Ranking the top 5 outdoors stories of 2011

5. King mackerel are a staple species for fishermen during the summer fishing season in the Myrtle Beach area, but the species was strangely hard to find this spring and summer.

Once the summer tourist season rolls around in late May, charter boat operators and novice recreational fishermen can typically count on catching kings in a number of areas, whether on a school of pogeys (menhaden) along the beach, near-shore bottom spots such as Jim Caudle Reef, Belky Bear or Myrtle Beach Rocks or deeper areas in 50 to 90 feet of water such as The Jungle or the Parking Lot.

Capt. J Baisch, who operates Fishful Thinking Guide Service out of Murrells Inlet, could only speculate why, but like a multitude of other anglers he knew the kings simply did not show up in typical numbers.

Baisch has been fishing out of Murrells Inlet for the past 22 years, guiding eight of those years, and on a standard summertime charter trip for kings he trolls dead cigar minnows, often at Belky Bear or Myrtle Beach Rocks.

“In a typical king mackerel year … I run probably half my trips nothing but king mackerel fishing,” Baisch said. “On an average trip I usually get anywhere from 10 to 20 bites and that would be landing six to 15 fish. I’ve had some decent days this summer but most of the time for me to go catch three king mackerel [has been] a good day.’’

Since kings are usually a mainstay for charter boats in particular, their relative absence forced captains to look for other species to target. Thus Spanish mackerel, spadefish and flounder were the main catch on half-day trips and bottom fishing for black sea bass, vermilion snapper and other reef species the norm on ¾-day trips.

“This year there probably has been some days where there have been some [kings] around but because it’s been so unpredictable everybody has had to find other fish to fish for,” Baisch said in August. “[Charter captains are] taking bigger hits [in expenses by going further offshore to bottom fish] because they are having to turn their attention from what they want to do to what they have to do.”

4. Grand Strand Manatees: Sightings of manatees migrating northward from their home base of Florida during the warm-weather season have increased in recent years along the South Carolina coast and the Grand Strand.

There were four separate confirmed manatee sightings in waters along the Grand Strand.

Two sightings of manatees occurred at Marlin Quay Marina’s boat basin in Murrells Inlet, one in May and the second in late July.

Next, a manatee was sighted in the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 3 near 31st Ave. North in Myrtle Beach and on Aug. 17, a manatee drew a crowd of onlookers when it was discovered in the backwaters of Murrells Inlet in Garden City Beach.

For Marlin Quay owner/operator Michael Stone, who has been at least a part-time resident of the beach for about 40 years, the sightings mark more than a trend.

“Before the last six years I had not seen any manatees,’’ Stone said, “but it’s been yearly since then.”

Nicole Adimey is a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who works out of Jacksonville, Fla., and for 10 years has been studying manatees in the Southeast, including their migratory habits.

“In the summer months there can almost be a daily sighting (in S.C. waters), said Adimey. “Now whether that is one individual or 50, I can’t tell you. (Sightings are) pretty consistent, I’d say, from May through September. I do think they’re expanding their range. I don’t think they went that far north in numbers years ago.”

3. Coastal Bear Season: A bear hunting season was held along South Carolina’s coastal plain this month for the first time in over 50 years. The draw hunt was held in Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties with 10 hunters permitted to take a bear in each of the three counties for a total potential harvest of 30 bears in the season held Dec. 1 through Dec. 15.

A researcher from the University of Tennessee conducted a three-year study in an area on the state’s coastal plain bordered by Interstate 26 to the south, Interstate 95 to the west and the South Carolina-North Carolina state line to the north that concluded about 500 bears live in the area.

Still, the 30 hunters who drew tags to take one bear each during the season in the three-county area only managed to kill one bear. Deanna Ruth, S.C. DNR’s Coastal Bear specialist,reported a 197-pound female was killed on Dec. 14 in a field in Georgetown County.

Ruth noted the bear that was killed had been causing problems for farmers in the vicinity.

While the hunt is expected to continue in 2012, DNR officials will discuss whether to tweak details of the season.

2. Back-to-Back In Biloxi: The McMullan family of Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., – owners/operators of Ocean Isle Fishing Center – continued to dominate the world of competitive king mackerel fishing in the southeast. For the second time in three years and the second straight tournament in Biloxi, Miss., the McMullans won the Southern Kingfish Association National Championship (Open Class) in November.

The McMullans’ Team OIFC totaled a winning aggregate weight of 103.13 pounds for two king mackerel, weighing 54.70 and 48.43 pounds.

In 2009, Team OIFC registered the most amazing performance in SKA tournament history in winning the national championship at Biloxi with a legendary 74.10-pound king mackerel – a Mississippi state record – that was the large part of an all-time SKA-record 118.13-pound aggregate.

The father-and-sons trio of father Rube and sons Barrett and Brant McMullan were on board to pull off the first national title at Biloxi two years ago. This time it was even more of a family affair for the McMullans. Rube, Barrett and Brant were aboard, but also part of the crew were Brant’s wife, Amy, and the team’s good-luck charm, Caroline McMullan, Brant and Amy’s six-year-old daughter.

In 2010, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused the SKA championship to take a one-year hiatus from Biloxi and was held on the east coast at Ft. Pierce, Fla. Saturday’s victory gives Team OIFC SKA national championships in two of the last three years, but back-to-back titles in Biloxi.

“They did well again, didn’t they?” Jack Holmes, a managing partner of SKA and a co-founder of the organization in 1991, asked aloud. “Amazing – boggles the mind. They do their homework and they work very hard at what they do. I think they’ve got the upper Gulf (king mackerel fishery) absolutely dialed in.

1. Federal Fisheries Fiasco: Unfortunately the top story of 2011 is an ongoing one, and it gives local and regional fishermen anything but a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Mounting fisheries closures and reductions in limits have caused fishermen who depend on bottom fishing – or reef fishing – in the Atlantic Ocean to struggle to stay afloat locally and along the Southeast Coast.

As of Jan. 1, fishermen will have little to target in the Atlantic Ocean until migratory species such as king and Spanish mackerel return to the area again in May.

Shallow-water species of grouper are annually off-limits from January through April and vermilion snapper (known locally as beeliners) closed annually from November through March. Plus, the red snapper fishery remains closed indefinitely.

But the quick closure of the black sea bass fishery due to annual catch limits set on the species is the one that really irks local fishermen.

An eight-month black sea bass closure from October through May combined with the other closures is simply devastating to local charter fishing operators. There are basically no staple reef species that can legally be caught from November through March. Fishermen typically target black sea bass during the winter when the species congregates closer to shore, enabling charter captains to eke out a few winter-time fishing trips to help make it through the winter financially.

But not during the winter of 2010-2011 or the current winter of 2011-2012 with the black sea bass fishery shut down.

Tom Swatzel of Murrells Inlet, a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council which proposes federal fisheries laws in the Southeast, called the closure a huge blow to the local economy.

“It will have a big direct impact on charter and party boat operators but it will also affect hotels, restaurants, bait and tackle shops, marinas and boat dealers, among others, who economically depend on tourism generated by offshore recreational fishing for sea bass,” said Swatzel. “A prolonged closure will be a job killer.”