BY DAVID JAKUBIAK: Packet staff writer

(Published February 3, 2001)

State officials are asking local fishermen to cut back on their catches of spottail bass and spotted sea trout because of fears cold water temperatures may have killed off some of the fish.

Water temperatures dropped into the low 40s in early January, killing shrimp, and possibly some fish species, according to the S.C. Depart-ment of Natural Resources.

State regulations limit spotted sea trout catches to 10 fish a day a person and spottail bass catches to five fish a day per person. Trout must be at least 13 inches long, and spottail must be between 14 and 27 inches.

"The reason more fish may be in trouble is because it is not in their nature to swim to deeper, warmer waters," according to a department news release.

The department reports dead or near-dead trout and spottail bass have been found at Kiawah Island, and in Battery Creek in Beaufort and Archers Creek near Parris Island.

Charlie Wenner, a biologist with the agency, said smaller trout that live high up in intertidal creeks are a major concern because these waters would have been even colder.

"If you have significant mortalities of young spotted sea trout, there won't be many 13- to 16-inch fish in the fall. It would take several years for the stock to recover from this since those fish would never get to spawn."

Marty Pinkston, who captains the charter boat Flyboy out of Moss Creek Village's Lowcountry Outfitters, said he had seen no decline in spottail bass populations because of the cold. Pinkston's charter targets spottail during the winter, but he said he would not be affected by the state's request because he operates a catch-and-release only charter.

"When it got real cold the fish were real lethargic," he said, "but I have not seen any impact on numbers. The schools are as big or bigger than they have ever been."

Pinkston said he did not think many fishermen would follow the state's request.

"People are going to catch as many fish as the state will let them keep," he said.

Arthur Fox, treasurer of the Hilton Head Island Sportfishing Club, disagreed.

"I think that most of the fishermen here understand that the supply of fish is not unlimited," Fox said. "If we fish-out a species, then that species is gone, and we cannot let that happen." ...//