Scientific advice presented to the Commission's Atlantic Striped Bass
Management Board indicates that striped bass management under Amendment 6 to
the Interstate Plan continues to be a success. The benchmark stock
assessment, recently endorsed by an independent panel of fishery scientists,
concluded that striped bass are not overfished and overfishing in not
occurring. The assessment estimates that the resource remains at a high
level with spawning stock biomass (SSB) at 55 million pounds, well above the
SSB target and threshold levels of 38.6 and 30.9 million pounds,
respectively. Estimates of juvenile abundance showed several years of strong
recruitment, with the 2003 cohort being the strongest in the time series.
The statistical catch at age (SCA) model used by the Striped Bass Technical
Committee estimated the 2006 fishing mortality rate on age 8-11 fish to be
F=0.31, which is below the Amendment 6 fishing mortality threshold of 0.41.
Retrospective analysis of the SCA model, as well as tag-based estimates of
fishing mortality presented in the assessment, indicate that the 2006
fishing mortality is also below the Amendment 6 target of 0.30.
Total striped bass harvest (commercial and recreational) in 2006 wasestimated at 3.82 million fish, a 46 percent increase from 2002 (prior tothe implementation of Amendment 6). Commercial harvest (1.05 million fish)was dominated by Maryland's commercial fisheries, which made up 62 percentof the total commercial landings by number in 2006. Commercial discards in2006 were estimated at 216,753 fish. Recreational harvest (2.77 millionfish) and discard losses (2.07 million fish) accounted for 79 percent oftotal fishery removals in 2006. Maryland recreational fisheries harvested 24percent of total recreational landings in number, followed by Virginia (22percent), New Jersey (18 percent), Massachusetts (12 percent), and New York(11 percent).The Peer Review Panel endorsed the use of the SCA model for producing SSBand fishing mortality estimates that can be judged against the currentbiological reference points. The new model is a significant departure from the virtual population analysis that has been used to assess striped bassstock status since 1997. It is an aged-based model that projects thepopulation numbers-at-age forward through time, rather than backwards, givenmodel estimates of recruitment and age-specific total mortality. Additionaltag-based results from the catch-equation method support the SCA model'sresults that striped bass are not overfished.Based on advice of the Technical Committee, the Board maintained the states'management programs at status quo. The Technical Committee will continue tomonitor the status of the stock and refine stock assessment methodology asnecessary. The next stock assessment update will be conducted in 2009.Copies of the stock assessment will be available on the Commission website(www.asmfc.org under Breaking News) by mid-February.
Record Largemouth Bass Caught In Potomac Above Wilson Bridge
Angus Phillips - Washington Post Reporter
A Howard County angler caught Maryland's biggest largemouth bass last weekend in the Spoils area of the Potomac just above Wilson Bridge in Prince George's County.
Justin Riley of Woodbine was fishing in an Angler's Choice tournament out of Marshall Hall on Saturday when he hooked and landed the 11-pound 2.88-ounce lunker in 20 feet of water, according to Keith Lockwood of the state Department of Natural Resources, who certified the record.
Riley, a regular on the local tournament circuit, was fishing with his father, Ed. They won three categories in the tournament, Lockwood said. Riley kept the bass in his boat's live well and later donated it to the Bass Pro Shop in Hanover, which has a big display tank on the showroom floor.
Bass Pro officials said the bass is doing well but won't go on display for about a month, after completing a stint in quarantine. The fish was two pounds bigger than the Maryland record tidewater bass, a 9-pound 1-ounce fish caught in the Pocomoke River in 1975, and less than an ounce heavier than the freshwater record, an 11-pound 2-ouncer caught in a farm pond in 1983.
NOAA Determines White Marlin Not Threatened or Endangered
NOAA Fisheries Service announced today that the Atlantic white marlin, a billfish highly prized by recreational anglers, does not warrant listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Based on the biological status of the species and consideration of the ESA listing factors, the species is not in danger of extinction.
“All indications are that the white marlin stock has grown since we last estimated the stock size in 2002,” said Dr. Roy Crabtree, NOAA Fisheries Service’s southeast regional administrator. “With reduced fishing mortality the population should remain stable or continue to increase.”
A 2006 stock assessment showed a population increase since 2002, likely due to improved compliance with international requirements to reduce the catch of the species. Total Atlantic-wide white marlin landings from longline fisheries have declined annually between 2000 and 2004, from 1,242 metric tons to 610 metric tons. The United States accounts for about three percent of that total.
