Morning Star Fish Report

Fish Report 11/25/07

Sea Bass, Bluefins & Spiny Dogs

2 Tog Trips ~ 4 Cbass Trips ~ Bottom Paint

Hi All,

If the water temps fell for the next month like they have the last few weeks we'd soon be icebound north of Cape Hatteras.

Tuesday we had the first few spiny dog sharks come over the rail. Wednesday.. Dogged up! They pushed us off a couple spots. Came out of it alright with the sea bass, but in the space of 2 days we went from being occasionally terrorized by bluefish to sporadically overrun with spiny dogs. There's still a few blues around -an occasional flurry- just not like it was.

Cbassing's not bad. Mostly. Had a day last week where a guy had 5 fish in his box. Fellow and his grandson, standing immediately adjacent, had 30 some. Wasn't his first time out either. Not by a long shot. Bad luck...

Lost a couple days to weather. Back out Saturday~ the long trip OK for some, excellent for others. Tuna everywhere it seemed, miles of 'em, but not that would bite! Along with the sea bass, blues and a single tog, we had about a dozen flounder. Don't recall seeing that before. Scrubbing down that evening the boys were making ice with the washdown hose ~ coming winter, yet still some flounder.

Tuna. I see them every year in the late fall, early winter. Haven't figured out how to catch 'em. Tried like heck to do just that Sunday. Tuna rolling right next to the boat. Dern near could have free gaffed 'em. Chunks thrown right in the middle of 'em.

Fish Bonz, charter boat down the dock a bit, did catch a couple.

Blame things...

Fortunately, the sea bass were very cooperative.

As was the weather. Near perfect a November day as could be had. Calm as I've ever seen.

Just added next weekend to the reservation book. Didn't know how the bass were going to hold up ~ should be just fine. December 1, 2, & 3 ~ Sea Bass ~ Nov 30th too.

Sea bass are open in December. Tautog, in Maryland, are not. Thought we'd try and sneak a day or two in before they close. Water temp's good. November 28th and 29th ~ Tog trips. Not blues, not sea bass and I sure hope no horndogs! Just tog. Sell out at 15 people. Green crabs provided.

Then 4 more days of cbass and whatever else wants to bite.

Couple of the guys at Tow Boat US, Ocean City, took advantage of that calm we had Sunday. Took a barge load of concrete out to Russell's Reef. That project's coming along ~ building near the top of the shoal. The barge had about 10 tons of concrete and a very unique reef unit, the gun reef. That was the one made by Mumford's Sheet Metal from weapons that had been confiscated by the Millsboro Police Department. First rendered unusable, then welded into an mini 'oil rig' tower. Good stuff. Millsboro's a small town in southern Delaware. Wonder what a D.C. or Baltimore P.D. gun tower would look like.

The "guns to fish" program? I bet oysters would take right to 'em! Politicians too...

10 - 15 tons of concrete on our little barge per trip. Each trip adds to the reef footprint off the coast. Permanently. I've seen it grow ~ seen it work. Fishery management isn't going anywhere without fish habitat. Here's a way to make it happen.

The MARI program is putting down 1000 plus tons per trip in the Chesapeake. I doubt many realize what they're getting.

I know what we're getting with the upcoming NYCTA subway cars project ~ a lot of footprint for the money. Excellent value with long term positive effects on regional fisheries. Some of those units starting to get names ~ sponsor a railcar for Christmas!

Couple trips left in the year. Try and get the heavy, unavoidable maintenance done before tog reopen on Jan 1st.

See how it plays.

Regards,

Monty

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

posted by Monty # Sunday, November 25, 2007

Fish Report 11/18/07

Ol' Time Pull

New York City Transit Authority Railcars On Track!

Hi All,

Veterans Day. Splendid. Worked for 'em at first, moved a couple times ~ picking away. Decent start. Good weather.

Set up again. 'Bout an hour later I told my deckhands that this was what fall fishing should be like.

Constant doubles of sea bass. Some keepers, some throw backs. Rapidly building a catch. An old-time pull.

