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Fisheries Biologists Kirk Rundle and Bill Collart sampled the Tar River on May 8 this week, launching their electrofishing boat at the Wildlife Commission boat ramp at the Wildlife Commission’s Dunbar boat ramp in Edgecombe County and sampling the Tar from the boat ramp downriver to the Commission Bell’s Bridge boat ramp.
They captured 75 striped bass, with the fish lengths ranging from14-29 inches. Heaviest fish sampled that day was a female striper weighing approximately 12 pounds. Sex ratio was approximately 80:20 males to females. All of the stripers were tagged.
According to Rundle, American shad are still around in fairly good numbers and should stay for a few more weeks. Likewise, the striped bass are still in the river in good numbers and still spawning.
Although the fish are still in the river, Rundle and Collart didn’t see any anglers on the water.
The water temperature was 65°F and river level and flows were moderate, yet the river level was rising due to the rain earlier in the week. Rundle reported no problems with launching or navigation. He did say that as of today (May 10) the river was approximately three times higher than what is necessary to launch and navigate at both Rocky Mount and Tarboro – and it’s still rising.
“The huge increase in river levels will make fishing a bit difficult over the next few days, yet the fish are still in the area, and once the river begins to recede, probably by Sunday, fishing should be quite good for striped bass and American shad,” Rundle said.
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
Doug Mumford of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) 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.
"There were still plenty of American (white) shad in the upper reaches of the Tar/Pamlico," Mumford said. "Creel clerks only interviewed a few people fishing but they reported good catches. One angler reported catching 40 white shad at Battle Park. The recreational striped bass season closed and fishing effort in the lower part of the Tar/Pamlico fell off as a result."
Fisheries Biologist Kirk Rundle holds up an American shad. According to Rundle, the shad are still in the river in fairly good numbers.