In 2002, NOAA determined that an ESA listing of white marlin was not warranted, but there were still concerns about the species’ population. NOAA committed to conducting a new status review of the white marlin once the 2006 stock assessment was completed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the international body that manages white marlin and other tuna-like species.
Atlantic white marlin have historically been landed as incidental catch of foreign and domestic commercial pelagic longline fisheries, or by recreational and artisanal fishermen. Domestically, it is illegal to retain, land, or sell white marlin in a commercial manner, reserving the species for recreational anglers. The fish is highly-prized among recreational anglers in the United States, Venezuela, Bahamas, Brazil, and many countries in the Caribbean Sea and west coast of Africa.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Candus Thomson - The Baltimore Sun
The deck of Capt. Greg Madjeski's boat, from cabin to stern, was decorated in wet suits, dry suits, oxygen bottles and high-tech camera equipment.
Rain, in the forecast, ringed the boat in the distance but never approached. Thank goodness for the anti-shower curtain (Bass Pro Shops catalog No. 110912).
Nick Caloyianis, diver and underwater videographer extraordinaire, and his partner, Clarita Berger, volunteered their time and gear. Michael Eversmier, owner of Aqua Ventures, the dive shop in Cockeysville, brought his underwater still camera. Marty Gary, the Department of Natural Resources' reef point man, brought a submarine sandwich big enough to feed the Atlantic fleet.
But most importantly, Mike Baker brought the reef makings - nearly 30,000 tons of concrete slabs - over the previous months.
After setting markers and raising the dive flag, Madjeski maneuvered his boat over the site and buried the anchor to create a stable diving platform.
"Here we go on our excellent Chesapeake Bay adventure," Caloyianis said as he splashed into the drink followed by Berger and Eversmier for a quick scouting mission. Less than 10 minutes later, they popped to the surface.
"The visibility is, of course, horrible," Caloyianis announced. "I think we'd only see a fish if it ran into my face."
Undaunted, he reached for his $200,000 high-definition camera and, joined by Baker and Gary, disappeared again.
But even with the high murk factor, the divers returned with photos of mussels and fish and sea squirts - small yellowish globs that act as filter feeders. Gary did a little show and tell, handing me several oysters almost the size of my fist.
Yet despite signs of life, Berger expressed disappointment at the conditions down under, which resembled chocolate pudding mix.
"This is so sad. We've been diving in the bay since 1976. Then, you could see 30 feet. You'd think you were in the Bahamas. Now, all we see is silt, silt, silt."
Hoping for some clarity, Madjeski moved his boat to the other end of the reef. Visibility improved along with everyone's mood. This time, they saw stripers, a small sea bass and porgies along with oysters.
"That was a feast for the eye," Berger said.
Little by little, these small pockets of fish and oyster habitat are springing from the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay. Guided by the Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative, a nonprofit group, sites are being explored and selected.
Surprisingly, Point No Point and the next three projects - Cedar Point, The Gooses and Tangier Sound - were easy. Reef material came down the Potomac River from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge construction site to be dumped. Donations flowed into the fund from corporations and local groups, and the state promised $500,000 through a bond bill.
But the honeymoon is over.
The bridge construction site is down to its last dozen or so barge loads, so getting more material will require scouting and, perhaps bidding against salvage companies. MARI is going through growing pains, talking about new sites before having a business plan and a marketing plan. Donations are trickling in, there is no 2008 fundraising plan and the fundraising committee lacks a chairman. Making things worse, the $500,000 bond bill is entangled in the kind of legalese and outright stubbornness that only Annapolis could love, and DNR management seems unconcerned that contractors aren't getting paid.
Adding insult to injury, some of the MARI partners - the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, for example - haven't even bothered to put a link to the MARI Web site on their Web site.
Time out: The foundation, with an annual budget exceeding $17 million and more than 100,000 paying members, hasn't given a dime to MARI, even though the chairmanship is held by a foundation employee. That employee, Bill Goldsborough, said it was clear from the beginning that the foundation's contribution was always going to be "in kind." If fishermen and charter boat captains can write checks, would it kill CBF to make a cash donation?
St
"It takes time. You can't give up," counseled Caloyianis, who has dived on countless reefs around the world. "In a few seasons, these reefs are going to be dressed in the Chesapeake Bay's finest."
Buy A Ton- Click to make your tax-deductible contribution to MARI.
Buy A Ton- Click to make your tax-deductible contribution to MARI.
All donations less bank charges and credit card fees go directly to reef projects approved by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) after consultation with the Artificial Reef Committee and the Sport Fish and Tidal Fish Advisory Commissions.
