The trend with fishing tournaments in Murrells Inlet is moving toward all-release formats, a much-needed development for a pretty little salt-water estuary that undergoes big-time fishing pressure.
The 3rd annual Speckled Studs Trout Tournament was held Dec. 8 in the inlet, and there were indeed some stud spotted seatrout weighed in.
But these fish were brought to the weigh-in in live wells, not coolers, and carefully released after being weighed. The tournament, coordinated by Capt. Dan Connolly of O-Fish-Al Expeditions, joins the Let ‘Em Go, Win The Dough Flounder Tournament as events in the inlet that feature an all-release format.
“The reason we are trending towards release tournaments is simply the fact of promoting the conservation of our terrific fisheries, and to remove the chance that every boat fishing in the tournament is killing multiple fish, on the same day, in the same body of water,” said Connolly. “When you have 100 boats all fishing Murrells Inlet on the same day for flounder in a tournament and they are all bringing dead fish to the scale, not counting the ones in the cooler, it doesn’t bode well for a fish population.
“There is more pressure than ever on our waterways and every step we can take in the right direction towards preserving what we have, is the right way to go.”
Aside from tremendous fishing pressure, the trout population in Murrells Inlet, like all South Carolina estuaries, is also susceptible to extreme cold-weather events. All the more reason to be conservative with the fish that are harvested, particularly the large spawning trout, known as gators, that provide so much to the spawning stock.
“It is critical for us to release our big spawning trout that are over 22 inches because these are the fish that are contributing over 1.5 million eggs per spawn with the strongest genes in the gene pool of our trout population,” said Connolly. “Those fish didn’t become 5 plus pounds by being stupid or unfit for survival.”
South Carolina’s current trout regulations are simple — a minimum size limit of 14 inches with a daily bag limit of 10 fish per person per day.
Connolly’s vision of regulations for South Carolina’s population of spotted seatrout correlates with the regulations currently in place in Florida.
The Sunshine State has a statewide slot limit of 15-20 inches for spotted seatrout with anglers allowed to keep one fish per day above 20 inches. The daily bag limit varies from 4 to 6 fish in the four fishing regulation zones in Florida.
“I think it’s crazy that we don’t have at least some sort of cap on the size, like keep 1 over 23 inches and the rest need to be slot,” said Connolly. “And our limit of 10 fish per person is also a little steep, 5 is more reasonable.”
Gerace Wins Again
Murrells Inlet angler Peter Gerace, known for regularly winning flounder, trout and Spanish mackerel tournaments held in the inlet over the years, did it again in the Speckled Studs Trout Tournament. Gerace weighed and released two trout weighing 7.32 and 6.66 pounds for a winning aggregate of 13.98 pounds.
Joey Ray and Andy Justice of Murrells Inlet weighed a nearly identical pair of trout weighing 5.09 and 5.08 pounds, good for second place with an aggregate of 10.17 pounds. Englis Glover and Tony Carter finished third with an aggregate of 8.82 pounds.
The tournament served as a benefit for the Student Angler League Tournament Trail, widely know as SALTT, with $700 donated to Rayburn Poston’s organization. For more information on SALTT visit www.SALTTfishing.com.