Morning Star Fish Report: May 2008

Fish Report 5/25/08

Sea Bass Improve

Reef Raffle Rising

Hi All,

Early in the week we cheated the weatherman out of some cancelations; got some days in that seemed iffy. At that point we were still scratching along with bass/tog/bass catches. Light rails - enjoyable.

Thursday saw the first real bass catch of the year. Pretty fish and lots of 'em.

Sea Bassing's since been fair to very good. A few limits even.

Fishing pressure on the reefs/wrecks over the holiday weekend has been intense. Saw one of our winter tog spots with 7 outboards fishing over it. There were more boats waiting nearby as if in queue.

I looked at that insanity and thought maybe we'd better hurry along with our reef building...

Caught the WBOC TV weather report Monday evening. Fellow was talking about 30 to 40 mile per hour winds. Scouring the NOAA marine forecasts from Sandy Hook to Virginia Beach showed nothing similar.

Stayed tight to the beach the next day - had gusts to at least 35 on the way in.

That's messed up. If he had it figured right, NOAA should have been able to warn mariners....

Snagged a piece of pipe with my anchor that day. It had been put out as artificial reef by the Ocean City Marlin Club back in the mid-60's; a time when marlin fishing 8 miles out was still fresh in local's minds.

Inside and out, the pipe had the most magnificent coral and sponge growth I've yet seen out of the water.

How many lobster, tog, sea bass and squid had spawned there I couldn't guess. First class seafloor habitat.

Took a bunch of pictures and 'released' it.

Fellow snagged a big string of mussels Saturday; didn't want them...While cleaning the mussels I found all kinds of worms and shrimp living in the tangle of threads that they make; the bissel threads that they use to attach to substrate and each other.

The survivalist type TV shows will occasionally have a desert sequence. Guy wanders along and finds a scorpion - dinner. Sand.

Sea bass cooked with steamed mussels. Reef. Now that's good living.

The sandy ocean floor isn't near as barren as it's terrestrial counterpart, but next to a piece of hard substrate it will have to suffer the comparison.

And why in the heck don't we have mariculuture for mussels. Has to be a market for something that tasty...

A 50/50 raffle onboard everyday for the Ocean City Reef Foundation. Mate Ritch comes up Friday and sez.. "After all the subway car press, suddenly everyone's heard of the Reef Foundation. Yesterday and today are the 2 biggest raffles I've had yet."

These are my clients he's pitching the 50/50 to. If they're just learning about the foundation..

At the pre-deployment DNR press event for the Susan Power Reef, politicians spoke eloquently of Ocean City's 'fishing heritage'. Indeed it is rich: everything from pre-inlet surf-launched commercial fisheries; to a local trawler caught in a Russian factory ship's net 15 miles out; to Tuffy Bunting's plaque about white marlin: "Release Hell, Put 'Em On The Dock".

As a young man I hunted geese where the White Marlin Mall now stands. I broke many a claybird where Hoopers Crab House is. Friends that grew up in OC pushed a grocery cart full of decoys to the undeveloped marshes of 12th street to hunt duck before school.

Fairly recent as 'heritage' goes. Ain't coming back.

No condos, malls or restaurants in the ocean. Though squandered, we are not without hope of restoration. Artificial reef construction isn't about what was: it's about the future.

There's a lot of work to do before we have a habitat footprint that can sustain both the region's increasing fishing pressure and a rebuilt apex predator population.

Management is about reducing pressure - reducing the number of fish caught. Reef building is about expanding the habitat where fish can spawn, and shelter, and feed.

That coral covered piece of pipe I mentioned - times millions.

Habitat management, fisheries management and an aggressive reef program combined offer the possibility that our legacy will be of improved fisheries and greater opportunity.

That'd be a switch.

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

posted by Monty # Sunday, May 25, 2008

Fish Report 5/18/08

Still Bass/Tog

Prettiest Barge I Ever Saw

Hi All,

Doubt I ever saw water this chilly in mid-May before. Checked the buoy Saturday morning; http://ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44009 the temp had fallen still further; 52.6 degrees.

Crazy.

Bass are not terribly sensitive to temps, but there are the borders of too warm and too cold. Even then it's more a matter of fluctuation. Since we are near the low side to begin with, a dip lower makes it important.