President Orders Gamefish Status for Red Drum, Striped Bass
Executive Order creates legacy of conservation
ST. MICHAELS, MD - Surrounded by conservationists and anglers on the shores of historic Chesapeake Bay, President Bush today signed an Executive Order establishing gamefish status for red drum and striped bass in federal waters. The Order is a landmark victory for recreational anglers who have fought for decades to restore and conserve two of the most coveted sport fish in America.
"With this action, the President has secured a legacy for the recreational anglers and conservationists who have worked so hard on behalf of our marine resources," said Walter W. Fondren III, chairman of Coastal Conservation Association. "When CCA began to work on recovering red drum 30 years ago in Texas, we never imagined an event like this would ever be possible. We owe a debt of gratitude to the President for recognizing the high value placed on these resources by the citizens of this country."
U.S. Presidents have issued executive orders since 1789, usually to help direct the operation of executive officers. The Executive Order signed today by President Bush instructs the Secretary of Commerce to put regulations in place establishing gamefish status for red drum and striped bass in federal waters, and encourages the states to take similar actions in state waters.
"From the darkest days of overfishing in the late 1970s and early '80s, hundreds of thousands of people have worked tirelessly to conserve these resources," said David Cummins, president of CCA. "The President today has delivered the only reward that mattered to any of them - a better future for the resources they cherish."
Rare catch could spawn resurgence of sturgeon in bay
By Tom Pelton - Baltimore Sun reporter
A dinosaur-era fish might experience a rebirth in the Chesapeake Bay.
For the first time in three decades, scientists have found a mature female Atlantic sturgeon full of eggs in the bay, where the species was thought to be nearly extinct.
The 7 1/2 -foot-long, 170-pound behemoth - with sharp bony plates along its back, sandpaper-like hide and a blubbery sucker mouth - was accidentally netted by a fisherman at the mouth of the Choptank River near Tilghman Island on April 29.
He turned it over to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for a $50 reward. Now biologists hope to fertilize the eggs in a University of Maryland lab at Horn Point to produce perhaps 50,000 young sturgeon for release.
For 11 years, researchers have been holding males in tanks with the hope of someday finding a mate. Now the long-awaited courtship can begin.
"This is the first ripe female we've ever found," said Brian Richardson, a program manager at the state DNR. "It's very rare. ... Ultimately our goal is to reproduce these fish and stock them."
If the operation this month is successful, it will be the first wild Chesapeake Bay sturgeon bred in captivity, according to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
Sturgeon, a slow-reproducing fish that can live a century and grow to hundreds of pounds, were abundant in the Chesapeake and elsewhere until they were driven nearly to extinction by the caviar industry at the end of the 19th century. Their salty eggs were in high demand as an expensive delicacy.
Many biologists in Maryland assumed they were gone from state waters by the 1990s, with silt pollution making it difficult for the fish to rebound even after catching them was outlawed.
But starting in 1996, the Maryland natural resources agency has been offering cash rewards of $50 or $100 to watermen who turned them in. Most are tagged and released. Over the past decade, the numbers have varied widley but have slowly moved upward - from 13 in 1996, to 248 in 1998, 56 in 2000, 250 in 2005 and a record 450 last year, according to DNR figures.
The sturgeon aren't anywhere near recovery, and they probably aren't even breeding in the Chesapeake Bay yet, said Steve Minkkinen, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Most of the fish caught so far in the estuary have been young, with no spawning-age females or newly hatched sturgeon.
But the capture of a record number in the bay last year suggests they are probably breeding in the Hudson River, Delaware Bay and James River and then migrating to the Chesapeake to feed, Minkkinen said.
"It's exciting. This is an indication that there is at least some reproduction going on in the East Coast," Minkkinen said. "And it shows that the Chesapeake Bay's water quality and habitat is still good enough to support these subadult fish."
Elsewhere in North America, small numbers of sturgeon of different species have been reappearing in Lake Saint Clair in Canada, the Detroit River in Michigan and Minnesota's Lake of the Woods.
In Rock Bluff, Fla., last weekend, a 32-year-old woman was knocked unconscious by a leaping sturgeon while she was boating on the Suwannee River.
That kind of violence is not normal for the slow-moving, half-blind species, which lacks teeth and uses hose-like mouth parts to suck up worms and mollusks.
A panel of scientists recently recommended that the Atlantic sturgeon be considered a threatened species, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is expected to make a decision on the listing this summer.
"There is some evidence that Atlantic sturgeon may be doing better, especially in the Hudson River" in New York, said Jerre Mohler, fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "But it's really difficult to get a handle on sturgeon populations because they are not easy to monitor."