Only one limit, but with months of no limits ~ nice.

Several days with high hook in the 20's. Fishing's usually OK if the weather lets us out.

And the blues leave us alone! They've run us off a bunch of spots.

Tuesday I had a decent flounder on, maybe 3 1/2 pounds, when it started pulling pretty hard. Odd. Reeled in a head.

Customers got a kick out of it when I announced on the PA that I was suspending federal regulations on bluefish...

They thought I was kidding.

Another fellow, long time regular, hangs bottom. Then gets a lift. 9 1/2 pounds. Good fluke.

Only 5 flounder all week. Lots of guys asking if we're still catching 'em though.

Bass & Blues ~ Bass & Blues...

And tuna? No! But we are seeing them everyday. Everywhere I've been. Couple slips down from me; the charter boat 'Fish Bonz' put a nice bluefin on the dock. About a hundred pounds ~ caught it 14 miles off the beach.

That fish had a belly full of scup (porgy). I suppose every predator is an opportunistic feeder ~ I'd wager that it would have preferred dining on squid or some-such.

Atlantic commercial landings of the prey species; herring, mackerel, various squid, menhaden and butterfish for the last decade tally 21.7 Billion pounds.* Yes, Billion. Might be why tuna and blues are eating our reef fish.((* http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/commercial/landings/annual_landings.html ))

So maybe habitat isn't ALL of the solution, but it's a big part.

Takes money to build reef. The 50/50 raffle we have everyday on the boat raised just over $5,000.00 this year. Still counting, I'm donating $1,000 to the MARI project, another thousand opened a special escrow account and used the rest to keep the lights on -and anchors firm- at the Ocean City Reef Foundation.

Derned if there's not a lot of work to do.

One guy that's bitten off a big chunk of it is MD DNR's Marty Gary. He has been attending the federal artificial reef meetings for a few years. Here serious players discuss what's working and other issues of reef construction. Through Marty's contacts & efforts, and the Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative, (MARI) the coast is on track to get over 600 of the next batch of the NY City Transit Authority's railcars.

Recently approved by Ocean City's Mayor & City Council for use on their permitted sites; it's a fantastic opportunity. For far less than the cost of the average ocean front condominium unit -less than a year's interest on some of 'em- we can change fishing for the better.

I have video of an artificial reef sunk in the 60's. It is ~by far~ the most exquisite hard coral habitat I have yet found. And it's only about 8 miles out...

So, from groundwork I did some 9 years ago with the commercial trawl community and a lot of effort from the Town of Ocean City's reef liaison, Gail Blazer, we have 3 newly permitted reef sites plus 5 existing ones that are perfect for these units. Spread out over these 8 sites; I anticipate that marine growth will be swift. The fish will follow suit.

This project is it. This is a chance to double our region's artificial reef habitat footprint in the space of a couple years. Quite quickly I would anticipate an absurd improvement in the fishing for boats that stay within 10 miles of shore. I base that assertion on experience from the Great Eastern Artificial Reef site. Now well developed; 15 years ago there were no fish or lobsters caught there. None. Now it accounts for almost half of the full day party boat effort and a small percentage of commercial bass/lobster trap fishery. This starting from nothing. So perhaps, given time and surgical fishery management, we can return the nearshore fisheries to their former glory. There's still skippers in town that recall catching tournament winning marlin less than 8 miles offshore...

'Tis a costly thing though, far more than the Ocean City Reef Foundation has ever raised in it's funding history in a year ~ let alone a few months!

Chesapeake Bay projects in high gear; the MARI program is already over-budget. At this time, coastal anglers can hope for no funding from that quarter ~But~ do not forget that the opportunity sprang from it!

Each unit will cost +-$550.00 depending on exactly what site they go to. Yes, the price per unit went up. That's because NJ signed on. The NYCTA isn't a non-profit, they're just looking to get rid of the cars which happen to be great AR. A lot cheaper to drop them off Jersey than come here with 'em. And they're still about $800.00 less than our little barge loaded with concrete costs to site.

