on Weather and Fishing 



receives nearly 3,000 calls each year about 

 the weather and the fate of the fishing. 



After all, fish are as picky about the 

 weather — and about eating — as we are. 

 Spanish mackerel like their water clean; 

 rough winds and sloppy conditions in 

 inshore waters don't make for pleasant 

 dining. 



However, Hissey says, you still have 

 your bottom feeders — croaker, spot, 

 mullet — if you can get to them. "If the 

 wind blows too hard, the cunent is so 

 strong you can't even fish for those; the 

 grass blows in and tangles with the line." 



Fishennen farther south can do without 

 the rain their northern neighbors are being 

 served. But pass the southwesterly wind, 

 please, says Capt. Billy Truitt of Oriental 

 later in the week. Truitt and his wife, 

 Lucille, have spent their lives crabbing, 

 fishing and shrimping in the waters of the 

 Neuse River and Pamlico Sound. 



"This rain we're having right now is the 

 worst thing you could have for a fisher- 

 man," he says. "What makes good fishing 

 here is a light sou'wester and dry weather." 

 When the Outer Bankers have a northeast 

 wind, "their tide comes in here and floods 



There's some irony to fishing, says Sea 

 Grant agent Wayne Wescott of Manteo. 

 "Northeasters blow our Gulf Stream in, and 

 with that billfish, sailfish and blue marlin. 

 It makes access to fishing better," he says. 



"But on the other hand, if it's a 

 northeast wind, it's probably going to be 

 blowing too hard to go," Wescott says. 



The fishing conditions desired at 

 Hatteras or Oregon Inlet may be com- 

 pletely different from those sought at other 

 points along North Carolina's scalloped-out 

 coastline. 



us," he says. 



As for rain in this area, the prescribed 

 amount is "just enough to suit the farm," 

 Truitt says. Too many showers will fill the 

 Neuse River and Pamlico Sound with 

 undesirable runoff. 



In the long run, rain itself can have a 

 profound effect on various fisheries. 



An overly wet spring can be bad for 

 shrimping; the decrease in salinity can 

 send young shrimp out of the estuaries in 

 search of saltier water, where predation is 

 high. This wet August has increased the 



amount of coliform bacteria in runoff, Sea 

 Grant agent Bob Hines says; fisheries 

 planes are flying over Bogue Sound telling 

 clam fishermen to stop harvesting. 



No matter where you are, storm 

 conditions — especially thunder and 

 lightning — have their own way of making 

 fish moody. 



"Fish don't bite that good during or 

 after a lightning storm," says Sea Grant 

 marine agent Jim Bahen. 



Capt. Eddie Haneman of Wilmington 

 says fish know when to prepare for the 

 tempest. "A lot of times the fish will feed 

 right good, eating up for a storm," he says. 



Even my dad has something to say on 

 the subject. He's known fish to feed 

 through all kinds of commotion. 



"Some of the prettiest trout I have 

 caught came off a northeaster," says Sam 

 Burgess, describing a two-hour squall that 



"If you could figure it all out, 

 you wouldn't be fishing for a living; 

 you'd be a genius." 



James Fletcher 



he and a buddy fished through on a 

 Topsail Beach fishing pier. "The old pier 

 just rocked; it rained; the wind blew." 



Dad says he acquired a respectable 

 mess of fish, and when the squall ended, 

 the fishing did too. "When it left, the fish 

 didn't bite another time. Not a nibble did 

 they do," he says. 



There's no set formula for weather and 

 fishing. If there were, there probably 

 wouldn't be fishermen who keep detailed 

 logs of location, wind velocity and direc- 

 tion, barometric pressure and temperatures 

 while they're out on the water. 



Of all the folks I talked to, I think James 

 Fletcher at Wanchese Fish Company said it 

 best: "If you could figure it all out, you 

 wouldn't be fishing for a living; you'd be a 

 genius." m 



COASTWATCH 11 