The federal wildlife agency has been breeding wild Atlantic sturgeon caught in the Hudson River at the Northeast Fishery Center in Lamar, Pa., since 1993.
In Maryland, about 70 sturgeon from that Pennsylvania center have been kept by state biologists in tanks near the Chalk Point power plant in Prince George's County.
An additional 55 sturgeon, caught by watermen in the Chesapeake Bay, are being monitored in 17 tanks and two ponds in Cambridge, at the Horn Point Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
The 7.5-foot-long female sturgeon was caught in the Choptank River this spring by a local waterman, C.R. Wilson, and was lifted out of the boat by a crane. The fish, roughly 12 years old, was hauled to the Horn Point lab by a state truck with a specially designed tank.
Andy Lazur, an aquaculture specialist at the lab, said he has been carefully monitoring the sturgeon's eggs to determine when they are at the right stage for fertilization.
Visitors to the tank are limited because they don't want stress to ruin the pregnancy, he said.
Sometime in the next two weeks or so, Lazur said, he and a team of colleagues from the state and federal wildlife agencies will remove the eggs from the sturgeon by making a small surgical incision. Then they will sew up the fish so she can survive and be released back into the bay, he said.
Her eggs will be fertilized with sperm from males in captivity. If all goes well, as many as 50,000 young sturgeon could hatch. In a few years, a new generation could be released into the Potomac, Choptank and Nanticoke rivers, although those plans haven't yet been finalized, Lazur said.
It's too early to tell whether this breeding effort will help lead to a sturgeon resurgence. "But," said Lazur, "there is a glimmer of hope and some good news."
Last July, then-Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. posed for cameras beside environmentalists on a scenic bluff overlooking the Chesapeake Bay and made what everyone present claimed was an historic announcement.
With Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine live on a teleconference screen at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis, the governors proclaimed that they were going to save the bay by imposing a cap on fishing for menhaden.
Why worry about menhaden? They are cigar-sized, oily, bony, notoriously smelly fish that no human would want to eat. They're the Rodney Dangerfields of the aquatic world - getting no respect, with their bulging eyes, oversized heads, pudgy bodies and unsavory reputation.
But menhaden are also a vital food for predators such as bluefish and striped bass, providing the main nourishment for several fish species along the Atlantic Coast. And swirling schools of the tiny fish serve as vacuum cleaners for the Chesapeake Bay, eating up algae and cleaning the waters.
Although few people have heard of them, menhaden are "the most important fish in the sea," as author H. Bruce Franklin describes them in his book by the same title, published last month by Island Press.
Franklin, a professor of English at Rutgers University and a cultural historian, makes a convincing case that overfishing menhaden is like removing the liver from the oceans. Removing these fish eliminates a filter system that all the other creatures need to survive. He also argues that the "cap" imposed on menhaden fishing last summer was really a hoax. The fine print doesn't force the fishing industry to do anything - meaning that the menhaden fleets can continue to rip the liver out of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.
"If a healthy person needs a fully functioning liver, consider someone whose body is subjected to unusual amounts of toxins - just like our Atlantic and Gulf coasts," he writes. "But now there are ominous signs that we may have pushed our most important fish to the brink of an ecological catastrophe."
Franklin's book on the runty menhaden is a killer whale achievement. It's an eloquent call to end the phony business of incremental regulation of fisheries that are rapidly being driven by industry into the abyss. More than 90 percent of the world's large fishes have been wiped out over the last half-century as cutting-edge fishing technologies have reduced seas to wastelands.
Meanwhile, politicians continue to subsidize the fishing industry and issue regulations meant to fool the public into believing they're protecting the oceans. But the rules themselves are riddled with loopholes - and fishermen ignore them, anyway.
Charles Clover made this case about overfishing on a global scale in his recent book, The End of the Line. And Franklin brings it home to the Chesapeake Bay in The Most Important Fish In the Sea: Menhaden and America. Billions of menhaden once migrated up and down the Atlantic coast, from Maine to Florida, like a living river. They were the fish that the Native Americans taught the Pilgrims to catch, to use as fertilizer as they planted maize. During the late 19th century, menhaden rendering plants popped up all along the Atlantic coast, churning out fertilizer and fish oil that replaced sperm whale oil as an industrial lubricant.
The fish - also known as bunkers, alewives and by more than two dozen other names - reproduced fast enough to survive these historic assaults. But in recent decades, their numbers have fallen and their range has shrunk, and they haven't been seen north of Cape Cod since 1993.
