Morning Star Fish Report

Fish Report 9/28/06

Sea Bass and a Flounder Lawsuit Threat

Hi All,

In my last fish report I had anticipated an upturn in the fishing and there was. The next day we had our first double limits - croaker/sea bass. With croakers up to 18 inches, that's a kind of fishing that is easy to enjoy!

Unfortunately, soon after came another hurricane swell and the better sized croaks departed for parts unknown. Perhaps they'll turn up again. Measuring croakers to see if they are 9 inches doesn't turn anyone's fancy! I'll leave 'em be for now.

Sea bassing has been very fine most days. Limited the rail at 12:10 on Wednesday and have had some limits on others. Surprisingly, there's been some good sized fish - pool winners up to 5 lbs - along with the more typical 'fall weeding' that has begun.

It's not all gravy! I have measured cbass as small as 5 3/4 inches of late. That's a really small fish to be chomping on a 3/0 hook! Question is: Are they following instinct and beginning their move offshore for winter, or are these small fish residents of the various reefs we've been fishing. Knowing the answer would be very helpful in determining the importance of natural and artificial reefs. The research would be useful in studying other species as well. No acorns - no oaks...

Flounder are few and far between. Still, the lady with the 10 pounder today was pretty tickled with hers!

I'd say fall cbass fishing has begun.

If you are plugged into fisheries at all you've heard of the impending regulatory doom that is about to befall our region's fisheries. The only species I see mentioned in the reports is flounder, but virtually all species under management are included. Sea trout, sea bass - whatever - all of 'em. As I understand it, the pressure to 'meet the numbers' is a result of the threat of lawsuit - not a judge's ruling.

Depending on where a fish is on it's 'recovery' schedule is how far the cuts will go. Flounder, for instance, would require a cut of roughly 87% from this year's allocations in order to be 'fully rebuilt' - the population restored - in 2 more years. One way to see that number is that the recreational and commercial fisheries would be allowed approximately 1.3 flounder next year for every 10 legal flounder this year. No one's saying that flounder aren't coming back - it's just not fast enough.

It's as if the EPA said, "Yes, the air quality is improving, but since we are not approaching our target values fast enough we will be closing I-95 until further notice. Sorry for any inconvenience."

Or perhaps the Federal Reserve Chairman had said, "The heck with a soft landing, we're raising interest by 500 basis points. The bread lines won't last forever."

Meanwhile, back at sea:

We are watching fantastic populations of 1 and 2 year old trout migrate south each fall. This was the first fin fishery to be managed that I can recall and yet the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays' trout populations remain pretty much flatlined. In all likelihood, the reason the juveniles don't return north in the spring is because they have been consumed by hungry striped bass and bluefish. Catch 22 squared ~ Increasing the striper and bluefish populations will probably cause a further decline in sea trout unless another prey species is allowed to increase dramatically. Menhaden might fill that niche - and very likely did until processed fish oil products came along - but, darn the bad luck, that team not only has lawyers ~ they have a State Legislature down in the trenches with 'em. Poor trout.

In another example, we are seeing a decline in 'recruitment' -those fish just getting large enough to catch- in flounder and sea bass despite increasing 'biomass'. Presented in graph form you'd see one line representing the total number of catchable fish. It slopes down with overfishing and up with successful management. Another line on this graph represents the fish that are anticipated to be catchable in the near future. More adults = more spawn = more recruits, simple. Managers rightly expect that these lines match fairly well - curve upward as an indication that management is working.

Funny thing is ~ they don't. Up until 3 years ago they did.

Know why? Neither does anyone else.

Additionally, the Magnusen Act's habitat requirements continue to be roundly ignored in any mid-Atlantic fishery plan - there's still nothing out there, just sand and mud. (progress there recently though)

Cutting back on what fishers take can only get these recovery plans so far. Learning how to maximize production is the only way to rebuild the fisheries. When we find out where those 5 3/4 inch sea bass were just recently we'll be one step closer.

So, environmental groups posture with lawsuit - NMFS growls back at 'em like a junkyard kitten and fishers of both camps are going to get burned badly - fatally even.

Understanding - and putting to use - the 'whys' and 'how comes' and "Ah-ha's!" won't have advanced one little bit while all camps are hunkered down hoarding moneys for the coming courtroom battles.

It's enough to make a graying sea captain cuss.

Yup, sure is.

Coming time to put a few bass up for winter.

I'll see you on the rail,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservations 410 520 2076
www.morningstarfishing.com

posted by Monty # Thursday, September 28, 2006

Fish Report 9/17/06

Et Tu Nature Conservancy?

Hi All,

Jolly 10 days since my last report. North-east winds, hurricane swells and heavy rains sum it up nicely. Then, when we did have a decent weather day, 'ol man Murphy stepped up and slipped a burst engine hose into the mix! That resulted in a memorable cloud of steamed coolant and a one prop return to the wharf.

The sunny-sided report might be that there were 2 pretty decent days of fishing in the period. Bah.

But, having seen what today had to offer I think the pattern's going to turn. Croakers are starting to knot up again. Due to the swell decreasing, they were schooled much tighter on my way home than when we fished 'em this morning. So far I've had 3 days of 'getting done' with croakers in under 45 minutes and another that took one hour and 15 minutes. I like to get all we want - or can legally take - in under an hour. Leaves more time for the bassin'.

