Author Mike Marsh caught this pair of big flounder while fishing the Cape Fear River near Bald Head Island. Photo by Mike Marsh

Early spring is the time of anticipation for saltwater fishermen. Chilly weather keeps many anglers home through the winter, except for those who don't want to miss those few icy opportunities like getting in on the great striped bass fishing along the northern coast.

For the first time this year, those venturing to the coast's saltwater regions will need to buy a North Carolina saltwater fishing license and keep it in their possession while fishing along the coast unless they already had a lifetime fishing license or lifetime combination hunting and fishing license prior to the cut-off date of Jan. 1, 2006.

Technically called the Coastal Recreational Fishing License (CRFL), the license can be purchased as a 10-day, annual or lifetime license or combined with a variety of licenses issued by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. The license is required to catch finfish in any Coastal Fishing Waters, including all sounds, coastal rivers and their tributaries, continuing out to three miles in the ocean. Anglers fishing the Exclusive Economic Zone from three to 200 miles offshore are still required to have a CRFL before landing any fish they catch inside the state of North Carolina.

So, now that you have to buy a license to fish, what is out there in the brine to catch? Here's what to expect regarding the scientists' take on the ups and downs of the populations of some of North Carolina's most popular saltwater fish.

RED DRUM
Red drum have been subject to tight harvest restrictions in both the recreational and commercial sectors since the late 1990s. They were once in severe decline. The good news is that the rules are working to restore the health of the state's official saltwater fish to the coast.

Average recreational landings from 1996-2005 were 226,286 pounds, and the landings were up a bit at 237,422 pounds in 2005. The average number of citations for released fish of over 40 inches in length from 1996-2005 was 1,058 and that number was up by one-third in 2005 when 1,520 citations were issued.

A new stock assessment is continuing as an update of the 2001 Red Drum Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Stock assessments have shown that the number of juveniles entering the adult population has increased because of the harvest restrictions, but that the stock is still being overfished when considering the U.S. coast as a whole. But North Carolina's commercial and recreational harvest restrictions significantly reduce mortality in accordance with the Federal FMP under the authority of the Atlantic States Fisheries Commission, so there are no changes in store for North Carolina's recreational red drum fishermen. Currently, anglers can keep one red drum measuring between 18 and 27 inches total length, per day. This protects adult fish, which mature at 4 years of age and around 32 inches in length.

Offshore, bans on taking adult fish continue to preserve the spawning stock. Red drum may not be possessed outside the three-mile state waters limit.

The red drum rebound has been thundering throughout the state's estuaries and along the oceanfront. The largest fish, which can top 50 pounds in weight, are caught at Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras in the fall surf, at the artificial reefs offshore of Southport in November, and in Pamlico Sound in July and August.

The smaller redfish, often called puppy drum, are caught from all of the state's saltwater marshes, sounds and rivers at the coast. While surf-fishermen heave big slabs of cut fish for catching red drum, backwater anglers use jigs, spinnerbaits, topwater lures, soft plastics, flies, and live or dead, cut or whole shrimp and minnows to catch the juvenile fish, which weigh up to 12 pounds.