Driving the overfishing today is a company called Omega Protein, which operates the largest fishery in the U.S. out of the tiny southern Chesapeake Bay town of Reedville, Va., Franklin writes.
Omega uses a high-tech fleet of 61 ships and 32 spotter planes to catch billions of menhaden every year for boiling down in a variety of commercial products, from chicken and pet food to Omega 3 fatty acid dietary supplement pills.
The company has a virtual monopoly on the menhaden trade. Its airplanes spot schools of menhaden, and then its smaller boats encircle the fish with huge nets called purse seines, which tighten into bags like purses.
The ships then cruise up next to the purses, and vacuum up tons of the trapped fish through huge hoses.
As populations of menhaden have crashed, conservationists and sports fishermen have raised an outcry, because bluefish and rockfish also suffer when their main source of food vanishes. The environmental group Greenpeace held demonstrations, raising a banner on boats floating outside Omega's Reedville plant declaring: "Omega: Factory Fishing is Overkill."
The landmark announcement made last July by the Maryland and Virginia leaders was welcomed by many mainstream environmentalists, but it was highly misleading, Franklin writes. The so-called "limit" did not make the politically influential Omega company limit its business in any way.
The "cap" of 109,020 tons of menhaden a year is the average of what Omega has been catching over the past five years. This means they can keep doing exactly what they've been doing to imperil the most important fish in the sea. Moreover, the compromise plan hammered out between Virginia and Omega allows the company to catch up to 122,740 tons of fish - an increase from the current average - in any year if it suffers any dips in the previous year.
A better solution, Franklin argues, would be a total moratorium on menhaden fishing. New Jersey passed a law banning Omega's fleets from its waters in 2001. And within three years there was a "stunning resurgence" not only of menhaden off the Jersey Shore, but of bluefish and striped bass. Maryland and Virginia should follow New Jersey's lead, Franklin writes, and enjoy a similar resurgence.
"In the fall of 2005, an armada of healthy stripers on their southern migration from New England swept into the bays along the shore [of New Jersey], while hordes of bluefish stayed around until almost the end of November, several weeks longer than usual," Franklin writes. "Many of us had seen nothing like it. Maybe it wasn't proof, but that fall certainly seemed convincing evidence that the experiment was succeeding - so far."
Light Tackle Jigging at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
Extreme Angling Adventures- This column is where I normally write about an angling adventure I undertake with a few friends which always seems to turn into a story more about a battle against mother nature and survival than about a fishing trip. Usually, when we plan a trip in the Fall, Winter or early Spring we are dealing with gale force winds, sub-zero temperatures and usually a below par fishing experience. So this year when we put together a trip on Dec. 30th to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean we were mentally prepared to be dealing with another fishing fiasco.
For this trip we decided to go out with one of our newest advertising partners, Capt. Walleye Pete Dahlberg of Four Seasons Guide Service
http://www.fourseasonsguideservice.com
I had seen a presentation that Capt. Pete had given for the CCA a few years prior where he talked of this “Promised Water” known as the CBBT. After that evening I knew I had to give this legendary area a try while the Striped Bass were migrating down the East Coast headed for the offshore waters of NC. During this time many of the ocean going fish will turn right and head towards the bay in search of schools of baitfish. What they encounter when they make that right hand turn is a plethora of fish holding structure that was created some 20 years ago when the 17.6 mile long bridge-tunnel-bridge-tunnel first opened. The CBBT with its 4 islands, 5,189 concrete pilings and 2 tunnels has created one of the best man-made structures fishing has ever seen. This attracts schools of baitfish and in turn many species of fish eager to gorge themselves on this ever present supply of baitfish including the legendary Striped Bass.
The trip would be a marathon event with everyone’s schedule a little busy after the holidays and the day before New Years eve so we had to make the most of our time. We left Annapolis for the long drive down the eastern shore at 2am Sat. We arrived at the fishing command post which is the Kiptopeke Inn http://www.kiptopekeinn.com by 5:30am after driving all night, sometimes in very dense fog to make the trip even more exciting.
This motel/fishing camp is located right outside of Kiptopeke State Park
http://www.dcr.state.va.us/parks/kiptopek.htm
and is a very busy place during the Fall/Winter season with boats on trailers littering the parking lot and an overflow of angler’s filling the continental breakfast. We overheard a waitress say that they had been through 15 pots of coffee since 5:00 am this morning and it was only 5:45. We met Capt. Pete at the Inn and proceeded to get in the ever growing line at the boat ramp in the state park. We launched slightly after 6:00am and were soon headed towards the CBBT.
