Morning Star Fish Report

Fish Report 8/31/06

Last of Summer

Hi All,

Last day of August and it's blowing a gale...

No worries, we've been spared a lot of bad weather along the beaches of the mid-Atlantic this summer. The payback might be brutal; Ernesto's not it!

I've seen us lose as much as two solid weeks of August fishing due to stalled hurricanes. Fishery management regulations have had similar result.

Not this year, it's been kind.

Rode through a hurricane the other day. Well, it meet the wind definition anyway. Just another thunderstorm, or at least that's what it looked like on radar. No ruckus on the weather channel or special Coast Guard broadcasts on VHF-16 ~ A slight chance of severe weather was noted in the forecast.

77 knots of wind. It might be that my anemometer was pegged as I thought some gusts were higher than that. I saw the water 'smoke'. Winds were so great that the surface of the water was indistinguishable; as if it were foggy. This was no fog! More like the inside of a tornado!

And all in a thunderstorm about 6 miles long by a mile and a half wide. Wow.

The boat's record of a 61 knot gust falls - it's now 77. I hope that one last forever...

Fishing? Yes, well, there's been a lot of that too - even some catching! Distilled ~ it might be best said that there were 3 cotton-candy days and 4 workin' hard for dinner trips.

Sea bass were really hot one trip (and only one!). Lots of high teens, several limits too. And, in the "you can't please everyone" department, I had several anglers disappointed with that trip because there were no flounder.

Would that they were aboard the next 2 days! Sweet - very productive flounder fishing - but sea bass numbers were way off.

Tough days outnumbered the good, but we still scratched up plenty of fish for dinner.

I wish I could assure you what days what species will bite, if at all. I can't - just going fishing!

This piece of ocean is used by many species that wander, have even come from other seas. The great whales, dolphin and turtles, the tunas and billfish. Rebuilding their populations intrigues.

While reading Safina's new book "Voyage of the Turtle", I found it fascinating that the lighting along Florida's condominium coastline was so important. Even to the point that some condo's beachfront had become favored over parkland by nesting turtles because of a darker sky. Odd - but it gives hope that we can continue to use our aquatic resources so long as we seek ways to make spawning more productive and reduce unwanted 'taking' - the dead bycatch of commercial fishers and release mortality of our sport.

I've always called the leatherback turtles by the name I was taught, 'razorback'. When about 6 feet of sea turtle rises along side the boat unexpectedly it can take your breath. Safina calls them "the Earth's last dinosaur." And so they might be.

It used to be that sea turtles were a way to find sea bass. True. I've done it myself several times. When I see a Turtle on top I keep an eye on the sounder - see several and I'll slow down to have a look.

While not an exhaustive stomach content analysis of turtles, Safina mentions crabs as a primary food of some species. Reefs and crabs go together pretty well.

Unfortunately, as I documented on video, when a lost gill net becomes trapped on the bottom it too forms a reef community. For turtles and other reef users this type of reef can prove fatal. If the net's webbing does rot it takes a long time. Unknowable bycatch...

I suspect there are times when fish are consumed by turtles as well. I've heard several stories from divers of docile sea bass being picked - by hand, not spear - and put in their mesh sacks. Other stories have the sea bass being swept aside so that a likely lobster hole can be explored. Neat stuff - bet those fish weren't biting! And, I'll bet a turtle could snack handsomely...

A lot will change with Ernesto's passage; at least in my view. Fish will not be 'where we left them'. Some will hunker down, others head offshore. This will be one of the first triggers of the fall migration for many species.

I do enjoy the fall. It begins.

Regards,

Monty

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

posted by Monty # Thursday, August 31, 2006

Fish Report 8/18/06

Squid: Key species?

Hi All,

The fishing part of this report won't vary much from my last. It's still the heart of August - traditionally the slowest bottom fishing.

It's not been without bright spots though. We even had one day where many were in the upper teens, a few in the twenties and one fellow limited out on sea bass. Naturally, that was the day after I sent the report that said only a skilled angler could even get to double digits.

That's fishing. It has not been the norm.

Flounder continue to be 'everywhere'. We've caught flounder from 40 to 135 feet. Not especially thick but enough to get your attention. Most everyday there's a couple guys with their 4 fish limit. Usually there's a 5 or 6 pounder in the mix. Personally, I'm enjoying the fluking around the wrecks and reefs. It's as challenging as toggin' I think. Lose just as many sinkers too!

Today the 1/2 day boats caught croakers pretty good. Sounded like a better sign than they'd been seeing. The fish were moving though. When they settle and start to feed we'll try some quick stops on 'em.

I tried a piece of natural rocky bottom a while back. The screen was loaded! Marks 20 feet up in the water column right to the bottom. Looked awesome. Set up on a big two anchor spread and --- goose egged! Zero fish.

But folks were coming up with no bait. Some regulars described the bite as though the fish were 'sucking'. After about 10 minutes we finally had a guy snag a squid - then another...

I'd seen it before but it's been a few years. I wrote some thoughts on it in '01 and, to my knowledge, they haven't been proven wrong.

I think squid use areas of sea whip - a soft, branching, tree-like coral - as spawning habitat.

The last time I found squid thick I joked about it on the radio - even put the location on the air. File that under stupid captain tricks. That evening there were trawlers working them. The next day there was a fleet of 'em...

Kept off the radio this time! I'd have given anything to go back out and drop the underwater camera on them; it was not to be. The wind blew, visibility was zip. No joy. I still can't prove it!

If the goal of management is fisheries restoration then surely squid are part of the plan. (yes, there is a management plan for squid. It's one plan where small mesh trawl bycatch has been heavily weighed and resulted in closed areas - especially to protect juvenile scup from becoming bycatch discards. It's been a long time since I read it but I doubt that there are any habitat considerations in the plan nor are there any considerations for their role as prey for larger predators.)

