter our streams and rivers, degrading both habitat and water quality. The degradation occurs when natural forest cover is extensively replaced by pavement, rooftops, and other impervious surfaces."
     "When the stream and river environment becomes damaged, we lose fish species that can't take the degraded conditions," Kubach said. "The loss is irreversible. We lose out on biodiversity, which is otherwise remarkably high here in southeastern rivers."
     A recent study by Clemson University's Strom Thurmond Institute predicted that if our current land use practices and policies continue, the amount of developed land in the upstate will triple by the year 2030, and the population of eight upstate counties will increase by 30 percent. An increase in urbanization of this magnitude could prove disastrous to Reedy River fish populations.
     However, it is possible to lessen the potential impact of this type of population growth. The answers, in part, lie in smart and efficient land development. Currently, much of the land in and around Greenville is developed inefficiently, where quantity is more important than quality, and more land is cleared than actually needed. Strom Thurmond Institute researchers report that quality land development could save nearly 755,000 acres—nearly 50 percent—by 2030.
     "It is possible to accommodate both population growth and business development without consuming so much land that we are literally destroying the natural world around us," Marion said. "In addition, smart growth would save money on both city services and infrastructure."
     The Reedy has shown that it is resilient, by surviving the 1996 oil spill, and many previous impacts. The question now is will the Reedy survive through unprecedented urban and sub-urban growth? Or will it cross the tipping point?

Tide Chart

23 Thursday
03:34AM LDT -0.6 L	09:39AM LDT 5.6 H	03:42PM LDT -0.9 L	10:03PM LDT 6.7 H
24 Friday
04:23AM LDT -0.6 L	10:35AM LDT 5.8 H	04:37PM LDT -0.7 L	10:53PM LDT 6.4 H
25 Saturday
05:12AM LDT -0.6 L	11:30AM LDT 5.8 H	05:32PM LDT -0.4 L	11:42PM LDT 6.0 H
26 Sunday
06:01AM LDT -0.5 L	12:25PM LDT 5.8 H	06:28PM LDT 0.0 L

For more Tidal / Lunar info, Click here

The Final Word

Weather has been quite suitable for fishing this week. Looks like we have some wind in the forecast for today and tonight, but it should lay down before the weekend. I spent the weekend at an out of town wedding and therefore missed the opportunity to fish. The early morning and late afternoon trout bite remains good on top water. There is also plenty of bait in the creeks currently, both finger mullet and bait shrimp abound, so cork fishing with live bait for the trout and reds is quite poplar currently. We have had some good tailing tides this week as well with tides running close to the 7-foot mark. Weedless spoons, and peeler crabs rigged weedless will usually draw a strike from a nice red. With water temperatures in the mid-eighties it is Tarpon time.
Offshore action remains good. The Dolphin bite remains stable with fish moving on in as close as 90 to 120-feet. There are also some nice Wahoo being caught currently and the July sailfish bite has definitely turned on. Get out and get on em’.

Tight lines…
Captain Tim Pickett
CharlestonFishing.Com
SouthCarolinaOnTheLakes.Com

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