I guess the stars had aligned for us because the weather forecast was for sunny skies, waves 2ft and a temperature in the upper 50’s to almost 60 degrees- are you kidding me- this was the second to the last day of the year.
One of the main reasons we choose Capt. Walleye Pete is because he specializes in light tackle fishing, don’t get me wrong I like almost any sort of sport fishing that catches fish; bait when necessary, chumming, trolling you name it. However I find it much more rewarding and exciting when you are using 6ft medium action rods with 12-15 lb test mono on a spinning reel (Capt. Pete cursed our mono in favor of braided line, but the mono held and did well overall). When fishing like this it is up to you to present the bait in a manner to attract the fish, you can get into a groove with your jigging and learn what makes the fish strike unlike other types of fishing where you are just waiting for something to happen. Another great thing about Capt. Pete is that he is always ready to make a move to find more or better fish. He was zigzagging around chasing birds and moving more than any other captain I have fished with, his enthusiasm for the sport really shinned through and made for an excellent day of catching, not just fishing!
We started out over at 9ft shoal and found fish within a few casts. The first few fish were in the 18-22in range.
From here on out things are a little hard to keep track of and to describe mainly because it was non-stop action until we called it quits around 4:00pm.
We were jigging with 6in and 10in chartreuse and white BKD’s otherwise known as Bass Kandy Delights
http://www.basskandydelights.hypermart.net
and found that they really stayed on the hook well, much more than some other similar baits.
The big fish of the day (pictured at top) was caught by Steve Logan who was using a 10in chartreuse BKD, you know what they say, big bait = big fish. The fish hit down deep where Capt. Pete said there might be some big ones lurking. Steve fought the fish to the surface and finally got it beside the boat for Capt. Pete to lip it and bring it into the boat. It would have been easier if we had a net but apparently that was lost overboard a few days earlier. This fish was a Monster and was a personal best for Steve and one of the largest of the year for Capt. Pete this year at the CBBT. After you see a fish like that being caught your blood pumps a little faster and you cast and jig a little harder in hopes of finding one in the same size class. Unfortunately that was the only other one greater than 40in however we did catch several in the mid to upper 30’s and countless slot fish in the 18-28 in range.
The oddest catch of the day was when I reeled in a Hickory Shad, seems a little early for them to be heading up the bay but I guess with the warm weather they can't figure out which way to go.
We chased birds for a while and found some nice schools of fish including some breaking on the surface. This is when I broke out my fly rod for a little long rod action and was treated to 4 or 5 nice fish on the fly before they went down deep again. Around noon a think dense fog rolled in out of the north which made for an eerie atmosphere.
Once the tide slacked a little we went into the bridge and started catching a very nice grade of fish jigging down in between the pilings. This action was non-stop on every drift for several hours and our hands and arms actually were sore from the jigging and fighting of so many fish. It is truly hard to describe the amount of fish that were caught between the four of us this day, easily over 200 fish and probably many more than that in reality. This was an awesome day especially for 3 CBBT first-timers and one that is certainly burned into our memory as one of the fabled fishing trips of a lifetime. In all, we logged over 500 miles, were awake for over 42 hours straight but in return caught a record number of quality Rockfish on a picture perfect day.
I would encourage every serious angler to get down to the CBBT at least once in the late fall or early winter and try this incredible fishery. I would also highly recommend Capt. Walleye Pete as a guide, not only at the CBBT but also in the spring and summer when many people think that good fishing has slowed down in the bay. Pete has some secret locations where you can catch Red Drum into July and also big rockfish well into summer.
New Maryland State Record Striped Bass
Gary Smith caught this 57 lb 4 oz, 30 inch girth and 53 inches long, record breaking striper off the Assateague surf early in the morning on Saturday May 6th.
Grasses' revival a bright spot for bay
A recent surge of aquatic vegetation and reprieve from damaging runoff have resulted in the cleanest water in decades in the Susquehanna Flats area of the Chesapeake.
By Candus Thomson- Baltimore Sun Staff
HAVRE DE GRACE -- Just five months ago, the water coursing over the Conowingo Dam and into the confluence of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay was a chocolate brown slick of muck visible from outer space.
Today, the water is gin clear, a picture window on the creatures below.
Baby striped bass dart from grass clump to grass clump as catfish the size of a man's forearm cruise by. Largemouth bass lurk at the edge of an underwater hedge of green, waiting for dinner to swim along. A wader can reach the bottom and grab a fistful of freshwater clams.
