UAT

Fisheries Biologists Kirk Rundle and Bill Collart sampled the Tar River on April 23 this week, launching their electrofishing boat at the Wildlife Commission boat ramp at Dunbar in Edgecombe County and sampling the Tar from the Dunbar boat ramp downriver to the Commission’s boat ramp at Bell’s Bridge.

They captured 55 striped bass, with the fish lengths ranging from14-29 inches. Heaviest fish sampled that day was a 12-pound striper. Sex ratio was 75:25 males to females. All of the stripers were tagged.

“The striped bass are spawning and showing up in good numbers, which should provide good fishing over the next week in the Tar River,” Rundle said. “The American shad are still available in really good numbers and should be around for a few more weeks too. The hickory shad are basically gone until next year.”

Rundle and Collart observed one boat anchored near Swift Creek. The two anglers on board reported some success catching striped bass.

The weather was cool and overcast when Rundle and Collart did their fish-sampling work on the Tar. The river was muddy, with moderate flows. Water temperature was 63° F.

“We had no problems with launching or navigating earlier this week; however, there will be some navigating issues due to low flows by this weekend,” Rundle said.“The front that passed through Thursday morning did not provide much if any noticeable rain.  The river level from Rocky Mount to Tarboro is dropping and navigation will begin to get more difficult throughout this weekend without any rain.  Launching should still be possible, but making long runs may get very difficult. Extreme caution should be used.”

The fish-sampling work on the Tar River is part of the Wildlife Commission’s spawning stock monitoring done weekly every spring by Rundle and Collart.

Additional Observations

In the upper region of the Tar-Pamlico River from Rocky Mount to Greenville, the best place to fish for American (white) shad remained at Battle Park in Rocky Mount, according to Doug Mumford of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) who shared the most recent creel survey information collected from different stretches along the Tar-Pamlico River. The creel surveys are administered by the Division of Marine Fisheries through Coastal Recreational Fishing License funding, and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission assists with design and data interpretation in the upper portions of the Tar River.

“The creel agent observed more than 100 white shad during a day of sampling at Battle Park,” Mumford said. “The hickory shad fishing seems to be over.  This week was the first time this season that striped bass have been reported in the recreational catch in the upper zone of the Tar River.”

In the lower part of the Tar-Pamlico River from Greenville to Washington, anglers reported fair catches of striped bass last week, according to Mumford. The majority of the striped bass were undersized, however.

“The biggest fishing news in this area continues to be the speckled trout fishing,” Mumford said. “The warm weather has the fish moving and catches have been excellent. The hotspots include Broad Creek, Goose Creek, Durham Creek and Blount’s Creek. Fishing effort was relatively high during the report period.”