Speaking of which, the cbass bite from late morning into the afternoon was very October-like! Nice. No limits, but close. Lots of weeding.

It's coming time.

And it might be coming time for coral bottoms in this region. Maybe.

You're familiar with the Nature Conservancy and the wonderful things they've done. Seriously well funded; they're a heavy hitter in the conservation world. They're also active in some marine issues.

The Nature Conservancy is apparently taking a hard look at the mid-Atlantic's marine ecosystem. An expensive effort no doubt.

Did I mention that there are coral beds off the coast? Thought so. Yeah, the short film of some of this region's natural 'live bottom' is still on my web site.

Apparently, that information hasn't landed on the right screen ~ yet.

You see, there really is a wall that's been erected by science. Numerous papers cite "Wigley & Theroux 1981" as the definitive mid-Atlantic habitat, species abundance and seafloor characteristics source. At 198 pages, it is an exhaustive document.

How in the Billy Blue Blazes did they miss all this live bottom???

From the "...Mid-Atlantic Bight Seascape Overview" citing Geological Survey Professional Paper #529 - the Wigley/Theroux paper, the Nature Conservancy has the following information. (MAB = mid-Atlantic Bight)

From page 6: Overall, benthic fauna in the MAB are predominately suspension feeders or carnivores, many of which are mobile either being free burrowing or tube building fauna. This makes sense given the lack of hard bottoms, reefs and rocky outcrops in the MAB.

From page 4: Few natural hard bottoms exist though several artificial reefs occur through the shelf floor providing hard surfaces for sessile benthos to attach.

From page 3: Because these shoals and their associated fauna represent such a dramatic departure from the characteristic sandy shoals and bottoms of the MAB, we will not address hard bottoms in this planning effort.

Trust me, there is incredibly more natural substrate than artificial reef! The reliance on a sole document, the same one used by Stiemle and Zetlin in their effort to document "...reef-like habitats in the mid-Atlantic Bight..." has created a 'dark age' in the study of our region's marine ecology.

Since 1964 there's been $34,385,000.00* worth of black sea bass sold by commercial fishermen in the mid-Atlantic.

How about $390,848,012.00* worth of lobster ~ Artificial reef?

It's time to turn a light on.

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservations 410 520 2076
www.morningstarfishing.com

* http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/commercial/landings/annual_landings.html

posted by Monty # Sunday, September 17, 2006

Fish Report 9/7/06

Croaking Bass?

Hi All,

Tropical Storm Ernesto sure seemed like a hurricane to me! At their height, seas from the blow were running 23 feet at the DE. Lightship, a weather buoy 15 NM east of Fenwick Island, DE.

(Link -- http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44009 )(there are also good marine weather forecast links there)

Many boats were damaged; one marina had over 1/2 dozen sink in their slips! Another boat found an abandoned life raft after the blow. No name, the Coast Guard will probably have to trace the serial number. You can only shudder at the thought...

It takes a while for 20+ foot seas to pipe down! On Sunday's trip sea swells were 8 to 10 feet with the occasional 12 or 13 footer thrown in. Because they were swells and not wind driven waves; it was doable. Fish were scattered. Croakers were high up on structure - way atop wrecks and reefs - it's something I don't recall seeing before. Sea bass were fussy and flounder were absent!

The fishing each day has gotten better - today the swell was finally gone. Nice.

Now, well after the blow, croakers are just like I like 'em ~ thick! It took about 45 minutes to limit out on 13 to 16 inch fish - then we went cbassing. Did OK on the bass - better than before the hurricane but certainly no limits. And, for the first time since Ernesto, we had a sign of flounder as well.

I'd never really considered the effects of waves, other than how they were going to effect a boat ride, until I was working with the underwater camera in a moderate swell. Pretty amazing. In 65 feet of water a 4 to 5 foot swell was swirling the sand on the bottom with each passing sea. That is, with the camera resting on bottom you could see the circular pattern of the sediment going up and around. It was plainly in concert with the ground swell.

Very sturdy wrecks and reef materials can get jumbled around on the inshore sites, even moved a considerable distance in a fierce enough blow.

Do fish get sea sick?

I doubt it, but I know there are many species that move deeper when a good blow is coming.

The work done with artificial reefs suggests that wave motion is dampened considerably in over 120 feet of water.

I wonder how they know... Croakers, for instance, will probably hold tight for a wind that kicks up a 5 to 6 foot wave pattern but will scoot offshore in a big hurry when the same size of wave is generated by a tropical system or classic nor'easter. Sea trout too. In fact, one school of 'croakers' that I stopped on Wednesday was sea trout. Little fellows at that! 110 feet of water and here come trout 8 to 12 inches long...

Anyway, the fall mix has begun. I enjoy being able to mix the species. It won't happen everyday - I'll keep the emphasis on cbass. Blues, croaker, flounder? Who knows - if I can mix it up a little, I will!

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservations 410 520 2076
www.morningstarfishing.com

posted by Monty # Thursday, September 07, 2006

Morning Star Fish Report

Fish Report 9/28/06

Fish Report 9/17/06

Fish Report 9/7/06

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