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May’s water temps jumped up after a slow start. Surf had a low of 60, high of 76, sound a low of 63 and high of 80. Average surf was 69.2, which was + 11 From April’s average, sound 74.3, +14 above April’s average. Check out the graph.

 

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Another chilly month for water temperatures! Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from a low of 53° to a not very high of 63° with an average of 57.8° (blue diamonds) nearly 7° above March. Bogue Sound had a low of 53° and a high of 68° with an average of 60.3° (red squares), about 10° higher than March. Temps did increase during the month but still ended up below normal.

The below plot shows the temperatures since 1996, the black curve is the average data over that time. The BIG red circles are 2018 temperatures, almost all below the average curve.

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Baked bluefish encrusted in horseradish-mayonnaise sauce, Dr.Bogus

 

Ingredients

8-Bluefish fillets (two per person from the one to two pound bluefish)

1-Cup mayonnaise

¼-Cup horseradish

2-t Lemon juice

1-t Worcestershire sauce

Salt & pepper to taste

1-Onion thinly sliced

 

Preparation

  • Place bluefish fillets on a lightly buttered aluminum sheet on your broiler pan.
  • Prepare a thick paste of mayonnaise, horseradish lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce and spread it over each fillet.
  • Garnish each fillet with slices of onion, sprinkle some freshly ground pepper and salt over the fillets.
  • Bake at 400-degrees until the paste is has a bubbly brown crust, the onions start to brown and the fish is moist and flaky.
  • Serves 4.

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Salsa Bluefish, Dr. Bogus

 

Ingredients

8-Bluefish fillets (two per person from the one to two pound bluefish)

2-Tomatoes

2-Jalapeno peppers (more if you are like me)

1-Onion

1-T Lime juice

Dry cilantro (or fresh if you have it), coriander and salt to taste

 

Preparation

  • Place bluefish fillets on a lightly oiled sheet of aluminum foil on a broiler pan.
  • In a food processor, chop onion, and jalapeno and tomato along with the cilantro, coriander salt, into a salsa. Add the lime juice and stir. For better taste, the salsa can be made ahead and allowed to marinate prior to use.
  • Spoon the fresh salsa onto the fillets with a slotted spoon to minimize excess liquid.
  • Cook at 375°, just until the bluefish flakes apart, not to dryness please!
  • Serves 4.

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What a bizarre month yet AGAIN! , Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from a low of 48° to a not very high of 54° with an average of 51.0° (blue diamonds) just a few tenths above February. Bogue Sound had a low of 41° and a high of 58° with an average of 50.3° (red squares), 4-degrees BELOW February. A plot through the data gave a flat horizontal line with a slope of zero. What a strange winter now early spring! By this weekend (April 7) surf temps normally are 59°/60°. So much for normal.

 

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What a bizarre month yet AGAIN! , Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from a low of 42° to an unexpected high of 60° with an average of 50.4° (blue diamonds). Bogue Sound had a low of 40° and a high of 68 (yikes)° with an average of 54.3° (red squares). Wild fluctuations indeed with a slope of the fitted line you see in the graph of the surf temps of almost 0.5°/day. What a strange winter! Remember the average surf for this past January was 44.8 and for the sound 41.0.

 

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          UPDATE for 2/23/18: As most of you know, I, the consummate scientist, have religiously taken water temperatures for well over 20 years. Why? It tells us who and when as far as the comings and goings of fish on our local waters. In the winter it also can raise flags as to the safety of some of our favorite commercial and recreational species, specifically the speckled trout who are known to be susceptible to cold water temperatures. Speckled trout are a warm water fish are the cold spells as we have experienced recently can lead to so called “cold stun” events or as I call them…troutsicles!

          In fact over the years as I have amassed reams of water temperature date, we have also documented such trout kill/stun events every two to three years. This past week I measured surf temperatures at Bogue Pier as low as 38-degrees (Fahrenheit) and as low as 29 and 30-degrees in the ice and slush of Bogue Sound. The last time I saw water temperatures reaching these lows were in late January 2003, after a snow event and freeze which led to a very significant trout kill.

          In late December 2010 into early January of 2011 we had a series of cold events that were extreme enough for our NC Department of Marine Fisheries close all harvest of speckled trout and adjust both bag and size limits for when the season reopened. More recently new cold stun guidelines have been put in place to, on a regional basis address the issues of cold stun events with speckled trout. These guidelines based on experimentally validated water temperature criteria and visual cold stun parameters of affected fish, were instituted for the first time this past week in response to the extreme weather conditions. This proclamation closes the commercial and recreational spotted seatrout fishery due to cold stun events, in accordance with the management strategy outlined in the N.C. Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan. The spotted seatrout fishery will open June 15, 2018 by proclamation.

          So how wide was the scope of this year’s cold stun event? Locally we have heard of stunned and dead trout numbering in the hundreds in fish in the North River and at least 1000 estimated in the White Oak River near the train trestle around Stella, Gayle’s Creek, Pungo River and there were also stunned fish reported as far north as Kitty Hawk Bay and as far south as Surf City. There were also reports of trout kills in Virginia. Indeed a wide ranging situation. Also remember the number of floating fish, that initially lost equilibrium doesn’t account for the many that remain on the bottom unseen. The NCDMF may do some bottom trawl surveys to get a better handle on the total numbers. Other fish killed? Visual confirmed reports were of red and black drum, flounder mullet and probably more.

          And please remember, during this closure NO possession of spotted sea trout is allowed from fishing or scooping up of dying or dead fish. I repeat NO possession of speckled trout is allowed until the closure is ended by proclamation, presumably on June 15, 2018 by our new Director of Marine Fisheries, Steve Murphey. Steve was recently appointed to take place of the interim director Braxton Davis who will return to his full-time role as director of Coastal Management.

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What a bizarre and frigid month, surf at Bogue Pier ranged from high of 50° to a low of 38° with an average of 44.8° (blue diamonds). Bogue Sound had a high of 52° a trout (and other fish) killing low of 29° with an average of 41.0° (red squares). This January was one of the coldest I’ve measured in my 25 years here in Emerald Isle, even colder than 2003. The coldest days were early in the month so we actually saw an increase as the month went on. In addition we had a super, blue, blood moon and an eclipse and king tides. Trout kill was from northern part of the state to Surf City to the south, and the season is closed until mid June by proclamation.

 

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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from high of 60° to a low of 48° with an average of 53.3° (blue diamonds). Bogue Sound had a high of 60° a low of 35° with an average of 49.0° (red squares). December was a month that started normally then dropped a bit below normal and remained so throughout the month. Temperatures dropped by about 0.36°/day for the month. For the year we averaged 66.7° +/- 10.9°, so despite unusually warm temps through the 4th of july (including a 66° blockbuster in late February) and below normal from July to the end of the year, 2017 averaged absolutely normal. Go figure!

 

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Surf at Bogue Pier ranged from high of 70° to a low of 57° with an average of 62.8° (blue diamonds). Bogue Sound had a high of 70° a low of 50° with an average of 57.8° (red squares). November was a month that started normally then the temps went in free fall after a few cold fronts. Temperatures dropped by about 0.43°/day for the month.