All this record setting cold weather we’re having may well affect more than our heating bills. One of our favored saltwater fish may be harmed if they haven’t retreated from our shallow creeks and bays to deeper and warmer water to ride out the cold snap.

In spite of the global warming of our planet and the rising seawaters that so many seem to be blindly accepting as fact, this weather is some of the coldest that our climatologists have ever recorded. Coastal fishermen, both sport and commercial, are holding their breath as we await the reports from the Division of Marine Fisheries on just how serious this cold weather is going to have on our fishery resources. Sport fishermen who specialize in fishing for speckled trout are the chief worriers.

The speckled trout is mostly a fish of the more southern waters from Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and South and North Carolinas, but occasionally wanders up into New York waters. For the most part, the coastal waters of Delaware are about as far north as this fish is usually found.

For the last couple of years, fishery biologists up in the Chesapeake Bay have reported that they’re finding more speckled trout and red drum than usual in those waters. They feel that the high waters of Hurricane Irene a few years ago “flushed” our Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System (APES) as the hurricane’s waters receded from our area. The high water from the hurricane took a great number of juvenile fishes that were using the APES area as a nursery out into the Atlantic Ocean and moved them up into the Chesapeake Bay. Even more of the juvenile speckled trout and red drum may have migrated even further north into the Delaware Bay and into New Jersey and New York waters. The unusually cold weather will for sure have a bad effect in these northern waters, as well as our home waters here in North Carolina.

Back in the early 1950s we had some glory years on speckled trout along our coastline and, just as we’re so worried about having these bitter cold days now, we were plenty worried then too. There were massive fish kills along the coast’s brackish creeks and bays. Commercial, sport and just plain hungry people were getting into their small boats and going up into the shallow creeks to pick up cold stunned and dying speckled trout and the occasional red drum as well. In some cases, there were literally pick-up trucks full of hefty speckled trout being scooped up, as they lay stunned (or dead) just under the thin ice that covered the surface of the creeks.

It took years for the trout’s population to recover from these winter fish kills, but they did eventually recover. Fishery managers used strictly enforced size and bag limits to help these fish stay around in our waters and reproduce to the levels that would make all (commercial and sport) interest happy.

Speckled trout don’t usually experience any difficulty with cold water until the water’s temperature drops between 40 degrees. Red drum are reportedly a little less sensitive to the water’s temperature and will survive if they can migrate into warmer and deeper water during a cold snap.

Since this blast of Arctic cold air moved into our area so quickly, a lot of the trout may have been trapped up in some of the shallow creeks and bays as they searched for something to eat. Sport fishermen were reporting some good catches before the cold air blast, so we’ll just have to wait for spring to find out for sure just how much damage was done to the trout.

Patricia Smith, the Information Officer for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, reports that, as of Thursday evening, Feb. 19, the NCDMF has received some reports of cold related fish kills. She states that “Yes, we have seen some cold stun events concentrated in the Hancock/Slocum Creek areas off the Neuse River. It’s about 500 spotted seatrout. We’ve also seen a few fish, mostly spotted seatrout, in the Pungo and Southern Creeks and Rose Bay. Marine Patrol will allow hand harvest for spotted seatrout under the recreational and commercial harvest limits. If there is significant confirmed mortality in four or more coastal counties, the director has authority to close commercial and recreational harvest of spotted seatrout until June 15. That has not yet occurred. Staff are on the water, as necessary to identify mortality events.”

It would be safe to assume that, in light of what Ms. Smith has said, that fishermen harvesting cold stunned fish would also have to have the proper commercial or recreational fishing licenses.

Here’s hoping that the fish kill isn’t as bad as the extremely cold weather seems to indicate that it will be. Maybe the fish sensed the advancing cold front and migrated to more suitable water for their winter quarters.