Photo by Mike Marsh.

The management, or mismanagement, of saltwater game fish species in North Carolina had a dubious beginning. Essentially, there was no management. Any angler, whether he was a recreational, commercial or subsistence fisherman, could sell or keep any saltwater fish he could catch.

That ended in the 1970s with the first commercial fishing licenses issued. Now there’s even a recreational fishing license and a recreational fishing license for using commercial gear. Everyone who takes fish from salt water must have a license of some kind.

Management plans are now in place for most saltwater game fish species that are highly sought by anglers with a few exceptions like black drum, false albacore, spadefish, Atlantic bonito and Florida pompano. But while these under-the-radar game fish have not been championed as of yet, many other higher profile saltwater species are benefiting from an increasing knowledge of their life cycles and abundance and this knowledge is a direct result of money brought into the management system through licensing. Biologists now have a couple of decades of data telling them, through their computer models that are fed by recreational and commercial landing statistics, what’s going on out there in the deep, briny blue.

Comparing what is now historical data with current landings and spitting out projections for the expectations of future landings is now the norm, so much so that it has taken much of the mystery out of the cycles of abundance and scarcity that once plagued many marine fisheries. While Mother Nature still throws fishery managers and fishermen a curve ball sometimes, especially regarding species such as red drum and spotted seatrout that spend so much of their lives in the volatile chemistry and temperatures of shallow water, fishery managers have gained a better handle on saltwater game fish populations and can manipulate the one factor they can control -- commercial and recreational landings. Commercial landings are usually managed by implementing quotas and seasons and recreational landings are usually controlled by size limits and bag limits. It had to happen that way. In the past, there were not many people living along the coast and many relied on fishing for food or cash. Now, there are simply not enough fish to go around for everyone who lives along the coast, if the fish were taken with no regard to each saltwater species’ ability to replenish itself.

Some of the most highly sought species still suffer declines because of fishing pressure or other natural factors. Some have abundance that remains stabile. But a few are experiencing an abundance like never before and the easiest explanation is better management than ever before. Anyone who wants to blame fishery managers for population declines must now laud them for these bright spots of abundance.

Some super catches for this year are predicted for some species, while others will offer continued solid fishing opportunities. Here’s the lowdown on catching some of our most abundant and popular game fish species.

Red Drum
The red drum is the official North Carolina saltwater fish. Despite this fact, the state’s red drum populations were once severely depressed. As a result, red drum have been subjected to tight harvest restrictions placed on both the recreational and commercial sectors since the late 1990s. A change in the regulations that would have allowed an increase in the commercial by catch daily landing limit for red drum from seven to 10 fish has been under discussion and may actually go to public hearings. But many recreational anglers are not happy with the initial recommendation from the NCDMF Red Drum Advisory Committee, which approved the changes at its initial meeting.

But the upshot of this is that the tight restrictions, which also allow recreational fishermen to retain only one fish per day of between 18 and 27 inches, appear to be working well at restoring the red drum’s lofty status among inshore game fish. The NCDMF updated red drum stock assessment indicates that overfishing is no longer occurring, thanks to the management actions taken as a result of the 2001 North Carolina Red Drum Fishery Management Plan.