Fish Report 11/4/25
Repower Progress
Reef Report 11/1425 too..
Annual Reef Raffle ocreefs.org
And, far below(!) another piece on spawning production..
Greetings All!
Apologies for not having sent an email in some while. I've been grinding away at my Morning Star repower. Old (really old!) Detroit Diesels out weeks ago, now have the engine room in finish paint & Chuck Edwards is beginning installation of new Cummins QSL9s.. Shafts/couplings/exhausts: all await further inspection with possible replacement. (Sometimes it's spelled BOAHT - Break Out Another Hundred Thousand!)
When will I be fishing again?
Don't know.
Not going to hurry. Needs to be right. Actual repower begins in about an hour as I write..
Never more simple to give an engine room some luv than when engineless - it's painted now. Will paint everything exterior also. She could sure use it. Would gladly hire another painter or two or three - if one wants to work deck for sea bass/tautog when this repower is done? Better atill.. Email mhawkins@morningstarfishing.com if interested in work..
Reef Report 11/13/25
Email Restored - been down 6 months or more - apologies if not subscribed! New Signup at ocreefs.org too.
Next Up? A Steel Sailboat - Need Volunteer Help Sat & Sun 11/15-16..
New Pyramid Molds.
Reef Raffle!
Greetings All,
Had an email from MailChimp back in June. They said since I hadn't used our free Reef mailing list in two years they were going to make it go away. Having sent several emails even in 25 I figured they meant an old, forgotten list.
Nope.
OCRF's regular email list soon became a small cloud of wayward electrons.
(I still haven't sorted out new mailchimp works. Tonight!)
If you do want to receive an occasional update? There's a new signup at ocreefs.org ..
More info still? Facebook gets all this and more - especially pictures. You do not need to log in to see OCRF's FB pages. (or Morning Star)
Sailboat Volunteers Needed.
Saturday & Sun 11/15 & 16 at 9am Sunset Marina near their huge travel lift (that picks up boats.)
This beautiful steel hull arrived just over a month ago. Have nonidea its story. Was well on its way to becoming a trans-Pacific capable craft when work stopped. Decades later it was given to us to make a reef with.
Our plan was to gut it, load it with four or five pallets of block, and deploy it at the Bass Grounds.
Ahh.. Rats.
Boat was foam insulated stem to stern. In the midst of repowering my boat--a huge job--I could scarcely spare my guys - did though. That mess is almost out now. Need to give the inside hull a close shave, clean the debris and load the hull with block.
Skilled like few others in double anchor sets, Capt Kane Bounds will site the reef's mooring when time comes. (Soon I hope!) He thought adding to the Jack Kaeufer/Lucas Alexander/DP Bishop reef complex at the Bass Grounds best use of this new (as yet unnamed) piece. I do not disagree.
If you can help even an hour? My crew will be at Sunset by the travel lift. You can't miss it. Have plenty of power tools and masks (removed for pics!)
How else can you help?
Buy some raffle tix!! Believe me, its Money, not dreams of yesteryear's fish populations, that drives construction. We're the only state without a state marine reef program. (Apparently the Chesapeake Bay State has their hands full elsewhere?)
We just got a dozen new reef pyramid molds from P&J Coatings. They'd recently been modified by Fiberglass Dale - a new and improved model - but he developed serious health issues so I moved the project.
These new four-piece molds are, by far, our best yet.
By Far.
Robust.
If you know a place where trucks return on occasion with excess concrete? That's what these molds were invented for. Super easy to assemble; they catch 170lb of waste cement in a busy yard and turn it into coral or oyster substrate. No doubt time is money, but in some plants this is better than washing unused substrate out in a spillway. Make it a 501(C)(3) donation instead?
We've gotten thousands - mostly from Kinsley Materials in York, PA & Bear Concrete in DE.
Kinsley's Bass Grounds Restoration Reef is getting close to 2K pyramids alone.
They work.
I've been told the Bass Grounds some 9 miles offshore was all of it most years through the 1950s & 60s. Before being pummeled by surf clam dredges and lost entirely by the late 1970s, it was a rare summer when boats had to venture further.