I have written numerous anecdotes about 'how fishing used to be' in this area. Often times I've mentioned that marlin fishers would target inshore shoals - even Great Gull Shoal scarcely 5 miles out. Yes, to catch marlin!

They all have areas nearby where I think sea whip once flourished. (and isn't there now)

This year's White Marlin Open had numerous fish caught within 40 miles I'm told. Weights on the fish were up from recent years. The fish were well fed on squid. "Bellies full of 'em"...

See any connection there?

It is certainly possible that up until the very early 1960's that there could have been large populations of squid coming far inshore to spawn. All of the fishers from that era that I've interviewed rigged only squid as bait. (on wire at that - no fluorocarbon then!) Predators follow the bait.

A great big piece to the puzzle I think.

Regards,

Monty

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

Fish Report 8/18/06

posted by Monty # Friday, August 18, 2006

Fish Report 8/7/06

High Summer Picking

Hi All,

Just a pick. Couple decent shots of fish in the last week but mostly working hard to get something going on.

We did have an 8 1/2 pound flounder and a few 5s and 6s but the catch rate has decreased of late. I hope it rebounds! Might have even set a new state record for winter flounder, a black back. Jury's still out s'far as I know.

Sea bass too are tough to keep coming. A slow but steady pick is all I can ask of it. There are a few over 4 lbs now and again.

A really good angler might end the day with 10 - 12 keeper cbass and a few flounder. It's a mess for dinner; maybe even a couple nights worth.

C'mon fall!

And c'mon croakers!

The waters off our coast are above 80 degrees. One small pocket of water I went through was 88. Great Scott.

Flying fish, manta rays, a school of amberjack and lots of immature sharks are all signs of high summer.

As is the White Marlin Open Tournament which began today. A lot of boats went out in what seemed a favorable forecast; it was certainly calm in the morning. I was thinking of them as we got a proper thrashing on the way home though. Just a short, sharp, slap you around kind of sea but building rapidly. Hope all made it home safely.

I have spoken at length with many fellows that worked as mates full time back in the 1950s. Mostly they worked on Talbot Street aboard the charter boats. Since most of the guys in the tournament this week are running more than 60 miles, some 80 or 90, off to waters so deep a fathometer can't read bottom ~ and that before they even get a line wet ~ I thought I'd pass along this tale.

Everyone 'knows' about the Jackspot. It's 20 miles to the SE and has several well defined edges. The fishing there was legendary; that's how Ocean City became the "White Marlin Capitol of the World".

The Sugar Lump and Winter Quarter Shoal are 16 to 20 NMs south of OC. and were not fished often. But sometimes they were; the charters would catch white marlin and dolphin(mahi) right on top of the hills; they could see the bottom.

Twenty three feet's a long way from a thousand fathoms.

Plenty of work to do before that fishery is recreated. It could be done.

Water quality, target species management, and prey base restoration ought to do it.

We'll get right on it.

Or ought to.

Regards,

Monty

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

Fish Report 8/7/06

Fish Report 7/30/06

Flat Bass?

Hi All,

This happened last year too. I don't know what to make of it. (except dinner!)

In the last few days sea bass have tapered mightily and flounder have come on strong. There's been a few dandies, up to 8 pounds, but most are a just an inch or 2 over the 15 1/2 inch size limit. There have even been keeper doubles. Two drops like that and you're bagged out ~ 4 is the creel limit!

Sea bass are still in the mix, but much slower. I'm fishing the same type of spots for both species. Today we had several mixed doubles - a good bass and a good flounder on one drop.

Believe me, it isn't 'red hot' fishing, but it has it's moments.

And now, having written about it, you can bet the flounder and sea bass will both flip me the fin! No worries, we'll find something to scratch a dinner up with.

Any day now we'll find croakers thick. I like to lay into 'em and then go do something else. It's really nice when they cooperate! Not yet though...

If you're purely into sea bass, "...the best is yet to be." Mid September or October will see the start of the fall cbass crush - the weeding. It's coming.

My crew and I made the Washington Post today. Angus Phillips wrote a kind piece about his trip last Tuesday.

One of the things he was keenly interested in, besides Tucker and Chef's next crack(Boy, they were in rare form!), was our region's corals. He, like so many others, had no idea that we have coral reefs off the DelMarVa coast. (Video is still on my website - Yes, one day I'll make another! I wrote the script targeting management)

It really is odd; I mean you can review fisheries literature from around the world and see all manner of protection for coral reefs. If a ship strikes a reef in Florida people are getting fired and insurance companies are digging deep for restoration funds...

Here in the mid-Atlantic? No worries - there are no reefs. You can drag tons of steel or a trawl net across any piece of bottom. The only risk is losing gear.

The very best habitat source document for our region's seafloor is Frank Stiemle and Christine Zetlin's "Reef Habitats in the Middle Atlantic Bight: Abundance, Distribution, Associated Biological Communities, and Fishery Resource Use".

In that document there are two areas of rocky bottom mentioned - the Shrewsbury Rocks off of northern Jersey and "some rock deposits 35 - 40 miles off of Delaware" which would be the Cape May Rocks.

Great night! There's a lot of bottom left out of that picture! 10s of thousands of acres I'm sure.

The authors freely admit that there isn't much information to go on and that they're findings are only what is currently 'known'.

Oh, it's high time we learned a little more...

Anyway, I wonder if flounder eat 3 to 5 inch sea bass?

Rascals.

There's a lot to it. Increasing the footprint of our regions reefs through habitat protection would sure help.

High summer's no time for freezer filling, but there's still good days to be had.

I'll see you on the rail.

Regards,

Monty

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

Fish Report 7/30/06

posted by Monty # Monday, August 07, 2006