@@WildlifeChatter24 thank you so much for calling! With a new baby on the way, I'm being pressed to make a decision to attend the meeting or have an extra day to spend with my family.

I think that one is out of the bag 😄. Why do the weirdest looking lures always work so well?

That's absolutely true, and I couldn't agree more. However, in the case if sockled trout, the trawl has very little impact. There are states with trout stock issues that don't allow commercial harvest at all. Granted, the rec limit is more like 15/day. Point being, it's important for us to do our part, but if the commercial sector doesn't also put forth equal reduction, we'll just be taking for one group and giving to another.

@@FishingwithBrewski Not a direct impact but if the trawl bycatch kills enough of other species so that they are deemed illegal to catch or keep that will increase pressure on trout and cause a decline in numbers.

@terrybeasley7505 Absolutely. It's all connected. Right down to the benthic life and sea grasses.

I honestly can't be sure if DMF set that timing on purpose to try and get less people to fish or so the pound, gill net, and gig fisheries would have equal shot. They also set mandatory daily trip ticket reporting, so several of our Sneads Ferry fish houses won't even touch a southern flounder. More hassle than it's worth.

Market is already flooded before yall start because you're on the back side of trawl fluke fishery. 35,000lb per day per license adds up quick.

The NC speckled trout rec fishery is worth more tax revenue to the state by itself than every commercial fishery combined. If you look up speckled trout amendment 2, the numbers are right there in the document. The issue is how many dollars made on the commercial side find their way into political coffers.

Go watch my latest video. You're going to get very close to what you want for rec BUT the over 20 fish will be netted. Could really use the help of everyone working to get a quota set on the comm side or all our rec reductions will just go right to the nets, and we'll wind up in the same boat as flounder real quick.

I could surely use your help. If you go watch my most recent video, we're trying to get some people together to request that we call into the meetings via zoom. Then we're going to request that a quota be put on the commercial sector. If not, all our rec side reductions are just going to become part of the commercial catch. I think if we play this right, we can get a win. We'll still take a hit, but at least we won't wind up like flounder.

@@FishingwithBrewski I was thinking over the weekend about what it would take to get the corporate's Diawa, Minn Kota, Penn, etc and all others who sell to us recreational fisherman ,to put up and help fight. They make their money on guys who recreational fish and it will hit those pockets just as hard when your not buying lures, rods, reels, boats, etc. We need some big fighters to help set this back upright.

We're asking for a simple thing, and asking as a group can make all the difference. Trust me, I only say we catch so much more because we are bound by those numbers. I've watched the New River get wiped out at the same time as I watched the Pam and Neuse explode after the ferry line gill net ban. I know we do a lot of damage as recs for sure, but I do feel strongly that there is something DMF is missing. Likely the true importance of those larger fish that the mesh is so very good at catching. Either that or a ton of them are being sold off the books but I find that less likely.

6pm Aug 21 and 9am Aug 22. It is impossible for me to take any more days off work to attend these meetings, and I'm very confident that our written comments are ignored.

@@FishingwithBrewskiI’m retired and live near the Raleigh address. I’ll plan to go. Maybe we can coordinate so you can help me prepare.

I tried not to go too far down the rabbit hole on adaptive management since the details would be something that requires a lot of discussion and not something I would feel comfortable suggesting for the whole state. I'm meeting with some folks who have been doing this for decades next week to see if we could define the specifics in a way that strikes a good balance.

They just raised them 😄. To be fair, DMF didn't take the fish out of the water. That's on us. Please help us out by sending an email and speaking or writing into the meetings to support a commercial quota and adaptive management. We really can't screw this one up and have trout closed as well.

Please take 30 seconds and help us out with sending an email. 🙏 all my efforts are meaningless if they don't get people involved. The people of NC rule all those beurocrats if we just work together. The power of government is only derived from its people, and if we move as one, nothing can stand in our way.

That's what it's all about! Thank you!

Did you not hear what he said commercial Gill nets only catch 15% of the fish recreational rod and reel catches the rest

That's an extremely hard argument to make with most folks. The Pam and Neuse exploded with trout right after the ferry line ban. I can't explain it myself. No cold kill definitely is a lot of it, but New River has gone so far downhill over that same time period for trout that it's hard to argue it. Either way, I do feel that arguing the DMF numbers gets us nowhere and as long as we don't all shoot ourselves in the foot and screw this up, I'll be happy.

I know a lot of folks wanna see that but for now, the best thing we can do is just to make sure both sides meet the reduction necessary to keep fish in the water for years to come.