About 4.5 square miles of patch reef - undoubtably sea whip meadows loaded with life lost; by 1980 you could have measured it in square yards.
Will take tens of thousands of pyramids to recreate the original reef.
We've certainly taken first steps on a long journey..
Reef Raffle! (see Donate page at ocreefs.org)
Started our annual reef raffle a couple weeks ago. Giving away $15k in prizes with drawings every week & grand prizes New Year's Day 1/1/26. It has become our #1 fundraiser - Lots of Winners!
On Sunday, Nov 16th, the 3rd weekly drawing will begin with a 16x20 framed flounder Gyotaku print from Hansen's Craftory (HansensCraftory.com) Before Christmas we'll also give away a gift certificate to ink a fish you or a family member caught from these folks - use it next summer. There will be another $250.00 Gift Certificate from Park Place Jewelers (one every week!) -- A levelwind Shimano reel loaded with 30lb braid on a Tsunami rod from Fenwick Tackle -- A full day gift cert for the Morning Star (good after I'm done with the repower!) donated by Hurricane Murray -- an Igloo bucket cooler with a dry bag donated by Big Jon -- and, every week here too, a pound of Reef Roast with a travel mug from Bigeye Coffee..
Grand Prizes as of 11/2/25 (the number always seems to grow) & drawn 1/1/26 are a stunning 828U o/u shotgun donated by Benelli USA (worth $4K!) - a gorgeous Anchor Necklace made of White Gold & Diamonds donated by Park Place Jewelers - One Hundred Custom T-Shirts with art you help design donated by Red Sun Apparel - and an Accurate Valiant 400 reel seated on an LHM Custom conventional triggerstick donated by Lewes Harbor Marina.
We have an amazing array of weekly raffle prizes including a $250.00 Gift Certificate to Park Place Jewelers Every Week! We'll draw for a nice rod every week including one of Jerry's custom made spinners. Scott Lenox with Fish in OC donated 6 rods from his Deadly Tackle line. Fenwick Tackle, AllTackle, Atlantic Tackle & The Lead Pot all donated rods or tackle. While I'd gladly use any of these sticks, Lewes Harbor Marina provided a combo so nice I made it one of our Grand Prizes!
This year Larry's Trading Post came aboard. They've handled our Benelli paperwork since the beginning but have now donated an incredible rifle - a 6.5 Creedmoor Ruger American in 'Go Wild' camo and cerakote. As in years before, we'll draw for that the week before deer season.
We're also drawing for a pound of fresh ground custom blended Reef Roast coffee from BigEye Coffees every week (Luv My Reef Roast!)
Hoopers Crab House (where we'll surely be for our annual Reef Feast in May '26!) donated a wonderful basket worth over $400!
Optical Galleria contributed a pair of my all time favorite shades, Reef Builder frame Hook Sunglasses which have their Double Dark polarized lenses (that I begged for and helped develop. They allow a skipper to see well in morning & evening's harsh glare. Makes a huge difference - much safer, promise!)
We'll also draw for a complete brass porthole from the (as yet unnamed!) steel sailboat we're making ready to deploy at Sunset Marina (Thank You Sunset! See below foe a volunteer opportunity..)
Two different donors are giving us Gyotaku inked fish art. Eastern Shore Gyotaku & Hansen's Craftory. The Hansons have also offered a custom print of a fish you bring them next summer--put yours, a friend's, a grandkid's catch in ink? Pretty cool stuff! Prof Noah Bressman has a unique bit of fish art too - his acid etched fish work. Sea Bass Bob donated a perfect reef fishing St Croix rod - we have two pairs of Costa shades & a giant pre-lit snowman Christmas decoration donated by Rambler Reef Ed. Big Jon ponied up a cool Igloo insulated bucket and some inflatable life vests; Hurricane Murray (our own Portly Prince of Rotund Raillery!) bought four gift certificates for my boat; and Big John N donated Amazon gift cards..
