After two months of the coldest prolonged winter weather I can remember in these parts - including the normal once-a-decade snowfall - the first Sunday in March offered a respite.
Not only was the temperature forecast to finally break into the lower 60s, the marine forecast called for 1-2 foot seas and the north wind to switch to the south in the afternoon. Since this looked to be the nicest day since, oh, about last November, it was time to wet a hook.
The warm-up was slow, though. At 7:30 a.m. there was still a heavy frost on the Dirty Martini, the 30-foot Robalo owned by North Myrtle Beach restauranteur Jeff Martini, as we left the dock. Martini's son, Chance, Tracy Huggins of North Myrtle Beach, John McLaurin of Columbus County, N.C., and myself rounded out the crew.
When Martini cleared the jetties at Little River, the marine forecast was actually accurate, with lazy 1-2 foot rollers in store for the ride out.
Our fishing options were limited because of weather and federal red tape. Persistent westerly winds had pushed the Gulf Stream well offshore and out of range, nixing the idea of trolling for wahoo. As for reef fishing, grouper remain out of season until May 1 and vermilion snapper (beeliners) are off-limits for recreational anglers until April 1.
So what's left to target? Black sea bass, the tasty, smallish members of the grouper family.
The big question on the day was, how far would we be willing to go to find groups of larger fish easily above the 12-inch minimum size limit for black sea bass?
Martini stopped about 20 miles offshore near a well-known black sea bass area - the Atlantic Ledge - and when he gave the word from the helm, we dropped down squid and cut bait.
The bites came quickly on the two-hook bottom rigs but the result was fish in the 10-11 inch range. We were quickly outta there.
Next stop was a spot about five miles further out where the surface temperature of the green water was 55 degrees, no doubt below average for March 7. This time, the rigs came back up with some keepers in the 12-13 inch range on the long-shank hooks and a few went into the box.
But Martini was looking for larger fish. We again took off toward the south-southeast and this time Martini didn't stop until we were about 35 miles offshore. The water had turned a more bluish color, the clarity had improved and the depth had increased to 95 to 105 feet along a ledge Martini was drifting the boat over.
We dropped the rigs down again and soon after the 16-ounce leads hit the bottom, McLaurin let out a hoot - we were all quickly hooked up with noticeably larger fish. We had found what we were looking for.
"Fifty-seven degrees and in the blue water was where we were catching them," recalled Martini earlier this week. "They were only biting on the deep side of the ledge."
Over the next hour-and-a-half Martini drifted the boat over the ledge several times and we quickly limited out on fish that were mostly in the 13-15 inch range. Several fish topped 15 inches, with the largest weighing 3.75 pounds, which is a whopper of a black sea bass.
With the limit of 15 black sea bass per person aboard, we headed back toward Little River with visions of delectable snow-white filets dancing in our heads.
Snapper off limits longer
Vermilion Snapper | Federal regulations continue to go back and forth on this species. The recreation fishery for vermilion snapper (beeliners) closed on Nov. 1 and will reopen on April 1, but the commercial fishery for the species has remained open in 2010.
Now, as of 12:01 a.m. today, the commercial fishery for vermilion snapper is closed through June 30. NOAA Fisheries Service has determined the 2010 January through June commercial quota of 315,523 pounds of vermilion snapper will be reached by today.
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