@@xxkingslayemxxgamer5553I agree, they should be banned. NC is the only state that allows inshore nets anymore

@@papachulo6801 it's already hard enough to make a living for fishing and soon enough we might as well give it up because it's not worth it and then everyone can eat the bullshit from China

Huge amounts of seafood are mislabeled as local or even a totally different type of fish. Red snapper is probably the worst. One of our colleges did a study and found that more than 90% of red snapper was a totally different fish.

@@FishingwithBrewski I worked in a major chain cafeteria. The "Trout" that was a favorite on the menu was in fact, Spanish Mackrell. Maybe Mackrell are trout, I don't know.

@@tmo4330 😄

I feel awful doing it as well. Many people have suggested shifting to allow fish to be taken for this reason, and it would make perfect sense to do so. The only issue is that people would abuse it and either lie or wait longer for a hook set to intentionally deep hook the fish. They do actually have a good reason for the slot size. According to research from several states, the trout between 20-24" are doing the vast majority of the spawning work. So we can actually keep our limits higher and get the same reduction by using the slot.

@aljohnson1191 I'm mostly the same. I don't even really target them when it's warm anymore because mortality is higher. Only trout worth eating to me are the 17-19" fish from the salty water. Big fish from way up river have gray meat, and it's really soft.

Please send the emails and lets work together when it's time for the meetings. My words mean nothing if I stand alone.

@@rbfishingyt that's bullshit man. Where were you fishing where they did that?

@@rbfishingyt help us send some emails please.

@@FishingwithBrewski I was fishing near the mouth of pungo river to the pamlico sound.

@@FishingwithBrewski I already sent the email. Thank you for everything you are doing to get our voices heard.

@@rbfishingyt wow. Most of the comm guys I know from up North are pretty good people.

@krfauto thank you! It should be really hard for them to tell us no with such a simple and genuine request.

@dirkswart8950 netting in the majority of back creeks is already illegal. If it's inland waters, no comm fishing of any kind is allowed. The netting at night was the original answer from the legislature to avoid conflict between rec and comm. Out of sight out of mind kinda thing. So they didn't wanna net at night but did it to avoid the issues.

If you know some inside information, I am all ears.

@jasonsmith6572 trust me, I feel your anger. Please use that to help us fix this BS. 🙏 we can make it better, but it's going to take a lot of us moving together.

No striped bass. No flounder. One drum, 3 trout. License is for what? Total BS...

In theory, they could be, but the current MFC is incredibly unlikely to do that. It would take a super majority vote to do it, and that rarely happens with contentious issues like nets. Discards are counted through the MRIP system. It's definitely not buy it's the same system that every state currently uses to count harvest and discards so I don't think it represents a major issue.

@@FishingwithBrewski as always, greatly appreciate all that you’re doing.

We kind of face a sad reality in the fact that the only way limits will ever go back up, is for a lot of people to stop fishing. Based on the boats I see on the water, I won't hold my breath. Seems like new people are coming every day. You're absolutely eight about COVID. It was the cause of the explosion in fishing, but somehow, it seems that all those people have continued to fish. Fishing the Neuse creeks even on a weekday is crazy from Nov-Mar

There are a great many people who agree with you there. We are starting to come together to make some big changes to our fisheries but it will go one step at a time. The next several months are critical for the future of trout fishing. I make weekly videos, and there is generally always a call to action with each video. If you'd like to be a part of it, please tune in and leave your comments. I listen to every single person that talks to me, and I carry their opinions into meetings with legislators.

@ex1494 I'm all for fighting the bigger fight but in the mean time, this is the best chance we have of stalling them from taking even more. If we don't come together and call for a quota, you can bet that the commercial harvest is very likely to increase when it's supposed to decrease.

It's all by Design several of our elected people in our government own interest in Seafood companies ​@@FishingwithBrewski

@bendaniel2334 there's very little speckled trout bycatch. Are you talking about gray trout?

I'm with you. I do wonder if totally stopping fishing wouldn't just hurt people that aren't really responsible at all for the problems. The commercial fishery would love it if we all stopped and gave it all to them. I also wonder why NC is so different. In all the states where it was fixed, they also had resistance, but the people spoke up got the changes made. There's definitely a few legislators that need to go away like Norm Sanderson. As long as he's in the Senate, it will be an uphill battle.

@@FishingwithBrewski Yessir, the commercial side would love it if we stopped fishing, but the state would QUICKLY realize how bad they need the recreational fisherman! Millions and millions of dollars all of a sudden GONE! Yes, they would quickly do something to get us back in the water. Sometimes we have to sacrifice what we like to make the right changes needed. Keep fighting Brother, we all appreciate your efforts!!