The number of tickets escalates with the size of your donation! One raffle ticket for $20 - Three for $50 - Seven for $100 - plus an additional ticket for every additional two hundred.
For instance, 200.00 would be 8 tix per hundred so 16 tix. At $400 it would be 9 tix per one hundred so 36 tickets.. $600.00 would be 10 Tix per hundred & $1,000.00 would be 12 tickets per.. Yes, it keeps going up!
Though a ticket holder may only win one prize per drawing date, all weekly winners are returned to the ticket barrel to possibly win again..
Building artificial reefs off the Maryland coast has not only improved fishing and diving opportunities, but has also created tons of new coral growth (yes, tons!) Restoring square miles of natural temperate reef lost in the 1960s/70s may not be on NOAA's radar yet, but fish and corals respond to new substrate as they have for all eternity - concrete & steel provide a place to flourish for all manner of reef life.
We've deployed over a thousand reef pyramids this year (Thank You Kinsley Materials & Bear Concrete!) ..a 75x40 ft barge and a 50ft pilot boat donated by Capt Stormy (who also deployed nearly all our pyramids from the Tiki XIV..)
We have five pieces in the immediate lineup - sailboat soon, then the Navy boat (have an operator who can bring it on a trailer now saving, IDK, $35K?) then two tugs (waiting on a tug to tow em!) and more pyramids are being made all the while. Reef building can take forever when trying to stay in budget..
Play the raffle! Let's Build More Reef!
Cheers!
Monty
******
Our first OCRF 2025 Reef Raffle drawing was Sunday, Nov 2nd - then again on the 9th. There will be over $15,000.00 in total prizes to be given away across 10 weeks - 8 to go. See ocreefs.org donate page to play. We'll email you a pic of tix ASAP! We also have in-person tickets at Raceway Citgo by Crabs to Go {who recently added a 'Crab Feast' gift certificate to the prize pool too!)
Grand Prizes as of 10/25/25 (the number always seems to grow!) drawn 1/1/26 are a stunning 828U o/u shotgun donated by Benelli USA (worth $4K!) - a gorgeous Anchor Necklace made of White Gold & Diamonds donated by Park Place Jewelers - One Hundred Custom T-Shirts with art you help design donated by Red Sun Apparel - and an Accurate Valiant 400 reel seated on an LHM Custom conventional triggerstick donated by Lewes Harbor Marina.
We have an amazing array of weekly raffle prizes including a $250.00 Gift Certificate to Park Place Jewelers Every Week! I'd forgotten to contact Bahia Marina - they're definitely onboard - don't know what Shawn will add yet. We'll draw for a nice rod all 9 weeks including one of Jerry's custom made spinners. Scott Lenox with Fish in OC donated 6 rods from his Deadly Tackle line. Fenwick Tackle, AllTackle, Atlantic Tackle & The Lead Pot all donated rods or tackle. While I'd gladly use any of these sticks, Lewes Harbor Marina provided a combo so nice I made it one of our Grand Prizes!
This year Larry's Trading Post came aboard. They've handled our Benelli paperwork since the beginning, but have now donated an incredible rifle - a 6.5 Creedmoor Ruger American in 'Go Wild' camo and cerakote. As in years before, we'll draw for that the week before deer season.
We're also drawing for a pound of fresh ground custom blended Reef Roast coffee from BigEye Coffees every week (Luv My Reef Roast!)
Hoopers Crab House (where we'll surely be for our annual Reef Feast in May '26!) donated a wonderful basket worth over $400!
Optical Galleria contributed a pair of my all time favorite shades, Reef Builder frame Hook Sunglasses which have their Double Dark polarized lenses (that I begged for and helped develop. They allow a skipper to see well in morning & evening's harsh glare. Makes a huge difference - much safer, promise!)
We'll also draw for a complete brass porthole from the (as yet unnamed!) steel sailboat we're making ready to deploy at Sunset Marina (Thank You Sunset!!) As soon as the foam is gone we'll load it with block and put it to work on the seafloor.