Sponsors can name one of 'em. Buy a few if you can! There are 3 new reef sites that need a name too.

550 bucks is a lot of coin but it will pay for a unit. $60,000 far more coin. A corporate sponsorship perhaps that would build out an empty reef site nearly two miles long by a quarter mile wide. Only 6 1/2 miles out, it's possible that there could be over 20,000 anglers fishing that reef in a few years time - 200,000 in a decade. Cost averages are quite low -incredibly low over time- and that's with no attempt to calculate the benefit of resting other reefs by relieving fishing pressure, or scuba diving enjoyment, or benefits to the commercial sea bass and lobster community.

The Ocean City Reef Foundation is a 501c3 tax deductible non-profit. We'll take all the help we can get!

Specify the subway car project and the donation will go into an escrow account solely for this project.

Visit http://www.ocreeffoundation.com/ Call or send inquiries to Ocean City Reef Foundation, P.O. Box 1072, Ocean City, MD 21843.

There's never been a greater opportunity, lets make this happen.

Regards,

Monty

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

posted by Monty # Sunday, November 18, 2007

Fish Report 11/11/07

Sea Bass Better

Counting Flounder for Management

Fallow Fields & Artificial Reef

Hi All,

Fishing everyday the weather allows!

The jumbo fluke in the last report appear to have been a grand finale. Still see a couple a day..

Sea bass much more cooperative this week, but keep in mind that abundance is fairly low to begin with. What's out there is biting!

Weather had us in a head-lock today. While some fishers did very poorly indeed, high hook had 16.

Top gun is generally +-20 keepers with lots of throwbacks. Low hook... Well, I won't mention any names, but Ike -an extremely skilled fisher- was roundhoused by an 11 year old last week. Skill & equipment vs. good luck. Kid and his Grandad had 30 some ~ I just can't mention the other...

Ain't fishing grand.

Water temps have taken a nose-dive. Saw 58 at one point today. Low 60's mostly. It's good. Also starting to see the gannets dive bombing the shoals. Mostly bluefish I suppose, though one of my mates swore he saw a small bluefin tuna amidst the show 11 miles out.

Seems like August's water lasted forever - gone now.

The blues are over the wrecks and reefs too. A nice pace mostly; a fish bitten off here and there, catch one. Did get run off a spot earlier in the week. Could not wind up a sea bass ~ at least not all of a sea bass. Chomp. With cbassing like it is; it helps.

Had a big grin -at least from where I was watching- while a guy hollered "Net!" then "Gaff!" Generally just one or the other but this guy had an odd double header. Bigggg blue on the top hook ~ good flounder on the bottom. Though very experienced at dipping flatties, Ritch had a heck of time scooping the fluke as it was towed about the bow...

Quite the show.

In the "pass the pepto" department, the marina ran the fuel price up to $3.20 a gallon. Boats are already computed in gallons to the mile ~ not miles to the gallon.. So the boys had the cover off the pump while we started to fuel. Not digital, the mechanical register started click-clacking at super high speed ~ what a racket. And all that noise wasn't coming from the gallons display... Dizzying...

Many grants have come and gone to replenish oysters; the millions were spent to bolster this lost fishery without lasting effect. Loose shell won't stay put and good oysters go to market.

Artificial reef will last. Hundreds of years ~ thousands if well constructed. Upon these reefs oysters will flourish ~ or be made to.

Now is a crucial time in Maryland's natural resource history. Seize the momentum of the Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI) ~ or let it go by like a flash of summer lightning. Artificial only initially; all things growing, swimming or crawling around them are natural. Reconstruction presents the only method of rebuilding habitats lost to decades, even centuries, of absent or shortsighted natural resources policy.

Our coastal sea floor habitat still isn't documented. My assertion that we've lost a great deal of it remains unproven. (( see short film clip www.morningstarfishing.com )) I believe it's loss is a significant factor in the decline of the region's fisheries. That seafloor habitat loss is almost always caused by industrial fisheries is a concern.

