Fish Report 6/20/2011
Cbass and C'Ya Cod
Bluefins
My Kind of Research
Thursday - 6/23/11 - Long Cbass Trip - 5:30 to 4:30 - $135.00
Thursday - 6/30/11 - Another Long One.. $225.00 Blueline Tile & Sea Bass - 3:30 AM to 7 PM - 12 people sells out.
Otherwise Fishing A Regular Schedule..
Hi All,
Some remarkable trips this last week. Had the very best cod bite I've ever seen--ever--on the 18 hour trip 6/14.
Cod are leaving, moving north. We simply stumbled into a bunch.
Tagged 40 or so since my last report. Not sure what the future holds but I believe lots of 20 pounders are in our not-too-distant future..
Also on that extra long trip we had three tuna strikes, one that really dumped some line -- caught none
..rats.
Laid in a day to recuperate then went and had a very fine regular trip with good sea bassing --- And Three Tuna!
Ol' Murphy (of Murphy's Law) started working our side of the luck the day after when a client, watching our forest of cedar plug lures trolling astern, declared loudly on the way out Friday: "You'll never get a bite. You're going too fast."
Ghosts of Murphy-past cheering in merry devilment.. A triple, a double, some singles -- 7 bluefin tuna trolling in one day is certainly my bottom fishing record.
Caught cbass too later.
We're allowed 1 bluefin under 47 inches so we tagged the others.
The next day again: Charter boats see this kind of fishing -- not me. Very fun.
Tagged the throwback tunas -- went cbassing.
I'm honored to have had so many long-time clients bowed-up on their first tuna; I'm certain this was more tuna in a week than I've ever caught in a year--Ever.
Sunday/Monday we made a 2 day search for deep water corals, Places where fish from our inshore reefs winter. I doubt if undamaged deepwater coral communities exist. I'm positive most are lost.
We didn't find any this trip. Will one day.
Did find some rocks; And, using Rick's newest camera creations, captured fantastic video.
Also found blueline & golden tiles living in clay-cliff pueblos.
Man that's fun fishing; but too deep for our current video capabilities.
At 2AM, June 20th, 2011 --23 hours into our trip-- after a double anchor set we lowered a camera onto a thriving reef community. Cod, sea bass, tautog, a few flounder, many types of growth & two types of coral graced the rocks we were anchored over.
Despite many invitations, I only had one scientist aboard. He, with many decades of benthic studies, was fascinated with what we viewed for the next hour.
Among the shortest nights of the year; we looked at a few other inshore corals. At sunrise several dozen cedar plugs danced astern -- Fish On!
Catch 4 more bluefins.
My kind of science..
Its been difficult to convince Management that building/restoring reef restores fish.
I do understand; I appreciate and recognize some of the convoluted history of fisheries, of who's funded & by whom, of political whim and present reigning financial power: Perhaps soon substantial investment in re-reefing will finally be understood for the biological/economic driver it is..
In darkest night with an underwater camera far below, we loosened an anchor line to slip off the reef just a few feet and see barren bottom--post industrial fishing bottom--what it looks like when scraped bare. We could then haul-back a few feet of anchor line and watch life unfold, see many species of economic import where they live, feed & spawn.
Here is where fisheries restoration will occur.
Our era of catch restriction--the dawn of regulation--was and will always remain necessary: Putting the habitat back, however, will offer management opportunities to create super abundances of fish.
In darkest night with an underwater camera far below, it was plain as day.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans/sap
National Ocean Council is accepting comment right now. See item #6 on this web page; Regional Ecosystem Protection and Restoration.
I emphasized discovery -- It is simply impossible to restore what you do not know is missing.
When the day comes that we have a coral restoration plan -- shallow & deep, region by region -- we'll have truly begun fisheries restoration..
YouTube search "Common Seafloor Habitats in the Mid-Atlantic" & "Maryland Corals" for video evidence - especially see the second half of Nick & Clarita's "Natural 3-D Bottom, Mid-Atlantic Bight" -- much clearer, more professional(!) video than my work.
"The Government" still thinks the mid-Atlantic is "all sand & mud" per Wigley & Theroux 1981..
We must discover important hard bottom habitat remains.
Then discover there used to be a lot more of it--An awful lot more.
Get to work re-reefing it.
..just a simple truth.
Regards,
Monty
Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/