Відео

Best i remember, God gave his disciples the right to cast the net on the other side of the boat and it was filled. I dont think Ceasar told the to!

4 years ago I could keep 4 flounder per day from approximately the end of April to November. That being 180 days. With that being said, I could have kept 720 flounder in a year. Now you and the NCDMF is telling me I can't even keep one! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the "science" that NCDMF is using is total Bullshit!

I would add that those total license numbers are off by more than just the blanket and age omits. Anyone that bought a lifetime sportsman before 2006 got grandfathered in to the CFRL. I bought my lifetime sportsman in 2005 and I have never had to buy a CFRL. I can only imagine just how many people that would cover.

In regard to the license holder reporting, it’s definitely interesting data. The totals and subsequent “harvest data” is based on licenses sold, not necessarily the number of people that are actually fishing. I do understand this would present the largest possible harvest, if you are looking at conservation. However, it can present a skewed assessment. Ex 1) how many folks buy a 10day license, but fish less than the 10 days allowed? Ex 2) Lifetime license. The number presented is a rolling aggregate of all lifetime licenses SOLD, it is not reflective of how many are actually participating. Of the total number, how many fishermen have passed away? How a many infant license were sold , as they will not potentially harvest fish for years to come and the license were bought by hopeful parents that were saving some serious $$, based on the upcharge for buying it later. Ex 3) how many Lifetime licenses were purchased by the “senior” population. Once you are a “senior”, it cost the same to purchase a lifetime as it does an annual license, so you may as well purchase the lifetime license in lieu of annual, in hope of using it year to come.. but may only use it one year. (My 75 year old mother did this. Bought a lifetime because the cost was the same, in hopes of using it again, but hasn’t as of yet)

Thanks for sharing the fish tag story and for educating / reminding folks on the flounder identification. The flounder identification and lack of species separation on the upcoming harvest report card baffles me. We are expected to be able to correctly identify a duck in the low light of early morning, flying 40 mph, to shoot it… but we are not trusted to identify a flounder that is in hand or on the deck of the boat. Needless to say, it should be split out on the report card and it should be a separate creel limits as well.

I’ve personally never been surveyed, and the dozen or so men I fish with have never been surveyed. This survey info is a smokescreen to cover up the big lie and injustice aimed at the recreational fishermen in NC. I recommend that the Wildlife Resource Commission scrap everything they’ve published regarding flounder.

I got surveyed about cast netting every time I got a ten day license. Nothing with the annual.

Bill I am surveyed several times each year.

The surveys are incomplete. Not enough Iinfo. I'll add I fo in the comment. Three types of flounder in nc. I can't tell the difference when fried. All are delicious. Rockfish are my least favorite fish to eat. Trout caught on the beach taste very different than trout caught in the back of creeks. I love both fried. Puppy drum are very good any way you cook them. I no longer use rockfish for fish stew rather puppy drum. I'm willing g to do all things necessary to continue enjoying some of my catch. Havi g two groups regulating the fish resource is the only thing I deal with that puts a bad taste in my mouth.

Appreciate the info you have been providing. Will continue watching. One point to note, you mentioned a 20% survey rate based on the NC licensed population against 20k surveys. It’s actually less than 2% (20k surveys, but really less / 1,079,168 license = .0185%)

Please dont post these videos. The dmf will ban finger mullets

Bill, as an average nonfishing citizen listening to your podcasts and trying to understand both sides of the fishing community I can tell you there is a reason you get accused of being paid by commercial fishing interests. You come across whether you are aware of it or not as being defensive of commercial fishing and critical of recreational fishing by and large in your tone of voice, mannerisms and occasionnal jabs

Bill, the information you quoted clearly said the recreational live release rate for speckled trout ranged from 78-93 percent! That is amazing. It plainly shows it is indeed recreational fishing. It was not clear to me if the 10 percent bycatch figure was solely in regards to trout in shrimp trawl nets. If so then I would think Marine fisheries would have figures for other species such as flounder, croakers & spot. I would have to believe the gentleman who had worked on a shrimp trawler would know what he was talking about in regards to numerous 2-3 inch flounder being caught in the nets. As you clearly say what gets caught in a net winds up dead whether sold or not. It cannot be rocket science for the DMF to get a true handle on what the effects are from shrimp trawling on these other species. It seems to me it's feigned ignorance by design. If dead discards are going to be used against the recreational fish quota then the same should apply towards commercial flounder quota which evidently it is not. Sounds like a double standard to me.

You earned a hearty like and comment for these facts. Nice work Mr. Bill.

There is no way they can have an accurate count of the number of fish caught on the recreational side. It is just an estimate. The only accurate number they have to work with is the number of fishing licenses sold. They do not know how many of those fishermen actually fished for flounder and how many of those caught and kept fish. For sure they are off by one because I have had a license every year since 2019 but have not targeted flounder at all.