@greggjohnson547 chairman Bizzell attempted to get flounder to 50/50 immediately after the announcement for no rec season this year and was shot down by the rest of the commission with the exception of a few so I think we have his support. Read my suggested email in the comments and tell me that any reasonable leader of NC would be able to say no to that. I've also very specifically catered these suggestions in a way that I think will appeal to the sitting commissioners as well. We have a few good ones on there, and when presented in this particular way, for these reasons, if the bad ones say no, it is going to expose them in a big way and they know that. So this "should" really put the pressure on them to accept terms. It's not a perfect answer, but at least it stops us from winding up losing trout while we're trying to sort the bigger picture out.

​@@FishingwithBrewskiI read your suggested email and like it! I will copy it and send it to the mfc members and legislators you listed. I hope they receive enough to make a difference.

@rbmclamb I'd definitely be pretty upset. I think the biggest thing standing in our way is not being able to get on the same page. I have hope that a unified message could swing the MFC on trout and keep us from screwing this up again.

Alabama changed the limit about 5years ago now , I’ve been an avid trout fisherman for many years it has made no difference big brother really doesn’t want us fishing or hunting and once they take something they never give it back !!

WEF ecocide bullsh**​@@frankiedunn4815

@Randymcsendy you're assessment is definitely a fair one. I think a lot of people misunderstood one part of this video. Speckled trout do not die in trawls in any appreciable amount. I was merely comparing what the commercial sector views as acceptable bycatch. For speckled trout, rec do the vast majority of the damage. For other species like the collapsed gray trout, the trawls definitely did the vast majority. There's no question that it's a combined effort to reduce populations. As far as development goes, the rivers are far cleaner now than they were pre EPA and we see the same sort of stock balance between the Neuse and Pamlico and the Pamlico basin isn't really developed much at all. It's had 10 times less growth in residential property than the Neuse, and the stocks are roughly in the same shape. That's not discounting runoff as a possible cause of issues and I'm regularly fighting the towns and cities responsible as are many others and we have made a lot of headway in them addressing the sewage runoff. All that said, both the Neuse and the Pamlico have exploding speckled trout stocks while the southern regions are not doing so great. Part of that is just the fact that there is less water and more fishermen down south, but we can't ignore the fact that the trout exploded immediately after the gill net ban above the ferry lines. With comm only taking 15% of the stock, I have to assume this is a combination of no cold kill combined with the fact that the nets are much better at catching the big breeding fish than hook and line is. I've been reading a lot of historical accounts lately and the comm fishermen from years ago did not allow gill nets in the Neuse River. They point directly at the effects of overfishing as the reasoning for this. When the fish are more concentrated, the nets are just a little bit too effective at removing them.

I appreciate getting comments from folks who can see the bigger picture at play here. I will say this, the biologists at DMF are not stupid people. Their hands are tied in every possible way to restrict them from actually fixing these problems. The upcoming trout regulations, which will be in this week's video, are another big source of frustration with division staff. I have spoken to a few this week and they see this going badly for exactly the same reasons I do. And yet, their recommendations will not change. Not because they don't want them to, but because they have no choice. I'm digging hard to find out specific names of individuals causing things to go this way, but they're clearly people in positions of authority there because nobody is willing to name names.

That's correct, but it's a little convoluted. DMF has no season officially. WRC is a completely separate agency, and they have jurisdiction over inland waters and hook and line in joint waters. So the 4 day season is 100% legal for hook and line fishing in inland and joint waters. At the same time, there is no season for coastal or joint waters gigging which is DMF. DMF is allowing a commercial season though.

@@scottdavis7485 I'll put it in the description. www.arcgis.com/apps/Media/index.html?appid=2c1087bc8355438ba0e01e06f3a74fce

Thank you.

At this point, if we could fix the mess, I wouldn't care what it takes to get that done. Something has to change.

How much money you got? I’m sure they can think up a new department that fits in between the two they have now.

@davesteier-xf5lh 😄. The two that we do have can't stop fighting. "One mission, one commission".

I think that mostly impacted federal management. NC DMF has never had power. Not sure how it might have reduced it even more.

@gregthompson3267 that's an excellent question. Let's give him a call and ask him.

@biscoloco all the fish are part of the "public trust." This means that by law, they belong to everyone equally. I have old law books from the early 1900s, and they understood this concept very well. The moment there was a shortage, all commercial activity would cease.