Especially if you're out fishing for them!

Able to stay south of the worst of the cold water, we've been having high man in the mid-teens; couple tog too, which have been quite active in the chilled waters.

No blues for the charters yet; tougher sea bassing than we're accustomed too..

It'll change.

Soon.

I anticipate warming waters and a corresponding spike in landings....

Friday the load of NYCTA rail cars were deployed on the new Jackspot reef - now the Susan J. Power Reef.

Impossible to tell the whole story in a few paragraphs; give credit where it's due. Jack and Susan Power made the donation that got this barge sited; crucial & fantastically generous! Marty Gary of MD DNR did all the back room stuff. In fact, he brought the idea home from a ASMFC/GSMFC Artificial Reef Conference and gave it life through MARI.

Then there were all the people that kept the Reef Foundation alive in the years when there weren't any 'front page' projects; stayed with the work. Folks sure seem more likely to stop and help if they see you working...

Believe this: That's a HUGE reef off there!

And there's far more to come.

An ocean of potential..

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

posted by Monty # Monday, May 19, 2008

Fish Report 5/13/08

Murphy's Gale

Tying It Together

Hi All,

Interesting start to the sea bass season. Hasn't been the jumbo front runners I have always seen come in first. Instead, a decidedly mixed run of sizes.

Unable to look around much though; weather has repeatedly held me tight to the beach with a greater focus on tog.

When we did get offshore Saturday, and despite weeding through shorts, some folks got into the 20's, but not quite a 25 fish limit.

The downpours on Friday.. Severe weather advisory - half my fares declined the trip: Tog only. Guys soaked to the bone irregardless of what foulweather gear they had. Caught well. The bite seeming to taper, I thought it imprudent to have my deckhand, Capt. Tucker, pull and reset anchors in the wind, rain and lightning and so called it a day.

Naturally, by the time we got in it was sunglasses around.

Sunday I again felt that the forecast warranted having an escape route very handy. A series of moves - one 4 lb. bass and dinner around, plus good toggin. Darn the luck! We had a lady hooked to a 'Sam Sized' fish..

Everything needs to be perfect to catch the brute - it wasn't. Broke off...

Soon, May 16th, tog go to a 2 fish limit. Ease up on 'em; not a bad idea.

As I write, sea heights are diminishing. Monday's sea heights were 20.3 feet in winds to 47 knots. The first deployment of rail-cars was supposed to be Tuesday. Eh, not so much.

Trying again on Friday. I'm already sold out, so no fundraising opportunity. No matter, pretty sure that our course will somehow have us near the rail-cars going in....

I've had far more tag returns this spring than ever before. Chef, used to work deck for me, was out on his cat and had a remarkable 11 returns in one day. While most of these recent returns were initially released in the last few months, some tags are several years old.

Any return tells us something, the longer a fish has been 'at liberty' the deeper the information can run.

One tag return Sunday ran a little too deep; the ink on the tag completely worn away.. Ah well, more lost data..

There were also two Virginia tagging program returns; one a tog, the other a bass. Don't have the info back yet. Fairly odd to have either species caught off the beaten track. That is, judging by the majority of tag returns, tog seem to be stationary; sea bass migratory, but only to the deep side of the shelf waters -very near, even into, the canyons- come winter, then returning to 'their spot' come spring.

Virginia tags; had to have come from at least Chincoteague; mouth of the Bay more likely.

And cod. Real cod. I know of codfish caught on 4 of our reef sites this spring. A few years back we caught a tagged cod not far off Assateague Island. It had been stuck in Canadian waters in the Bay of Fundy some 560 miles away as the crow flies, but a fish couldn't possibly have swum.

I'm only talking about a dozen fish; don't plan on putting one in the box. My point is -just barely scratching the surface at that- is artificial reefs we are building add to the greater marine area's habitat; that reef is being used by species in ways no one envisioned.

Everything has to be back in place or better before we can see balanced fisheries restoration. Our focus on flounder and other high profile species fine for our short attention span, press release world, but we have got to 'pop the top off' and have a serious look around in order to

begin sincere restoration. It'll start when scientists and managers get curious about our corals.

We'll be getting close to done when white marlin are commonly caught at the Jackspot again...