Bill, I still don't understand the numbers. As I posted on previous post, the numbers don't add up. Once we lose something, (creel limits, size limits, etc) we never get them back. How do other states in the south maintain a higher limit and still maintain stocks. Something in NC, that is happening, isn't in the best interest of our fisheries. I think most recreational fishermen are ethical sportsman. By catches may be the most detrimental to all species.

This is nothing new. We all know the NCMF and the CCA. Are bought

Hey sir, just found your channel. I don't think it really matters if you have an illegal fish in your recreational boat anyway. The WRC or the DMF are not checking/flying drones over recreational fisherman anyway. The recreational fisherman I've heard from have been keeping whatever fish they want, including flounder, all summer. All any of this is, is a smoke and mirrors game to keep a bunch of government workers having a job instead of actually feeding people or physically working for a living. By keeping commercial fisherman from earning a living and trying to make some kind of tourist/spawning sanctuary for the east coast. Sure wish they'd do away with a lot of these non-elected officials making laws that affect people's livelihoods! Laws are supposed to be made by legislators, not corporate or big money knuckleheads. How did having fun become more important than people working? Oh yeah, there's just so much other employment opportunities in the eastern part of this state that we don't have to worry about that right? Anyways, I really appreciate you sharing the BS the different sectors conflicts and inabilities to even get on the same page! Have a blessed day sir!

What a convoluted mess. Boycott !!

Sounds like a ton of bureaucratic bullshit to me!!

You are right about one thing Bill, it is about the allocation. The DMF is giving what should be allocated to the recreational fisherman to the commercial fisherman. The DMF is making up random numbers on the recreational catch using flawed data to shutdown recreational fishing, all while allowing commercial fishing to continue using a larger allocation than they should have, which is hogwash. Allowing commercial fishing to continue while closing the fishery to the general public tells me that the DMF is not concerned about overfishing. If the flounder fishery is truly overfished and stressed, which I believe it is, then it should be shutdown for everyone. The data on the commercial side, while it may be more accurate, it is also flawed. Allowing a fisherman with a commercial license to harvest a commercial limit with no intent to sell should be illegal, along with not requiring the catch to be reported. (Edit: Law has been created to require reporting for commercial and recreational). If you are a commercial fisherman catching fish and not selling them, then you should be required to adhere to recreational limits.

It's hard for me to grasp, that recreational fishermen could catch 44,000 plus pounds in a short season. How many rec. fishermen actually fished for flounder? At only 1 per day and a 2 lb average. over 4 days, there would have had to be 22,000 flounder caught. That would have had to been 11,000 anglers each day. I just cant see that many anglers actually fishing. I'm using 4 days as what it refers to in proclamation Bill is using in this video. If the stock is in such a decline, why not just completely close the harvest to all fishing. Commercial and recreational. We in NC, need to get any and all commercial fishing out of the spawning grounds. Fines should be higher if caught illegal fishing, to detriment of causing financial hardships. Recreational fishermen are already fined at higher fees, with illegal catches. These letters (proclamation) are just more government misdirection. All board members should be in the fishing industry, with equal recreational and commercial seating.

How do they know the recreational sector exceeded its quota in 23 if the quote could not be monitored similar to how it is monitored for the commercial sector? Also, I can't imagine how many boats are going to be in that tiny little joint waters space on these weekends, poor fish don't have a chance.

If I worked as a game warden I would not write a ticket during the four day flounder season. Many people will catch a keeper flounder, keep one and return to their launch ramp and they might get a ticket. Either have a 4 day season or shut it down. Two groups battling to manage one resource with different goals is stupid. I prefer redneck logic, have the 4 days in all waters or shut it down.

Love you videos. I still dont understand were they get the numbers that the Recreational fisherman, over fished flounder. Its like they just grabbed a number out of thin air. And how is any of the rules are going to fix anything. Is it in the plan that if we follow all the regulations that they have lade out, at some point we can go fish for flounder any day we want and not have them breathing down our backs.Or are they going to keep putting regulations after regulations tell its just not worth fishing for flounder.

Sounds like this whole plain was hatched with the intention of handling out tickets!

Thanks for the video Bill, I do, have a couple of questions, and I ask these with a sincere tone/attitude. 1) Since rec fishermen don't report any catch data, how does the MFC know the quota was exceeded?. 2) It's hard for me to image any court of law convicting someone for legally harvesting a flounder. If it was indeed taken in a legal manner and you had to cross into Coastal waters to load your boat. Technically, you are not "Fishing" in the coastal waters, you are simply in possession of the flounder. ( I guess #2 is more of a Commet not a question) Thank You

Just return all the money in the endowment fund and keep the rules in place

I watched less than 4 minutes and you have it wrong. No reason to keep watching.

I’m confused, we’ve had a tag system for deer how many years? Why would any responsible outdoorsman have an issue with a comprehensive reporting system? Buy a tag, use it or loose it and we cut the unknown count in half, or better…

Once again go DMF. Anyone can manipulate actual facts to reflect positively for commercial fisheries. Good job!