"It's as good as it can get," says Capt. Mike Benjamin, a fishing guide on the upper Chesapeake. "On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 20 when compared to 20 years ago."
For the second year in a row, the aquatic vegetation in the area known as Susquehanna Flats is like a Kansas cornfield in midsummer. A six-week dry spell has given the bay grasses a reprieve from damaging runoff, allowing thick islands of plants to cover more than 10,000 acres -- about three times the size of Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
But unlike last year, this year's crop has ushered in a level of water clarity not seen in decades. The plants are slowing the flow of river water and straining sediment.
"They're acting just like a big aquarium filter," says Benjamin.
At a time when oxygen-starved dead zones in the Chesapeake are the talk of environmentalists and fishermen, the discovery of clean water teeming with life is a small but welcome sign.
"What we're seeing is a peek at what the bay could look like if all of our [cleanup] strategies were adopted," says Mike Naylor, a biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.
Susquehanna Flats is Maryland's welcome mat to the Chesapeake Bay. Topographically, it is an upside-down bowl in the bay nestled between Harford and Cecil counties, with depths ranging from a few inches to a few feet. Around the rim is a channel of deeper water.
"The Flats," as locals and fishermen call it, is in the middle of the East Coast's largest striped bass spawning ground. In spring, its surface is covered with fishing boats filled with anglers kicking off a new season. In late fall, hunters go "body booting," hunkering down in chest-high waders amid their decoys, waiting for ducks and geese to fly over.
But its location and shallowness also make the area easy pickings for harsh weather. The low point came in 1972, when floodwaters from Hurricane Agnes uprooted and killed as many as two-thirds of all the bay's grass beds.
Last summer, scientists announced a resurgence of grasses in this small portion of the upper bay, crediting a reduction in farm runoff in Pennsylvania and Maryland and fewer spills from sewage treatment plants. But weeks later, the remnants of Hurricane Ivan dumped up to a half-foot of rain on the Susquehanna watershed, forcing the operators of the Conowingo Dam to open 33 of its 50 floodgates. Debris scoured the grass beds, and floodwaters dumped up to a foot of silt where the plants had been.
"I thought it was all gone," says Benjamin. "No grass beds, no fish, no ducks. It was depressing."
This spring, it was more of the same, when heavy rains churned up enough sediment and debris to leave a dark brown streak from Harrisburg, Pa., to just below Kent Island that was visible on satellite imagery.
But the weather settled down, as did the runoff that fueled the growth of sunlight-blocking algae. The grasses surged, giving scientists hope that the upper bay is within striking distance of the recorded high of 13,000 acres reached in 1952.
"When we don't get runoff, the bay shows its resilience. The grasses stabilize the bottom and you put the system back in balance," says Bill Goldsborough, senior scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
But getting back to 1950s levels won't be easy, Naylor cautions. Extreme weather, poor land use and failure of sewage treatment plants hinder growth. Some dock owners complain that the vegetation fouls boat propellers and want DNR's permission to apply weed killer.
"The beds aren't going to keep spreading out on their own," Naylor says. "If we can increase water clarity by just a few inches, we can increase the beds by hundreds of acres."
The Department of Natural Resources continues its outreach through its Web site www.eyesonthebay.net, but as he stands on a small boat, looking down at the clear water, Naylor offers another strategy.
"If all the people who enjoy being in and on the bay could see this," he says, "they would demand that the rest of the bay look like this."
In Rain's Wake, a Deluge of Snakeheads
At Least 80 of the Predatory, Invasive Fish Caught in Potomac Tributary
By Joshua Partlow - Washington Post Staff Writer
The water was alive. Snakeheads, hundreds of them, were slithering among the minnows, rising up through the concrete blocks that dam Dogue Creek like salmon leaping for freedom.
Sunday was, in the Potomac River's increasingly bizarre snakehead history, a landmark day. And it was something Mark Hammond, in three decades of fishing the Potomac tributary near Fort Belvoir, never dreamed he would see.
"They're in there by the thousands," Mark Hammond, left, says of the snakeheads in Dogue Creek. At right is Woodrow Minnick, 20.
"They're in there by the thousands. You could see them literally coming up along the banks. The ones we caught didn't even put a dent in them," said Hammond, 43, an avid bass fisherman from Florida living here temporarily. "We would throw one in the cooler, two others would jump out and we'd have to chase them through the woods."
Since last year's discovery that the voracious, nonnative northern snakehead had infiltrated the Potomac River and its tributaries, fishermen have pulled them up in ones and twos, each catch a major event that further solidified the proof of an entrenched and breeding population.
