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Shrimping to Open in Inshore Waters 7/7/09
Jul 02, 2009 at 08:47 AM
The Mississippi Department of Marine
Resources will open Mississippi waters north of the
Intracoastal Waterway for shrimping at 6 a.m. on July 7,
according to a news release Tuesday. Read the Full story in the Mississippi Press.
Expect the water to be cloudier after the trawls begin to stir things up. But if you see a boat culling their catch, check for cobia (and sharks) nearby.
Don Abrams
NOAA Forecast Predicts Large Gulf Dead Zone this Summer
Jul 02, 2009 at 08:36 AM
A team of NOAA-supported scientists is forecasting that this summer's "dead
zone" off the coast of Louisiana and Texas could be one of the largest on
record. The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen
levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters.
Scientists are predicting that the area could measure between 7,450 and 8,456
square miles, or an area roughly the size of New Jersey.
Dead zones are caused by nutrient runoff, principally from agricultural
activity, which stimulates an overgrowth of algae that sinks, decomposes, and
consumes most of the life-giving oxygen supply in the water. This area of low
oxygen is of particular concern because it threatens valuable commercial and
recreational Gulf fisheries by destroying critical habitat. NOAA's Southeast
Area Monitoring and Assessment Program is currently providing near real-time data on the hypoxic zone during a five-week
fish survey in the northern Gulf of Mexico (June 8 through July 18).
Mike Sharpe will conduct two fly tying sessions on July 23 and August 20, 2009 at the Ocean Springs Yacht Club. Both sessions will begin at 6:00 p.m. Materials will be provided; you'll be asked to contribute $1 per fly to
help defer the cost of materials used.
In the July session Mike will be teaching the Lefty's Y2K Shrimp Fly. In August you'll learn to tie the Merkin Crab.
All HOSSFLY members are welcomed.
The most important fish in the ocean - a must read!
This is one of the most
thought provoking articles I have run across. It concisely covers a great deal
of the ecological problems with the sea and our human consumptiveness.
Syd Smith
For more on menhaden see the "Save the Bait " presentation on the Gulf Restoration Network's web site.
Jim Franks to Speak on Pelagic Fish at The Mary C
Jun 26, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Mark your calendar and reserve the evening of July 17. Jim Franks, from the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, will be giving a talk on the threats to large pelagic fish in the Gulf of Mexico. The lecture is part of the Issues + Answers series presented by the University of Southern Mississippi and the Sun Herald. The program begins at 7:00 p.m. at The Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts and Education in Ocean Springs.
Jim's topic will be "Great Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico: In Peril?" He will share his perspective on the apparent declines of stocks of big fishes, such as marlins, tunas and sharks, and the critical need for scientific knowledge required for their management, conservation and sustainability. This lecture is free and will be held in the auditorium of the Mary C. O’Keefe Center in Ocean Springs.
Jim is a Senior Fisheries Biologist at GCRL and he's also a sport fisherman. He's sure to have an interesting program for anyone interested in offshore species. For those who were not at the June HOSSFLY meeting, Jim gave us a very interesting update on the Lab's research on triple tail, cobia, and tarpon. He conducted a similar program for CCA's June meeting.
Remember to renew your Louisiana fishing license; it expires on June 30. There's a good chance that your Mississippi license expires about this time, too. If you know of a local business, by all means support them. But it may be easier to renew on the web or by telephone. In both cases you get a temporary authorization number that makes you legal until the license arrives in the mail. On the way to Chandeleur last July, I remembered that I hadn't renewed my license and was able to do it by cell phone from Dog Keys Pass.
How about your boat and trailer registration? Fishing licenses in other states?
Don Abrams
Tippet Archive Now on the Web
Jun 21, 2009 at 01:03 PM
I've just completed posting all the old issues of The Tippet that I've been able to find. They're a wonderful resource of fly fishing information and good reading for a day when the weather isn't conducive to being out on the water. Look in the left-hand menu in the members-only section for the "Tippet" button.
The issues are posted in either .pdf format. Some were converted from email copies, so the headers may be included. If anyone is willing to edit the files to clean that up, please let me know.
Long-time members: if you have copies of issues that aren't posted, please send a copy. It would be great to complete the archive. Thanks to Tom Herrington for providing almost all the pre-2007 issues.
Don Abrams
Web Site Volunteer Opportunities
Jun 19, 2009 at 04:55 PM
I've been working to add an archive of old issues of the HOSSFLY Tippet to the web site. Tom Herrington provided an extensive set of back issues as .eml files and .docx files. I'm converting the .docx files using Open Office Write during the next few days. The email files also need to be converted to .pdf files for straightforward use on the web.
Can anyone volunteer to help with the .eml files? If you're familiar
with creating .pdf files it's a simple cut-and-paste process. It's
just a bit tedious for one person to do; there are about 60 files. Send a note to
if you can help. (Note: I've completed the .eml conversion, but there's some cleanup work that could be done by a volunteer on the resulting .pdf files.)
An index of articles would be a valuable addition to the Tippet archive. Any volunteers?
How about fishing reports? Have you been out lately? If so, write it up and send it in.
Don Abrams
Suggested Reading for June 4 CMP Session
Jun 03, 2009 at 08:38 AM
Syd Smith suggests that all Casting Mentoring Program participants read the article titled "A Step by Step guide to Sexyloops"by Bill Gammel at sexyloops.com before the next session of the CMP on June 4. How could you resist?
HOSSFLY members - If you aren't logged in with your id and password, you're not seeing the members-only features, like the new photo gallery. If you don't have a member account, send an email to
to have one set up. If there's a particular password you want to use include it in the email.
