Eric Henson
The FWC just recently released that there will be another year of closure on redfish, trout, and snook in our area. This doesn’t mean that you may not target these species but that they may not be harvested. I know this is a sore subject to some people but, a blessing to others. No matter what side of the spectrum you are on, I completely understand both sides. I also know this: since it has been closed, I have seen a huge number of adolescent fish in areas where our fishery had been depleted in earlier years. I know a lot of people fish to eat fish. Why buy fish at the market when you can catch fresh! If that’s you, there are plenty of other species, like snapper, flounder, pompano, etc. out there that you may harvest in the meantime if you want fresh fish to eat.
With the huge fish kills from red tide, the FWC had to jump in and do something before it was too late for species hit the hardest. Thankfully, with the closures and the fish releases with CCA/ Duke Energy program, the redfish, trout, and snook populations are on the up and up. Now, we all must do our best to work on the problems causing the fish kills in the first place.
A few things you can do to get involved or help your fishery…
– Look into joining or working with groups like the FWC, CCA, Captains for Clean Water,
etc. These organizations will be able to help point you in the right direction.
– Consider the chemicals that you are using on your lawn like pesticides, weed killers,
and fertilizers. These are a big source of our problems. I know we all want green and
bug free lawns, but all those pollutants pour into our waters. There are many different
natural alternative solutions that work great!
– Join a water cleanup party every now and then. Or if you are on the water and see
something that shouldn’t be there, take an extra second to pick it up.
– Handle fish with care and practice safe releases.
– Finally, we all must do a better job cleaning up after ourselves.
As of now, I feel like we are starting to get on the right track, helping our fishery flourish. If we all keep doing our part to help in any way we can, I think our fishery could be world class once again! :) Thank you all for your efforts in keeping our waters clean! Until next time… Tight Lines and Tight Knots to everyone!
Thanks, Eric Henson