Fishing trip puts variety of species on offshore reefs on display

A southerly wind was whipping at about 15 knots at 1 p.m. earlier this week when Shane Bashor cleared the Murrells Inlet jetties in his custom-built 32-foot sportfishing vessel, Side Kick.

A choppy 2-4 foot sea greeted the crew on board as Bashor passed the sea buoy and started on the journey to ledges in 70-75 feet of water toward the south-southeast.

As the boat churned the miles away, thankfully the white caps began to disappear and the sea gradually became calmer. By the time Bashor slowed down as he approached his first fishing spot, there were very nice 1-2 foot seas even though we were about 30 miles offshore.

The crew fishing with Bashor on this six-pack bottom-fishing trip included Beth and Eric Dollmatsch, and Tom Somerville of upstate New York, Peggy Rotterman of Conway, Bill Todd of New York City and myself.

When Bashor had the boat in position and anchored, we dropped squid down on two-hook bottom rigs. The bites came quickly and soon we began catching numerous vermilion snapper, known locally as beeliners.

The majority of the beeliners were under the 12-inch minimum size limit, even though Bashor had found solid keepers on the same spot about two weeks earlier. Bashor was also surprised at the lack of black sea bass on the spot, and surmised the fish may have moved to deeper water due to the rising water temperature as summer conditions have become entrenched.

Over the next few hours Bashor fished three different spots, and the fishing time was filled with plenty of action from a variety of species.

Several sharks in the 3-4 foot range were caught and released, and a whole cigar minnow produced a keeper amberjack just over the 28-inch minimum size limit.

The angler of the day was Beth Dollmatsch, who had been eager to catch her first shark, which she did. She also landed the amberjack – the largest fish of the day – and a rare filefish, which was released.

Somerville, using a chunk of fresh cut bait, caught the most desirable species of the day, but one that had to be released. His rod bowed deeply and he managed to work the sizable fish off the bottom. Within five minutes a beautiful red snapper in the 15-pound range appeared from the depths.

Red snapper, locally called genuines, are under an ongoing moratorium by NOAA Fisheries in the South Atlantic region, and the species must be released.

As often happens when a large reef fish is brought up from deep water, the red snapper wasn’t able to return down to the reef and floated away on the surface. A while later, a pair of large sharks caused a commotion at the surface about 100 yards away and made a meal of the snapper.

The miss of the day came when a sizable bull dolphin slowly cruised just under the surface about five feet off the stern, but disappeared before anyone could offer a bait, as we all had bottom rigs in our hands. The fish didn’t take a whole cigar minnow Bashor had out on a flat line, either.

As the sun headed down in the western sky, Bashor headed back in, and we were once again greeted by the stiff southerly seabreeze, making for a tricky ride in over the last 10 or so miles.

At the dock, at Crazy Sister Marina along the Marshwalk, the summer season was clearly in full swing as numerous visitors inquired about our catch.

In all, the catches on the trip showed off the variety of species that inhabit the thriving offshore reefs found off the South Carolina coast.

Red Snapper: The catch and unsuccessful release of the red snapper on the trip was indicative of the quandary caused by the closure of the species in South Atlantic waters. Such an occurrence is considered a dead discard, and is the main reason they remain closed.

Bashor stated he would like to see the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council institute a boat limit of one red snapper per day for recreation anglers, instead of watching a dead discard float away and be ripped apart by shark.

On May 19, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced red snapper will remain closed in South Atlantic federal waters for the remainder of 2016.

The NMFS stated there will be no recreational or commercial season in 2016 because the total number of red snapper removed from the population in 2015 exceeded the allowable level.

In 2013, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council developed, and NOAA Fisheries implemented, a standardized process that specifies harvest may only occur in a given year if total removals from the population (landings plus dead discards) in the previous year were less than the number allowed for population rebuilding.

The total removals allowable for 2015 were 114,000 fish. After evaluating landings and discard information for 2015, NOAA Fisheries determined the estimates of total removals were 276,729 fish, all dead discards, meaning the fishery remains closed in 2016.

The process will be repeated in 2017 to determine if there will be a season in South Atlantic Federal waters in 2017.

Rotary Flounder Tournament

Bill Blakely, a regular in flounder tournaments held in Murrells Inlet, was the winner in the Murrells Inlet Rotary Flounder Tournament staged last Saturday out of Crazy Sister Marina.

Blakely weighed in a 3.91-pound flounder to win the top prize of $1,000.

Nathan Grubbs was second with a 3.62-pounder followed by Lance Garrison (3.11), Charles Beverly (3.09) and Dennis Lee Smith (2.85) to round out the top five.

Ava Heise was the top Youth Angler with a 2.53-pound flounder and Tyson Blount the top Lady Angler with a 1.37-pounder.

Jolly Mon King Classic

Thanks to a wicked front that rolled into the area on Friday, Capt. Brant McMullan of Ocean Isle Fishing Center has postponed the tournament which was originally scheduled for this weekend.

The king mackerel tournament will be held at the OIFC Aug. 26-28 instead.

Some events related to the tournament are still being held this weekend. Call (910) 575-3474 for more information.

This story was originally published June 17, 2016 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Fishing trip puts variety of species on offshore reefs on display."