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

posted by Monty # Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Fish Report - Special Trip

Hi All,

A rare opportunity..

The first deployment of the NYCTA rail cars is scheduled for Tuesday May 13th.

Reef building is not something easily scheduled. You haven't really met Mr. Murphy 'till you've tried to build marine reef..

Still, I have 22 spots open for Tuesday.

Nick a few fish - watch a reef getting built.

No limits, but we are seeing far more cbass.

Sounds like a plan.

Tickets are $150.00 for this trip - the extra goes back to the Reef Foundation.

If the deployment gets delayed and we don't see them go over - tough! The extra goes to the Reef Foundation!

If weather forces my trip to cancel - refunds or reschedules.

The Reef Dinner was packed tonight! We've got over 10 square miles of permitted bottom that we can build on - it's all about funding...

See you on the rail??

Regards,

Monty

Fish Report 5/4/08

Transition

Flounder on a Diet

Ocean City Reef Foundation Dinner Wednesday

Hi All,

Thursday; nice bass and tog mix, Friday almost all tog, Saturday mostly bass, Sunday a mix of bass and tog.

Transition.

It's going to bust loose soon. Rare tog, more bass. Usually all bass.

The fishing was hardly 'red hot' this week, but it had it's moments. When the bass cooperated high man would have 12 or 14. Some of the tog action, particularly Sunday, was epic; the kind of bite few have witnessed.

Didn't last long. Sure was fun..

Then there was the lonely flounder that Pam caught. 8 1/2 pounds. Good fish but skinny. Should have gone 12 pounds. Hope it was that particular fish's problem; not an indication of things to come as the singles species management style we currently use grows the stock out to immense proportion.

Everything has to eat. Managers need to begin some sort of prey assessment as 'ecosystem management' is still a long ways off.

Also had a pair of cod. Not ling, aka red hake: these were the true cod, Gadus morhua, that once helped drive our young nation's economy. As I heard it, 1974 was the last year that Ocean City had regular trips scheduled for them. (read Mark Kurlansky's "Cod" - should be required reading to fish in the ocean. May have to reread it myself.)

Something as fun to catch and tasty as these fish should be a priority, and are. In fact, they are a major source of much of the seafloor habitat work that's been ongoing.

They have to eat; ours were full of small scup/porgy.

Wish they'd come back too.

Don't know what the year will hold. I've not seen any unusual amounts of juvenile cbass in the last few years.

As I often say; acorns before oaks.
More reef - more acorns growing...

Ocean City Reef Foundation - The Dinner - Hall's Restaurant 61st Street Bayside - 5 to 8 - Very Casual. The Hall family has been incredibly generous with this event for over a decade. Their restaurant, food and staff donated without charge to help build better fishing and scuba diving off the coast.

Fantastic.

A lot of great fishing tackle - all manner of stuff in the silent, chinese & live auctions.

I bought 2 'Morning Star Approved' rods & reels for the event and am kicking in some tickets as well.

Most of the tackle shops kick in some great outfits. There will be lots and lots of stuff!

All you can eat Italian - $15.

Better fishing than ever - Priceless.

The only thing about artificial reef that's not natural is the substrate.

We've a lot of work to do.

Bring some folding money and the checkbook...

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

posted by Monty # Thursday, May 08, 2008

If you have a Comcast address I can not send you mail - Spam blocked

Fish Report 5/4/08

Transition

Flounder on a Diet

Ocean City Reef Foundation Dinner Wednesday

Hi All,

Thursday; nice bass and tog mix, Friday almost all tog, Saturday mostly bass, Sunday a mix of bass and tog.

Transition.

It's going to bust loose soon. Rare tog, more bass. Usually all bass.

The fishing was hardly 'red hot' this week, but it had it's moments. When the bass cooperated high man would have 12 or 14. Some of the tog action, particularly Sunday, was epic; the kind of bite few have witnessed.

Didn't last long. Sure was fun..

Then there was the lonely flounder that Pam caught. 8 1/2 pounds. Good fish but skinny. Should have gone 12 pounds. Hope it was that particular fish's problem; not an indication of things to come as the singles species management style we currently use grows the stock out to immense proportion.