Two different donors are giving us Gyotaku inked fish art. Eastern Shore Gyotaku & Hansen's Craftory. The Hansons have also offered a custom print of a fish you bring them next summer--put yours, a friend's, a grandkid's catch in ink? Pretty cool stuff! Prof Noah Bressman has a unique bit of fish art too - his acid etched work. Sea Bass Bob donated a perfect reef fishing St Croix rod - we have two pairs of Costa shades & a giant pre-lit snowman Christmas decoration donated by Rambler Reef Ed. Big Jon ponied up a cool Igloo insulated bucket and some inflatable life vests; Hurricane Murray (our own Portly Prince of Rotund Raillery!) bought four gift certificates for my boat; and Big John N donated $100.00 Amazon gift cards..
****
(Published on FBook 11/11/25 with a cool piece of reef video. This is not a new idea to long time readers. At this point I doubt repair will happen in my lifetime. Just hoping to plant seeds of inspiration. Expanding habitat and forcing increased spawning can absolutely make the greatest sea bass populations ever seen..)
Imagine a senior fishery manager announcing: "We must increase Recreational & Commercial sea bass quotas or the species will succumb to starvation in many areas."
I filmed this reef full of sea bass in 2004 with a drop camera and WalMart VCR.
Every fish on that reef had been spawned before we had a bag limit - when size limits were only an 9, 10 & 11 inches too.
I studied for years to understand why spawning production was fantasticly better under more lax regulation & declined with tighter regs. Figured it out in 2006 and have written about it many times since.
It remains that with closed seasons, larger size limits and a bag limit growing smaller especially everywhere north of DelMarVa (Don't think it can't happen here!) ..sea bass spawning here is not remotely as productive as it once was.
In 2003 I'd written "sea bass are at habitat capacity." It was amazing to have clients catch a 25 fish per person 'boat limit' more often than not.
Before 2002 we could, and did, take all we could catch
..yet our DelMarVa sea bass stock had expanded amazingly with only a simple size limit regulation - no closures and no bag limit. With day after day of taking all we could catch - the following spring there would be more.
I mean taking far more fish. In fall/early winter high angler with over a hundred fish wasn't unusual. Many times clients took home more sea bass in a day than my boat takes in a month or more now - even all summer in especially bad years.
With spawning production at peak, harvest was nearly inconsequential.
Been fishing sea bass 45 years now. I remember a conversation in 1991 with MD Fisheries Biologist, Nancy Butowski, as when the Twin Towers fell; she told me "all sea bass have spawned by nine inches, some twice."
I put a self-imposed size limit of 9 inches on them in 1992. State and Fed regs began in 1997 also at 9 inches. Sure doesn't seem like much now, but five years in front of state and federal management? Ruffled feathers - promise.
Worked though.
I saw the promise of fishery management - lived it.
My crews and I paid careful attention back then and still do. It's super simple to tell male from female sea bass, their bright blue 'knothead' (a nuchal hump in the science) gives males away instantly. From 1992 to 2001 what the biologist had told me was borne out daily in innumerable 6 to 9 inch male sea bass. There were, of course, many more female sea bass than male.
Those small spawners were 'throw backs' - something brand new to the sea bass fishery in 1992. In a few years we had incredibly dense populations of spawning throwbacks on our most heavily fished reefs & wrecks and much larger fish where pressure was lighter..
In 2004 our catch was cut nearly in half. Made me crazy. Regulations were tighter; was the third year of a 25 fish bag limit & larger size limit - winter season closures were in play - we were absolutely catching and keeping fewer sea bass
..yet spawning production was now failing to replace recreational & commercial extraction.
By 2006 I'd sorted it out. Despite a horrific bycatch event in Mar/April 2004, it wasn't commercial landings or bycatch driving the population down. It wasn't recreational discards via barotrauma. It wasn't cheating by anyone sending our sea bass stock down ..it was the size limit change to 12 inches.
Catching an under-9 inch male sea bass, you see, had become a rarity.
There were virtually no more small males.