The benefits of improved water quality, revitalized fin fisheries ~ even a well regulated oyster fishery ~ are to be had with vigorous reef construction.

Maryland's thousands of miles of waterfront offer many sites for construction ~ from shallow tidal creeks to deep sea. There's a lot to be done.

As is so often the case; those that did the damage will not be paying for the repair.

Soon the coming year's round of rules and regulation battles will be joined. It's going to be brutal. We'll have to endure greater cuts in all our fisheries while awaiting discovery of what could truly restore species populations. Does habitat figure in here? Betcha.

In the case of summer flounder it strikes me that simply learning how to count them would suffice. All the old-timers I've interviewed that recreational fished in the ocean from the 30's on have told me there was never a flounder fishery here. Trawl, yes. Rod and reel, no. I'd caution that the assumption that they just didn't target them is ludicrous. Those guys were out to catch fish!

For the last 3 years local party boats have enjoyed some very fine fishing for them. Far, far better than the old-timers could have ever envisioned.

And they still need rebuilding?

It's time to put back. A change as dramatic to the fisheries as history's transition from the middle ages to the renaissance ~ thought by many to have sprung from improvements in farming.

The vast fields have lain fallow too long. Artificial reef will play a big part in the transition.

Regards,

Monty

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

posted by Monty # Sunday, November 11, 2007

Fish Report 11/11/07

Sea Bass Better

Fallow Fields & Artificial Reef

Hi All,

Fishing everyday the weather allows!

The jumbo fluke in the last report appear to have been a grand finale. Still see a couple a day..

Sea bass much more cooperative this week, but keep in mind that abundance is fairly low to begin with. What's out there is biting!

Weather had us in a head-lock today. While some fishers did very poorly indeed, high hook had 16.

Ain't fishing grand.

Seems like August's water lasted forever - gone now.

Had a big grin -at least from where I was watching- while a guy hollered "Net!" then "Gaff!" Generally just one or the other but this guy had an odd double header. Bigggg blue on the top hook ~ good flounder on the bottom. Though very experienced at dipping flatties; Ritch had a heck of time scooping the fluke as it was towed about the bow...

Quite the show.

While many grants have come and gone to replenish oysters; the millions were spent to bolster this lost fishery without lasting effect. Loose shell won't stay put and good oysters go to market.

Artificial reef will last. Hundreds of years ~ thousands if well constructed. Upon these reefs oysters will flourish ~ or be made to.

Now is a crucial time in Maryland's natural resource history. Seize the momentum of the Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI)~ or let it go by like a flash of summer lightning. Artificial only initially; all things growing, swimming or crawling around them are natural. Reconstruction presents the only method of rebuilding habitats lost to decades, even centuries, of absent or shortsighted natural resources policy.

Our coastal sea floor habitat still isn't documented. My assertion that we've lost a great deal of it remains unproven. I believe it's loss is a significant factor in the decline of the region's fisheries. That seafloor habitat loss is almost always caused by industrial fisheries is a concern.

The benefits of improved water quality, revitalized fin fisheries ~ even a well regulated oyster fishery ~ are to be had with vigorous reef construction.

Maryland's thousands of miles of waterfront offer many sites for construction ~ from shallow tidal creeks to deep sea. There's a lot to be done.

As is so often the case; those that did the damage will not be paying for the repair.

For the last 3 years local party boats have enjoyed some very fine fishing for them. Far, far better than the old-timers could have ever envisioned.

And they still need rebuilding?

It's time to put back. A change as dramatic to the fisheries as history's transition from the middle ages to the renaissance ~ thought by many to have sprung from improvements in farming.

The vast fields have lain fallow too long. Artificial reef will play a big part in the transition.

Regards,

Monty

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

posted by Monty # Sunday, November 11, 2007

Fish Report 11/4/07

Of Noel & Scurvy

Hi All,

At least it was a fast mover and weakened. Early Saturday morning Noel's remnant winds topped out at 43 knots, seas at 17 feet.