In the first half of this year, about 15 snakeheads were caught in the Potomac and its tributaries, including several in Dogue Creek, but nothing has matched the haul Sunday and yesterday of at least 80. Its cause isn't yet clear.
"I think we have the state record," Hammond said of the catch behind the trailer lot where he and his friends drink beer and practice bow-hunting.
Nothing was normal about Dogue Creek on Sunday afternoon. The weekend rains had swollen this section, a couple of miles from the Potomac just off Route 1, far beyond its usual thin trickle. The sandy creek bed swarmed with small minnows and bluegills inching upstream toward a marshy pond. Among the smaller fish, Hammond's friend Mike Bowers noticed, were an inordinate number of bass.
"Wait a minute, I thought, those aren't bass," said Bowers, 42, of Mount Vernon. "Those are snakeheads!"
Bowers, Hammond and another friend, Tom Dustin, soon got to work. They didn't need bait. With fishing poles armed with three-pronged hooks, they snagged the snakeheads by the backs. They dipped in nets and pulled out clumps of them. They worked into the evening using headlamps to guide their work, hoping, as they had heard, that someone might be offering a bounty for the predatory species.
"We're trying to get paid," Bowers said.
By yesterday afternoon, the ranks of snakehead anglers included Woodrow Minnick, 20, and Matt Thackery, 24, but the catch was declining because the water had subsided.
Still, the brown spotted snakeheads could be seen wending their way upstream through thick blooms of minnows.
"See, see, right there! Right under that tuft in the bank: That's a snakehead," Hammond said, now wielding a long harpoonlike instrument. "There are too many of them. They're here to stay."
The northern snakehead, native to China and Korea, first appeared in the area in 2002, when it was discovered in a pond in Crofton. Authorities found six adults and 1,000 juveniles when the pond was poisoned. Last year came what fisheries experts say is a more disturbing development, when more snakeheads -- with no genetic connection to the Crofton fish -- were found in the Potomac, worrying scientists that the breeding population could throw the ecosystem out of balance.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has been contacted about the catch but had not visited the fishermen by yesterday afternoon to verify the details.
However, a state fisheries biologist confirmed from photos that the fish are snakeheads, department spokeswoman Julia Dixon said.
"We don't really know how they're going to behave in our waters," Dixon said.
"They're a top-line predator, so they're going to be competing for the same food and space as bass, and we'll just have to see what shakes out," she added.
Virginia fisheries biologist John Odenkirk said 90 snakeheads have been caught in the Potomac and its tributaries, including 70 this year. This is a strong indication that the fish are migrating, because they're moving upstream.
"It's incredible," Odenkirk said.
The catch by Hammond and friends did answer a few questions, such as: Can the snakehead actually walk? Not well. On the ground, the snakehead does stay upright, unlike other fish, but wiggles very slowly across the ground.
Allan Ellis, promotions manager at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World at Arundel Mills in Hanover, said that although gift certificates of up to $50 were still in effect for bringing in snakeheads, they don't apply in this case.
Only "legal methods," not nets or treble hooks, qualify, he said.
"We're not going to give out $4,000 in gift cards for fish caught in nets," he said. "But thank you for your enthusiasm and thank you for ridding the Potomac of this scourge."
Tips for Catching Snakehead
Anyone who catches a fish that they think is a northern snakehead is asked to kill it humanely with a blow to the head, then give the fish to one of the following agencies: Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
In state: (800) 770-4951
Out-of-state: (804) 367-1258.
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
In state: (410) 260-8320
Out-of-state: (877) 520-8DNR, ext. 8230
Piscatorial Quiz
Test your piscatorial knowledge, do you know what these terms mean?
In 1904, technology came to the communities along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. Nearly a century later, technology came to save the shad of the Susquehanna River.
As hydroelectric power plants and their dams were constructed in the early 1900’s, bringing electricity to hundreds of thousands of people, the lives of shad in the Susquehanna changed. Already in decline, the shad population was unable to swim past the new dams to spawn in the Susquehanna. The population plummeted.
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The deck of Capt. Greg Madjeski's boat, from cabin to stern, was decorated in wet suits, dry suits, oxygen bottles and high-tech camera equipment.
ST. MICHAELS, MD - Surrounded by conservationists and anglers on the shores of historic Chesapeake Bay, President Bush today signed an Executive Order establishing gamefish status for red drum and striped bass in federal waters. The Order is a landmark victory for recreational anglers who have fought for decades to restore and conserve two of the most coveted sport fish in America.
By H. Bruce Franklin