In subsequent years we might not see even a half dozen small males a year, when prior to 2003 we'd sometimes caught over a thousand males in a single day. (85/90 anglers on a hot bite of throwbacks? Indeed.)
Sea bass reacting as they must to spawning instinct drove their 'age at maturity' from age one(up to 9 inches) to age three(over 11.5 inches.)
Management had unknowingly tripped a natural response to slow spawning production (& still do not recognize this.) As larger (near size limit) fish inhabited heavily pressured nearshore reefs that were once the hub of spawning production, sea bass (in a natural response) throttled down spawning so as to not exceed 'habitat capacity'..
Instead of all our throwbacks being in the spawning class, once the size limit hit 12 inches sea bass no longer matured at age one. Very few throwbacks were in the spawning class from 2003 on.
From 03 forward our keepers were & are the species' spawners - our throwbacks immature.
Exponential population growth is fantastic for fish and fisher alike. Makes for incredible fishing. In fact, exponential spawning makes fishing a necessity.
Without commercial and recreational extraction a species of fish with astounding population growth would soon outpace habitat and food availability and crash mightily.
Fishery managers and scientists need to recognize they can force fish to make more fish.
Having lived it twice I'll assure anyone: True exponential spawning production is fantastic for fish and fisher alike.
Twice?
Yes.
I had no idea why sea bass were declining in 2004. In 2016 I predicted a similar sea bass expansion when the MD Wind Energy Area (MD WEA) recolonized with sea bass. We had three straight summers of multiple subbottom profiler boats surveying in 2013/14/15. By mid 2014 survey noise (thought to imitate echolocation of a super predator) vacated nearly all sea bass from 525sq miles of ocean floor. That's larger than the wind area because noise, of course, does not stop at permit boundaries. While the MD WEA is smaller, GIS professionals measured four miles outside the wind permit (where I've observed cessation of feeding numerous times as survey boats approached - at three miles sea bass will not bite at all.) (Nothing died - dern sure a lot of fish left! Bottlenose dolphin were in grand abundance south of Ocean City especially toward the VA line. )
In 2015/16 I predicted we would enjoy a sharp rise in sea bass when all that vacant patch reef recolonized with small - under 9in males.
They did and we did. Fishing improved into 2022; anglers boxed lots of summer limits. (in the bar graph you'll see May/June 2020 was a windy pain in the neck.) In 2023 & 24 our sea bass catch shows a decline. I believe we'll see that trend continue.
Attached bar graph (TYVM Craig!) of Vessel Trip Reports from May/June shows MD Party/Charter sea bass catch reports we must turn in every trip or lose our federal permits. It's good data (unlike NOAA's MRIP 'official' recreational catch estimates that may as well be randomly generated. The estimates managers must use don't even get Party/Charter catch estimates right - even though we tell them what we caught everyday..)
I spend most of my fisheries efforts on seafloor habitat. I believe reef building & restoration offer more promise than NOAA guided management. They're currently hopelessly mired in bad catch data. While expanding reef habitat absolutely results in more fish after a few years, habitat increases can only aid spawning production at its current natural pace.
When management at last grasps their ability to force fish to make more fish, fishery management will enter a new era.
Be some good fishing.
Good for fish and all fishers.
Cheers,
Monty
Some technicals..
Wikipedia on Maximum Sustainable Yield page (italics) (MSY is no longer used per-se but certainly formative to modern fisheries management. If scientists had better catch data the whole affair would work much better; lot less head scratching and much better fishing. The whole thing is a way to take sea bass to the edge of a Malthusian Trap (a die off owing having exceeded holding capacity - forage.)
Wiki - Additionally it is assumed that because the growth rates, survival rates, and reproductive rates increase when harvesting reduces population density,[4] they produce a surplus of biomass that can be harvested. Otherwise, sustainable harvest would not be possible.
In sea bass population density does not cause age at maturity to shift older - it's the size of fish upon a given reef (likely because older bulls enforce spawning hierarchy (bull/harem) as is common in the animal kingdom.
Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@morningstarfishing.com
Reef Restoration Makes Fisheries Restorations Simple!