North Carolina Coastal Recreational Angler’s Guide

North Carolina Coastal Recreational

Angler's Guide

Greetings from the Tar Heel state

I am pleased to provide the introduction to this angler's guide, the first in a series of products the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries intends to develop to foster appreciation for our coastal ecosystems while showcasing the great fishing opportunities our state offers.

As a boy growing up in Southern Pines, I looked ever forward to the two weeks my family spent at Wrightsville Beach each summer. While my brothers played on the beach, I spent every waking hour on Johnny Mercer's pier fishing for Spanish mackerel and flounder. This passion for all things saltwater led to my career in marine science.

Saltwater fishing has always been a family tradition in North Carolina, and as the director of the Division of Marine Fisheries, I want to continue that tradition. Take a kid fishing and watch his eyes light up as he catches that first fish or hears that first reel drag sing. These opportunities abound in North Carolina and provide adults the chance to have fun and perhaps put a meal on the table. Equally important is to use these times to teach children the proper ethics of saltwater fishing.

The marine resources of North Carolina belong to all citizens of the state and it is our collective responsibility to protect and enhance them. Whether you finesse a grub over an oyster bar for a spotted seatrout in our coastal marshes or pull a horse ballyhoo along the Cape Shoals in search of bluefin tuna, North Carolina is a great place to live and a wonderful place to fish.

Have fun and be safe,

Dr. Louis Daniel

Table of Contents

Director's note Greetings from the Tar Heel state

Overview Nothing could be finer ........................... 1

Ethical angling The moral of it all............................... 2

Contact information Untangling regulatory lines .................. 5

Habitat protection Fish and CHPPs ............................... 9 Classic rock ........................................ 11

How to get involved Jump right in ..................................... 12

License information Go fish ................................................ 14 Going way out .................................... 16 Getting in gear................................... 17

Artificial Reef Program Sunken treasures................................. 18

Reef maps and coordinates .................. 20 Tournaments

Reel contests ....................................... 26 Mackerel identification

Muddling mackerel matters ................. 28 Mackerel diagram.................................. 29 Glossary

Learn the lingo .................................... 30 Fish parts and measurement terms..... 38 Fish profiles: Inshore/Nearshore ....... 39 Fish profiles: Offshore .......................... 86 Sharks.................................................... 118 Bait and bycatch

Taking the bait ................................ 122 Bycatch basics................................... 126 Credits A note of thanks ................................ 130

Nothing could be finer

From striped bass at Oregon Inlet to speckled trout at Sunset Beach, with red drum of Pamlico Sound in between, nothing could be finer than fishing coastal North Carolina in the morning or any other time.

More than 4,000 miles of coastal shoreline and 2.5 million acres of marine and estuarine waters make the Tar Heel state a saltwater angler's wish come true.

For fish, North Carolina is where north meets south, and that produces a diversity of catch like no other state.

It is the southern-most migratory range of many northern species of fish, like tautog and summer flounder; it is the northernmost range of many tropical species, like red snapper, gag grouper and tarpon.

No wonder North Carolina consistently ranks among the highest in the nation in number of angler trips, number of fish landed and in number of coastal anglers.

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The moral of it all

It is no secret man can hunt a species to extinction, and fishing is no exception. Throw habitat destruction and degraded water quality into the equation and you can soon end up with a fish population struggling to survive.

That's why we have size and bag limits, fishing seasons and other regulations. Rules are one way to ensure that enough fish survive and grow to maturity to keep the fish population healthy now and in the future.

Regulations by themselves, though, are not enough. It will take ethical anglers ? individuals who care about conservation and who do what is right even when they know they will not get caught ? to keep North Carolina a great place for saltwater fishing.

Here are a few ethical angling guidelines:

Learn and obey the rules: From time-to-time regulations change, so it is important to keep updated. The best place to find

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current size and bag limits is on the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Web site at .

Report violations: Just as you would report someone breaking into a car, call the N.C. Marine Patrol at 1-800-682-2632 to report violations of fisheries regulations. The fisheries resource of North Carolina belongs to everyone. Take ownership in it.

Know your fish: Become familiar with species commonly caught in North Carolina waters so that regulations can be properly applied.

Practice catch and release: Don't take up to your bag limit of fish just because it is legal to do so. If you've already got more fish than you know you will eat, let the others go when you catch them. Studies have shown that many released fish survive to be caught another day. This goes for bycatch ? what many people call trash fish ? too. Many non-targeted species serve as a food source for other fish.

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Do not high-grade: No matter how tempting, it's a waste of fish. High-grading is when you take a previously caught legal sized fish out of the cooler and discard it so that you can keep a bigger fish and still remain within the bag limit.

Know how to properly handle fish: Learn how to catch and release a fish in a way that gives the fish the best chance of survival.

Keep the fish out of water for as little time as possible and handle it as little as possible.

Prevent the fish from thrashing around and hurting itself by confidently, but gently, gripping its body, keeping your fingers away from the gills. Use a pair of long-nose pliers to grip the middle of the bend of the hook and gently pull the hook free.

Do not try to twist the hook free. If the barb has gone through the fish's mouth, cut it off and pull the remainder of the hook free. If the fish has swallowed the hook, cut the fishing line. Sometimes a fish can survive with a hook inside its stomach.

Use circle hooks to help prevent the fish from swallowing the hook.

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Participate in fisheries management: Report any tagged fish you catch and cooperate with authorities conducting surveys. Attend public meetings related to marine fisheries issues.

Respect the environment: Never throw trash, like plastic six-pack drink yolks or fishing line, overboard or dump pollutants, like gasoline and oil, into the water. Damaging the water damages the fish.

Untangling regulatory lines

Figuring out which regulatory body makes what rule can be more frustrating than untangling crossed fishing lines.

For the most part, it depends on where you're fishing and what you're catching. So here's a primer to help you figure out whom to call about what:

N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) regulates saltwater fishing in coastal waters of the state, including saltwater rivers and sounds and the ocean out to three miles from

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