Southern District  Pender, New Hanover, & Brunswick Counties
Contact: Dennis Trowell April 27, 2008
For the 2008 fishing year, all owners/operators of vessels recreationally fishing for and/or retaining regulated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) (Atlantic tunas, sharks, swordfish and billfish) in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, must obtain an Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling permit. This permit has replaced the Atlantic tunas Angling category permit. In North Carolina, additional HMS harvest reporting requirements are also in place.

Please Note: Anglers sometimes confuse small king mackerel with Spanish mackerel. King mackerel and spanish mackerel have different size and catch limits. Make SURE you properly identify the mackerel you are catching. (Tips here)

A recreational Recreational Fishing License went into effect Jan. 1, 2007 for all of the state's coastal and ocean waters.

Tagged Red Drum: Download PDF with reward details.

Ocean: Offshore things are a little slow. The yellowfins have not made a showing but there still are some fish being caught - blackfin tuna, wahoo and dolphin. The dolphin fishing should really get good over the next couple of weeks. There were a good many blue marlin releases reported last week. Closer to shore, kings are being reported around the Wr4 and they showed up last Thursday on the beaches of Brunswick County. I've also heard of some Spanish mackerel being caught as well. The Atlantic bonito are being caught in good numbers around divers rock, but won't be around too much longer with the warming water temperature. This is the time of the year when cobia start showing up along the beaches and inlets. One was lost off of an area pier last week. Offshore, the red, gag, and scamp groupers are biting well in the 40 to 50-mile range.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays:  Not much change. There are some decent trout catches coming out of the river still. Live shrimp fished under a float has been the key. Along with the trout there are some drum. The sea mullet fishing slowed considerably last week.

Piers/Shore: The big news this week was the first kings of the year were caught on the Oak Island Pier. Ocean Crest Pier caught some Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A New Hanover pier had a large cobia on but it got away. Area piers saw blues and sea mullets mostly, but there were a few large pompano reported as well. The Spanish mackerel should show any day now.