Everything has to eat. Managers need to begin some sort of prey assessment as 'ecosystem management' is still a long ways off.

Also had a pair of cod. Not ling, aka red hake: these were the true cod, Gadus morhua, that once helped drive our young nation's economy. As I heard it, 1974 was the last year that Ocean City had regular trips scheduled for them. (read Mark Kurlansky's "Cod" - should be required reading to fish in the ocean. May have to reread it myself.)

Something as fun to catch and tasty as these fish should be a priority, and are. In fact, they are a major source of much of the seafloor habitat work that's been ongoing.

They have to eat; ours were full of small scup/porgy.

Wish they'd come back too.

Don't know what the year will hold. I've not seen any unusual amounts of juvenile cbass in the last few years.

As I often say; acorns before oaks.
More reef - more acorns growing...

Ocean City Reef Foundation - The Dinner - Hall's Restaurant 61st Street Bayside - 5 to 8 - Very Casual. The Hall family has been incredibly generous with this event for over a decade. Their restaurant, food and staff donated without charge to help build better fishing and scuba diving off the coast.

Fantastic.

A lot of great fishing tackle - all manner of stuff in the silent, chinese & live auctions.

I bought 2 'Morning Star Approved' rods & reels for the event and am kicking in some tickets as well.

Most of the tackle shops kick in some great outfits. There will be lots and lots of stuff!

All you can eat Italian - $15.

Better fishing than ever - Priceless.

The only thing about artificial reef that's not natural is the substrate.

We've a lot of work to do.

Bring some folding money and the checkbook...

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

posted by Monty # Sunday, May 04, 2008

Fish Report 5/4/08

Transition

Flounder on a Diet

Ocean City Reef Foundation Dinner Wednesday

Hi All,

Thursday; nice bass and tog mix, Friday almost all tog, Saturday mostly bass, Sunday a mix of bass and tog.

Transition.

It's going to bust loose soon. Rare tog, more bass. Usually all bass.

The fishing was hardly 'red hot' this week, but it had it's moments. When the bass cooperated high man would have 12 or 14. Some of the tog action, particularly Sunday, was epic; the kind of bite few have witnessed.

Didn't last long. Sure was fun..

Then there was the lonely flounder that Pam caught. 8 1/2 pounds. Good fish but skinny. Should have gone 12 pounds. Hope it was that particular fish's problem; not an indication of things to come as the singles species management style we currently use grows the stock out to immense proportion.

Everything has to eat. Managers need to begin some sort of prey assessment as 'ecosystem management' is still a long ways off.

Also had a pair of cod. Not ling, aka red hake: these were the true cod, Gadus morhua, that once helped drive our young nation's economy. As I heard it, 1974 was the last year that Ocean City had regular trips scheduled for them. (read Mark Kurlansky's "Cod" - should be required reading to fish in the ocean. May have to reread it myself.)

Something as fun to catch and tasty as these fish should be a priority, and are. In fact, they are a major source of much of the seafloor habitat work that's been ongoing.

They have to eat; ours were full of small scup/porgy.

Wish they'd come back too.

Don't know what the year will hold. I've not seen any unusual amounts of juvenile cbass in the last few years.

As I often say; acorns before oaks.
More reef - more acorns growing...

Ocean City Reef Foundation - The Dinner - Hall's Restaurant 61st Street Bayside - 5 to 8 - Very Casual. The Hall family has been incredibly generous with this event for over a decade. Their restaurant, food and staff donated without charge to help build better fishing and scuba diving off the coast.

Fantastic.

A lot of great fishing tackle - all manner of stuff in the silent, chinese & live auctions.

I bought 2 'Morning Star Approved' rods & reels for the event and am kicking in some tickets as well.

Most of the tackle shops kick in some great outfits. There will be lots and lots of stuff!

All you can eat Italian - $15.

Better fishing than ever - Priceless.

The only thing about artificial reef that's not natural is the substrate.

We've a lot of work to do.

Bring some folding money and the checkbook...

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

posted by Monty # Sunday, May 04, 2008

Morning Star Fish Report

Fish Report 5/25/08

Fish Report 5/18/08

Fish Report 5/13/08

Fish Report - Special Trip

Fish Report 5/4/08

Fish Report 5/4/08

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