Bill can’t believe you are still carrying water for DMF/commercial industry. Shame on you.

Once again, the Top brass at NCDMF is selected by the Governor. Once we vote a new party in, that new governor can and will install his own party to head the NCDmF.

Thanks for sharing my story Bill!

I understand that the DMF has decided to actually open the flounder season to parallel the WRC season. I also see that Mr Bizzell is going to not serve on the DMF board for another year, or at least not as the chair. Just curious what your take is on this.

Might have a chance legally of you go to the green swamp and fish in a mud hole it's legal there

They haven't opened anything for the fisherman if you look at the blue lines just forget flounder

How do they track recreational fisherman's catch? So how do you come up with the amount caught on hook and line?

I have to ask but I went to buy some live blue crabs & some softshell blue crabs but isn't the size limits 5" Carapace ? So how can they legally sale them if so , that's coming from a seafood wholesale here in NC but they do get them from commercial fisherman ... Small crabs , lucky to measure out at 4" ... I definitely turned them down because I didn't want to get a ticket from trying to get them home them....

It’s insane that the state funds the ncfa

pretty obvious the DMF and their FMP process is NOT working! So, let's wait another four or five years before we do anything about the current FMP's that also will not work.

Most of the dead discards in flounder and trout seem to be the undersized fish due to various issues and injury due to hooks for recreational fishermen. Are undersize fish counted as the dead discards?

Good Morning Bill, I have two questions for you. 1) It doesn't appear that you spoke at the public commit meeting, why didn't you? 2) if you had spoken, would you have identified yourself as a Life Time Member of the CCA?

the people with the dmf are trying to keep their job. I've worked the shrimp boats and I've seen the by-catch. this is not accurate not by a long shot. Most hook and line people do all they can to keep Thier catch alive. I've seen over 8000 lbs. of sponge crabs kept and sold. this information is not accurate. there are literally thousands of small flounder, 2 or 3 inches long killed every year. And another overlooked fishery in NC that is destroyed by trawlers is spot and croakers. Something has to change

Bill, It seems easy to sit behind a camera and criticize individuals for making public comment….I don’t remember seeing you at any MFC meetings making your own public comment? In your videos you encourage folks to participate and make public comment to then just pick apart their comments and only post portions to make a point. I actually enjoy hearing your perspective on fisheries management in NC, you have SOME good information through out your videos. Like you always say, we don’t have to agree on everything! Next time post the full comment, I actually thanked the commission at the start for their willingness to put in place guardrail managementon for false albacore, which they passed. I then spoke on loosing recreational access to southern flounder(it sounds like we can all agree that we need recreational access to summer and gulf flounder) , urging the commission to not let that happen to speckled trout. I proposed that the MFC look closer at the speckled trout advisory committee recommendations for amendment 1 to the speckled trout FMP. 14-20inch slot with one over 24”, 4 fish bag limit, and no recreational seasonal closure in Jan-Feb. Thanks for cutting that all out! I will send you an email of the report for the total economic benefit to the state of NC on the recreational flounder fishery and the recreational speckled trout fishery. I should have clarified my comment to specifically state recreational inshore fisheries. Since you brought up the offshore recreational marlin fishery. Yes I am the assistant director for the coastal conservation association, I was not planning on participating in that specific MFC meeting that day because of prior obligations with a banquet in Wilmington and therefore had no intensions of public comment or being in Raleigh that day. (David Sneed attends every single MFC meeting and provides his comments on behalf of CCA NC). So yes, I had a small window to attend and wanted to express my comments as a citizen of North Carolina and as someone who has a passion for fishing and the resource. Look forward to the November MFC meeting, maybe will see you there??? Call me anytime, looks like you have my information!

As an average nonfishing citizen I would ask why is there no accepted by catch estimate for shrimp trawling? I also heard on a podcast that NC is the only state allowing this in estuary areas. Is that so and if so why is NC out of step with the rest of the country? Also if the estimated revenue to NC from recreational fishing is many times that of commercial fishing then it is hard to understand why commercial fishermen feel they should not bear quota reductions on par with recreational limits. Why does flounder bycatch not accrue to their quota like trout mortality is attributed to recreational fisherman? Again I am an average non fishing citizen simply trying to understand what is true and what is not. Human nature always leans towards short term gains instead of the long view.

All the information you say that is not out there on economic impact on rec fishing is out there somehow I think you are being backed by commercial fishermen.

Drime!

Deception is often in the eyes of the beholder; I'm pretty sure the DMF knows who Steven Creighton is and his affiliation with CCA. I cannot help but believe you are in some way affiliated with, paid by, or in some manner affiliated with the Commercial Fishing Industry although I believe you have stated several times you are in no way shape or form affiliated with the commercial fishing industry. I think you are being "deceptive".

Bill Hitchcock isn’t on our side. He’s a boot licker