Hatteras BFT searching - nada

[Sushi50]

Fished Thursday 1/7 and Friday 1/15 for BFT out of Hatteras, first day with Heath (OI High Return mate) and second day solo, both days on the Sushi II 25' outboard.

First day 1/7 we fish the 55/64 degree break from just south of the Keshna/Abrahms and we start out with king macks to 40 lb on the 64 deg side just east of the Abrahms. Troll east to the Dixie Arrow and no BFT bites despite a nice rip, porpoises, and bait on the break just south of the Dixie. Run west to the beach just south of Ocracoke Inlet along the break and nothing to stop on all the way to the beach - no birds, no bait, no slicks, nada - dead ocean and gradual temp drop to 52 deg. Run down to the British Splendor (back up to 65 deg) and same deal - nada. Run back out to the nice 55/64 deg rip and bait near the Dixie and finish the day there with one probable set of tuna marks 70 feet deep under the bait but no love.

Second day 1/15 the 55/64 deg break has moved north to just above the Keshna/Abrahms and I work it from those wrecks east to the Dixie (66 deg), south to the Proteus/Tarpon (67 deg), south to the Manuel (68 deg), then offshore to 45 fathoms (69 deg). Nada, other than AJs and bonita - AJ's caught on cut bait dropped to check the wreck marks - bonita on deep BFT troll baits when crossing the wrecks.

Running back in the almost-dark the second day - about 4 miles south of Hatteras Inlet I came across the 53 to 47 degree break and the 53 deg side had scattered gannets with bait marks similar to what I've seen in MHC the past couple winters and some slicky tide lines, so I'm wondering if that colder break shouldn't be fished by someone to check and see if they're right under our noses up here. But surely some of the commercial king and dogfish guys, not to mention Rom and the other charters, would have seen signs and done this already.

Tuna Duck Dan fished for BFT the second day and he started at the Rockpile and worked the deep from there down to the 950 and back - nada.

Not sure why the BFT have pretty much showed less and less off Hatteras Inlet since about 2000 but it's clear there is some preference whether it's structure, bait, less current, more protected waters from north winter winds, or a combination. Isabel and other storms, as well as time, sand, and corrosion, have wiped out most of our inshore structure like the ARs, so maybe that has some effect. The menhaden have also declined to almost nothing off HI so maybe that's a factor as well.

The Med and Eastern Atlantic BFT purse seiners, farms, and longliners surely have played a role in the decline of our fishery and a recent DNA study shows up to 83% of BFT sampled off the VA coast were of Med origin. So the Med overfishing that has occurred more and more since the mid-1990's would appear to have a big effect on our fishery. We need to do more to stop this Med overfishing and see if it helps our fishery. We need to do whatever we can to bring our fishery back to what it was - it's been too long since we had a decent fishery and 2 boats out of 50 catching in MHC is not good enough.

Charley

[Highflier]

Charlie-
Hope things are well. I couldn't agree more with what you've posted. To comment further on the lack of bait, this year it could have something to do with the fleet of 12 motherships from Omega protein that sat off Ocracoke inlet the first week in November and sucked every shad on the east side out of the water. Saw it first hand. The northeast apparently had a great bft season. According to tagging data a good portion of those fish head south passing by Hatteras, MHC ect. fattening up for their transatlantic voyage. If when making the trip south they get to their destination and there is no food I doubt they patiently wait. It's speculation but my guess is they scatter and forage on whatever they can find and head east. The battle of stopping the Med. slaughter is a noble one and very difficult task (politically). However, maybe a more immediately feasible agenda is to put an end to the decimation of the shad (pogy) stocks by the Omega fleet. Potentially the lack of bait this year was single handedly caused by the pogy fleet thus detroying a two to three month commercial and recreational fishery for thousands of fishermen. This is a local/domestic political issue that we might have a better chance of succeeding. Might be time to crank back up The Save Our Pogies campaign. Charlie great to hear somebody was working that piece of water. I had hopes maybe the fish were back to their old ways this year. Now I'm not sure what to hope for? Take care. Barrett McMullan.

[Sushi50]

Hi Barrett,

A friend of mine from VA suggested the same thing on the menhaden and in fact suggested a book on the subject that I bought on Amazon. It's called "The Most Important Fish In The Sea: Menhaden and America" - see http://www.amazon.com/Most-Important...3874991&sr=8-1

The northeast tuna fishermen started a campaign a couple years ago to slow or stop the herring mid-water trawlers up there for the same reason. It's our turn to do the same.

I'm setting up WBA meetings in Hatteras and MHC in the next week and would like to do one at your marina also one night if you have time and think you can get some people to show and take an interest in helping write/sign letters. There are a number of BFT issues to address and the more minds the better.

Just got to MHC tonight - gonna try to fish Sushi II the next two days solo. Good luck with Brant tomorrow - am assuming you're going with him. Double up...

Charley