Incredibly, we weren't too far from the buoy that sends that data on Sunday. A pretty nice day by noon. Couldn't convince the fish of that though...

Before the blow ~ then we had some fishing! I almost sent a 'special cbass report' when fellows pushed into the upper teens -even 24- last Tuesday. One lady, Ms. Rita, was out celebrating her birthday ~her 80th birthday!~ with her daughter and did pretty well. Another regular and I were just targeting flounder that day. They bit too.

Wednesday was more tempered ~ some fellows into upper teens with better flounder. Then Thursday the fluke took center stage. Eh, OK on sea bass, but man, what pretty flatties. One guy -the fellow that had the first bass limit of '07- had the largest pair of flounder I've seen. One of the fish was just north of 8lbs., the other 9 ~ and he didn't take the money! 9lbs. 13ozs. Nice fish Bob.

Noel's big wind and then Sunday: Pick pick pickpick p i c k. Slow.

Something to do with the hurricane? Don't know. I've seen the fishing go both ways after a big blow.

Hope it wasn't a trend. Did have one couple that stayed steady on 'em, probably high hook. I expect everyone scratched a dinner or two out of it.

Also Sunday there were birds working offshore.

Now pipe down, it wasn't striped bass; they'd be early, especially this year! Bluefish - and they're late... Soon have trouble with 'em I suppose. Sometimes a pleasant diversion, but when you can't possibly reel in a whole fish... Oh they do get cussed!

Have they played a part in the steep decline in sea bass numbers? Certainly. How big of one I wouldn't venture. There were a few years that simply anchoring up seemed to be a dinner bell. Blues just waiting for sea bass to be reeled in ~ exposed to predation. And consumed.

On the scale of things, I think it's a new behavior. Sure, a few blues have always laid into bass on the way up; in recent years seems like they're all just lying in wait. Pavlovian..

Took a great picture of a fellow with a pair of flounder that had the same trouble last week. Double header -one appeared legal, the other decidedly so- both chomped on by bluefish. Pair of heads ~ hold the fillet please...

We have a lot to learn out front: the balance of predators, ourselves included, just another part. You can only pull on that string though ~ reduce the number of fish we take, or reduce the number of competing predators. Since recreational bluefishing is probably maxed, that means we'd have to encourage an increase commercial landings. Unpopular choice at best.

Maybe the blues could relearn feeding on menhaden. Have to put the menhaden back first...

Those flounder that we're catching? They've spawned out. According to Able & Fahay '98, fertilized fluke eggs have 6 to 7 days to begin feeding or perish. Metamorphosis -both eyes on same side- takes 24 days at 62 degrees F ~ 92 days at 44. While they do mention that some of these very young flounder are lying on the bottom before full eye transition - all are afterward.

Perhaps a mean of 35 to 45 days then before the quality of the bottom habitat becomes key to this recent spawn's success.

There'd better be some grub around ~ our low corals an oasis.

Among the early sea explorers it wasn't unusual to lose crew to scurvy on long voyages. More that half perished aboard Magellan's 1522 circumnavigation, the world's first. The survivors knew they got better when they reprovisioned with fruit. In 1753 James Lind, a Scottish naval surgeon, published his thoughts on preventing this long painful death. It wasn't until Capt. Cook's famous circumnavigation, finishing in 1771, that a voyage lost no mariners to the disease.

Now there's an awful lot that goes into sailing around the world ~ especially with poor charts, weather forecasts without benefit of satellite imagery, exceedingly difficult celestial navigation plus any other ship you might see liable to open fire as soon as they're in range. Having your crew die off or become too ill to work certainly would have worsened any troubles.

Fruits and vegetables ~ No scurvy.

Healthy sea floor ~ Spawning success.

It's not all of it, just an important part.

Hope it doesn't take a few more centuries to sink in.

Regards,

Monty

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

posted by Monty # Sunday, November 04, 2007

Morning Star Fish Report

Fish Report 11/25/07

Fish Report 11/18/07

Fish Report 11/11/07

Fish Report 11/11/07

Fish Report 11/4/07

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