A Seafood Potluck and the 2nd Annual Seafood Challenge were both held jointly at the Pink Palace in the Sunset Beach Sea Trail Plantation on November 15th.
About 45 members and guests of the Sea Trail Fishing Club enjoyed the potluck and provided side dishes, entrees, and desserts. The Club also provided a shrimp boil.
In addition, seven members provided entries to the Seafood Challenge. Recipes of several of the entrees are listed below. The competition was won by Alan Trojan for his ‘Okra Gumbo’, who was awarded the Golden Spoon. The Golden Spoon award was conceived by Laurie Thomas Vaas and as a perpetual award for years to come.
I squeezed out second-place finish with a Shrimp Slider entry, but judging was close and all of the entries were superb!
At our October monthly meeting Jesse Bissett discussed the Mandatory Reporting Program of NC Division of Marine Fisheries. Here is a synopsis of the presentation.
Please plan to attend our monthly meetings.
Jessie began by explaining the background behind the upcoming NC mandatory requirement to report all fish harvests (catch and keep) of the five targeted species including Red Drum, Speckled Trout, Striped Bass, Flounder, and Weakfish in coastal, joint, and shared NC waters. He explained that while the program may not please the sport fisheries / fisherpersons, it was intended to help the State establish programs to ensure sustainable populations of the targeted species are maintained.
Key points to Jessie’s presentation include:
✴ The program will be phased in starting in December 2025. Any harvests of the 5 targeted species must be reported before leaving the dock via cell phone and failure to do so may result in a verbal warning if cited. Starting December 1, 2026, the warning will be written, and starting December 1, 2027, a fine of $35 plus court costs may be levied.
✴ If a cell phone is not available, a paper form must be filled in upon returning home and hand delivered to NC DNR. There are no provisions to mail in the forms and there is currently no app available to facilitate reporting.
✴ Required reporting only includes identified species that are kept, not those returned to the water.
✴ If landing in NC, all fish, regardless of State where caught, must be reported.
At the conclusion of the presentation, a brief question and answer session was held with many members expressing their doubts around the feasibility or reasonableness of the Mandatory Harvest Reporting Program. While the members appreciated the reasoning behind the Program, as structured, they questioned the accuracy of results and the sustainability of the Program.
—- Thanks to our Secretary Jim Baumgartner for recording these salinet points!
October’s Sea Trail Fishing Club’s Guest Speaker will be Jesse Bissette.
Jesse Bissette is the Marine Fisheries Commission liaison for the N.C. Department of Natural Resources Division of Marine Fisheries.
He will address the “Manditory Harvest Reporting Program”
Patricia Smith, Public Information Officer of the N.C. DNR will also be available for questions.
Jesse began his career with DMF in the Marine Recreational Information Program — in DMF shop talk, that’s MRIP. As an MRIP creel agent, he spent his time interviewing anglers for recreational fishing surveys up and down the North Carolina coast. He also worked with the division’s Observer Program before moving to Public Affairs where he was the division’s multi- media specialist.
In his current position, Jesse supervises the Marine Fisheries Commission Office, working closely with the commission chairman, the Division Director, and Division staff to plan commission and advisory committee meetings. He is also part of a Mandatory Harvest Reporting Outreach Team at the Division. He has been visiting fishing clubs across the state to talk about these upcoming requirements.
In his spare time, Jesse works with team of folks that run the website NCFishes.com, an independent project dedicated to photographing all of the various fishes found in North Carolina waters. Many of the beautiful photographs of fish found on the Division of Marine Fisheries website were taken by Jesse.
Background Information: North Carolina is implementing mandatory catch reporting for certain species starting December 1, 2025. Both recreational and commercial fishermen must report their harvests. Recreational anglers are required to report specific species: Red Drum, Flounder, Spotted Seatrout, Striped Bass, and Weakfish. Commercial fishermen must report all fish harvested in coastal and joint fishing waters, regardless of whether the fish are sold. The NC Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) will provide reporting methods, which are expected toinclude web-based tools and eventually a smartphone app, for the public to comply with this law.
Hey Folks, The Red Drum Tournament has been extended to 4-weeks and now runs through October 19th. The excitment of catching one of these huge fish in our near-shore waters is hard to beat, so get out there and FISH!
This is a member’s-only competition and I know that some of you on this site are not members – so what better time to sign up to be on our club? Annual memberships are only $20. Heck, while you are at it, sign up fpr 2026 as well! There are a lot of exciting opportunities throughout the year. For example, if you missed Captain Tripp Hooks presentation last week, you may be a step back on rigging and tactics for catching these big drum.
If you are thinking about fishing for the ‘Big Reds’, be sure to read the “Important Guidelines” section on the “Tourney Info” page of this website. You need to know how to catch and release these fish without threatening their survival. They are the breeders of the species and their survival is critical to being able to catch keepable slot drum in the future.
Also, if you are entering the tournament, you need to know how to properly record your catch by making measuements that can be documented!
Take my advice, it is really frustrating to catch one of these nice fish and not have a way to measure it!
Sea Trail Fishing Club Member Helps New River Wildlife & Conservation Club, of Fries, Virginia, with Hurricane Helene River Cleanup
The New River Wildlife & Conservation Club, of Fries, Virginia, dedicated the month of August 2025 as Hurricane Helene River Cleanup month.
Forty citizen volunteers showed up on August 23, 2025, and worked in 6 teams to scour the river for debris.
Each team pulled a flat bottom boat upstream, with the workers wading in the knee deep waters.
They pulled out over 100 tires and several tons of debris.
Laurie Thomas Vass, a member of the Sea Trail Fishing Club went to Fries to volunteer to help clean the river.
“I fish in the New River and love that mountain community,” said Vass. “Their little towns, like Fries and Mouth of Wilson were devastated by the storm and I wanted to do something to help them.”
I won the prize for finding the proverbial kitchen sink,” she said.
“We found tires, appliances and roof tops, said Vass, “including a fully functional porcelain toilet.”
“The force of the water flushed a lot of things down the river,” she noted dryly.
Keith Andrews, the President of the New River Wildlife & Conservation Club, expressed his appreciation to all the volunteers and noted that the club hopes to conduct a river cleanup, every August.
“I invite all the members of the Sea Trail Fishing Club to come up here next year, and camp in our 32 acre club park, next to the river, and help us recover from the hurricane,” he said.
About New River Wildlife & Conservation Club, Inc. The club is a 501c 3 that offers education programs including fly-fishing clinics, hunter education courses, field-to-table workshops, mountain crafts workshops, nature walks, kayaking lessons, river water chemical testing, and floats throughout the year. The club has been holding annual river cleanups since 2021. Located in Grayson County at 7107 Riverside Dr. Fries, Va. 24330.
Sea Trail Fishing Club 
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