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Where is Debbie "Holding a tight line"
Posted By: Debbie Martin
Date: Saturday, 5-2-09, at 10:10 a.m.
That is the big question and I am getting many emails from folks asking "Where are you and Is everything alright"? The answers are as followed: I am doing great and I have been very busy fishing and watching the biologist shock team from North Carolina up here near one of my homes on the Roanoke River in Weldon, North Carolina. This is Rock fish (Striper) capital and this is where the rock fish come up to the rapids of this river to spawn every year around this time. The locals refer to this as fighting for it looks as if the males are fighting each other to push the female up to the top of the water and bump her to help her release her eggs and when this is done the males fertilize the eggs as they are expelled from the female. If you are out on the river and see this, there is no other word then fascinating. When the eggs are expelled and fertilized they have to stay suspended in the fast rushing water of the rapids and in 48 to 72 hours these eggs hatch and fry appear. This part of the Roanoke River is full of rocks, actually some pretty large rocks and when the water rushes over the rocks this makes ideal conditions for the eggs to stay suspended until hatched. The fight actually began this past Thursday and locals that live on this part of the river reported that they could hear splashing noises at night and could see some fight activity. Today my boat is hooked up and this evening I will head out to observe this fascinating event. The biologist have proven that these fish that are hatched in this part of the river return to this river each year to fight or spawn. This proven event has been monitored by taking samples of the fish from different parts of the river and placing tags or trackers on the fish. This past week we caught and released a striper that was actually tagged off of Manhattan. So this fish was a very long way from home. Last year my 7 year old neice came up for a week of fishing and actually caught a 18 inch flounder. This founder was a very long 250 miles away from the ocean. We of course released this flounder. Well I just thought I would let everyone know where I was right now. Soon I will return to my roots of ocean fishing but for now I am off to hold a tight line on the Roanoke River. Happy fishing to everyone and count your blessings. Debbie
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