New Laws?

[willk]

I have heard that there have been new laws set in place for the wateree and saluda rivers reagarding the catching of stripers. What I have heard is that you are not supposed to catch stripers after a certain date? Does anyone know anything about this?

[TARBABY]

Heard last night that for all of the Santee Cooper system the following has been approved and signed by the Governor.

No fishing for stripers between May 30 and October 1st.
New limit is 3 fish 26" or bigger.

Have not been able to confirm that Governor signed this bill.

[buckshot1224]

I'm assuming that this is for the areas south of the Murray dam?

[willk]

So is the wateree fine or not?

[RazMaTaz]

May 29, 2008
Gov. Sanford signs new Santee Cooper striped bass regulations
Governor Mark Sanford signed new striped bass regulations into effect on May 21, 2008 for the Santee Cooper system. The new regulations will act as a first step to combat the population decline of the striped bass fishery in the Santee Cooper System by reducing the amount of fish an angler can harvest, as well as increasing the minimum size limits.

The new regulations include:

• Reduction in creel limits from five to three
• Increase in minimum size limit from 21 inches to 26 inches
• Season restrictions for entire Santee Cooper system (lakes and rivers): no harvest/possession from June 1- September 30
• Points system: increase to 14 points for violation
• Striped bass must be landed with head and tail intact enabling enforcement officers to measure complete fish

The waters to which the new regulations will apply are limited to the Santee Cooper system only. This includes the waters of the Lower Santee River system, or all waters and tributaries seaward of the Lake Murray Dam, the Columbia Canal Diversion Dam, and the Lake Wateree Dam to the freshwater/saltwater dividing line on the North Santee River and the South Santee River. Additional waters affected by this bill include the Cooper River System, which includes all waters and tributaries of the Cooper River, including the Tailrace Canal, from its point of origin seaward to the freshwater/saltwater dividing line.

The regulations, adopted by the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor, were based on recommendations from the Striped Bass Stakeholders Group organized by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in fall 2007.

Due to the importance of the striped bass resource to South Carolina, DNR wanted to ensure any recommendations made to the General Assembly in 2008 were in consensus with all stakeholders. The Striped Bass Stakeholders Effort was initiated in the fall of 2007 to accomplish this. This project was managed by a professional facilitator not affiliated with the agency. Members of the stakeholders group were appointed by the General Assembly and the DNR agency director. The 40 member Striped Bass Stakeholders Working Group included members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, professional guides, leaders of conservation groups, recreational anglers, landowners, and members of the tourism industry.

The Working Group met five times, volunteering their time and expertise during evening meetings held in locations across the state. The Working Group, DNR and General Assembly members stayed active throughout the process by providing striped bass research results, participating in every meeting, aiding in the preparation and evaluation of each meeting, and preparing recommendations for the General Assembly.

The Working Group presented consensus recommendations to the House of Representatives Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on January 9, 2008. The Working Group agreed that recommendations to change striped bass regulations were a necessary step for the striped bass population to rebound, with the least amount of impact to those who utilize or rely on the fishery.
DNR protects and manages South Carolina's natural resources by making wise and balanced decisions for the benefit of the state's natural resources and its people.

[jwilliams]

Can anyone explain the Leaches in the stripers mouth on Lake Murray

[ducksbdead]

Are you talking about the little white gill maggots?

[skrimp]

If they want to help the stripers, start letting us kill the commorants.

[jwilliams]

Roger that on the gill maggots

[jwilliams]

what's up w/ dat?

[ducksbdead]

Theses post were taken from the charlestonfishing.com board on the gill maggot problem

Rumor is the gill maggots migrate into a particular body of water from shiners and herring that are infected with them in other lakes and are brought here and sold as bait. I don't know this for fact but have a good friend from NC that claims the gill maggots have hurt the striper population big time up there.

This guy wrote in and sounds like he knows what he's talking about


The gill maggots (Achtheres copepod) weren't introduced like some exotic specie. They are indigenous to the lake. Something has caused their population to explode. I think its some type of predator-prey relationship that has gone out of balance and has allowed the copepod to proliferate. I asked SCE&G to include a study on the copepod as a part of their application to relicense the Lake Murray dam. They held a public information hearing on the copepod, lead by DNR fisheries biologist Ron Ahle, but then declined to do any further study. There's no evidence that the copepod hurts the fish, but when they go belly up during low oxygen levels and have a mouth full of copepods, which was responsible? Ron agreed that my statement concerning a predator-prey relationship being out of balance was a reasonable assumption

They will also utilize Largemouth bass as a host but I have only seen them on Stripers in Murray. I know blueback herring feed on them..., threadfin shad probably do as well..Ron Ahle said some of the fish they recovered from the fish kill this past Sept. had the copepod. They have occurred in both fertile and infertile waters in other reservoirs in the Southeast. Some have suggested that the proliferation may be due to stocking densities of host fish. When this was discussed for the outbreak on Smith Mountain Lake in VA, they pointed to Lake Murray as a reservoir with lots of fish and no copepod problem...Guess that needs to be re-evaluated now..


Topic



I hope this will answer some of the question for you. I've been catching alot of Striper up the Saluda river and everyone that I've caught has been loaded with them. They still eat good though-with or without gill maggots.

[DUCKMAN]

I noticed today that the striper fishermen were still in the Congaree at Columbia. I guess catch and release is still ok including "target species". I thought the reason for the closure was to stop the catch and release of stripers during the hot time? The studies show that this is the greatest time of mortality in stripers when caught and released.

Guess these people don't give a damn about the species getting back to a healthy level or maybe even existing at all!

[DRDUCK]

If you waitin on SCE&G to do anything but pay for the new power plant with YOUR money, bawwwaaaaaaaa! Discover a ENDANGERED SPECIES, like I did, and you are wasting your time. Squatty 420 knows, SCDNR knows and the USFWS knows. Did it do any good? Just for a little while. Can't fight but so long against a Trillion dollar monoply(sp) with your own funds, which I did.
The old saying, MONEY TALKS!

[Stripa Swipa]

Release mortality isn't as big a problem in the rivers as the lakes due to water temp and dissolved ox differences if I remember correctly, though your point is not missed here.

[2thDoc]

so...someone explain the bill to me so I dont have to read it.

Can you still fish for stripers?