Following a nearly six-month closure due to widespread cold-stun events in January, North Carolina opened up harvest for spotted seatrout in inland waters June 15.
A press release from the North Carolina Department of Marine Fisheries indicated that recreational size and bag limits will remain the same for the species as they have since 2011. Those limits are four fish per person, per day with a 14-inch minimum size limit.
Spotted Seatrout and Cold Stuns
The Department of Marine Fisheries implemented the closure due to winter cold stuns. Studies have shown cold stuns to have a significant detrimental impact to seatrout populations. Cold stuns are natural events on the northern end of the seatrout’s range. They occur when sudden drops in water temperature or sustained periods of cold kill fish outright or make them sluggish. When stunned, seatrout are easy pickings for larger fish, birds and other predators.
For more information, see www.ncwildlife.org.
