Join Capt. Richie Gaines on Saturday, March 28 at Chesapeake College for a one-day seminar on how to find and catch striped bass (rockfish) throughout the different seasons on the Chesapeake Bay. All levels of anglers are welcome!

Fishing techniques such as trolling, chumming, live lining, and light tackle will be covered along rigging, knots, and equipment selection. Gaines will also share his experiences on how to find and fish productive fishing locations across the ent ire Bay.

Captain Richie Gaines has been guiding anglers in the Chesapeake region for over twenty years and has earned the reputation as one of the top light tackle guides on the Bay. For over forty years, he has fished the Bay year-round from the Susquehanna Flats to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, moving with the fish to follow the best bite. Gaines serves as President of the Chesapeake Guides Association, is Chairman of the Maryland Sport Fishing Advisory Commission, and has been featured in several national fishing magazines and television shows.

Course fees for the seminar are $52.00 and include a continental breakfast. Participants should bring a brown bag lunch. For registration information, please contact Marci Leach at mleach@chesapeake.edu or by calling 410-827-5833.

Should we start talking about making Striped Bass a Game Fish in Maryland?

I know recreational anglers poach, there is no question about that, and I am not minimizing their impact, at the same time a gill net can wipe out a heck of a lot striped bass and a commerical violation when using a net really can wipe out a whole school of fish. Just leads me to ask, should we start talking about making Striped Bass a game fish in Maryland.

As a side not I would say that if we were able to do this that none of the commercial quota go to the recreational “allocation”, it should go nowhere to allow more stripers to stay in the water which will help increase the population and especially allow for fish to get larger.

Below is from the news wire form yesterday (the counties are in Maryland that are on the Chesapeake Bay for those out of state reading this) :

Kent County – On Friday, February 20, the Maryland Natural Resources Police charged two Rock Hall men with striped bass commercial fishing violations in the Chesapeake Bay near Rock Hall. The charges are the result of an investigation that started in mid January of this year.

John F. Riggs, 42, and Stephen L. Tyer, 27, both of Rock Hall were each charged with four counts of improperly marking gill nets when fishing for striped bass; four counts of unlawful use of anchored gill net; four counts of unattended gill nets and two counts of fishing for striped bass with gill net during restricted time. Riggs was also charged with three counts of possession of fish whose size or weight cannot be determined and one count of possession of striped bass in excess of 36 inches total length.

The two men were allegedly fishing several illegally set gill nets in the area of Swan Point and Hodges Bar in the Chesapeake Bay on Jan. 12. Officers boarded the men’s vessel and located three striped bass whose tails had been altered to make the fish appear to be smaller in length and one striped bass in excess of 36 inches total length. A court date of March 26 has been scheduled for the individuals in Kent County District Court.

A gill net is a net used for the commercial harvest of fish. The net is maintained in a vertical position in the water with sinkers or floats. The net captures fish by means of a mesh too small to permit passage of the body of the fish or withdrawal of the head once the posterior margin of the gill covers has passed through the mesh.

A drift gill net is a net not secured to or anchored to the bottom, including a net rigged with up to 20 pounds of weight at each end. These nets must be attended by the licensee in a boat within two miles of the net while it is in waters of the Chesapeake Bay, or within one mile when the net is in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, its coastal bays and their tributaries, or a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. A drift gill net may not be set before 3 a.m. and shall be retrieved and in the boat by 6 p.m.

An anchor gill net is a net that is Continue Reading »

Hot off the press tonight: The 2009 flounder regulations have been set. There will not be a closed season this year. The bag limit is 5 fish per angler with a minimum length of 19 inches. Good Flounder fishing this year in Virginia tidal waters!

I received the picture of this fly from a mass email list of saltwater fly fishing friends that I am on. It has to be the sickest saltwater flies I have ever seen. If you know who tied it, shoot me an email at Brandon @ LateralLineCo.com .  I am going to see what I can do in the way or reproducing it,  it will make one bad ars fly for Stripers and Albies!

Our friend Barrett send us this  picture from the other day from Patagonia.  He was fishing on Lago Wilimanco, just outside of Esquel, Argentina. The weather has been terrible, but he said, We had about 2 hours of great weather, sight fishing to big bows, and then a 40 knot wind beat the crap out of us, and we couldn’t row back to the car. Had to drag the 200lb boat 500 meters across a swamp of cat tails. Not too much fun. ”

Dragging the boat might not have been fun, but worth it for that nice rainbow trout!

Links to stuff in this post
* Check out Barrett’s Brand New book on Fly Fishing Patagonia called Fly Fishing Patagonia; A Trout Bums Guide to Argentina
* Lateral Line Crisfield Fishing Shirt – Check it out here
* Lateral Line Signiture Fishing Hat – Check it out here

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Fisheries Service will hold a public meeting at the Ocean Pines Library located at 11107 Cathell Road in Berlin, MD to discuss regulations for the 2009 summer flounder fishery on Monday, February 23rd at 5:30PM.

DNR is required to reduce the 2009 recreational summer flounder catch in Maryland by 32%. This reduction is necessary to mitigate exceeding harvest targets last year.
Options being discussed at the meeting will include increasing minimum size limits, reducing creel limits and shortening the fishing season.
Public comment at this meeting will assist DNR in deciding on the options that will be presented as proposed regulations in the coming weeks.

More information is available online at www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries.

Options selected by the DNR will be available for public feed back on the draft regulation website after the meeting.
For more information, please contact Steve Doctor at 410 -213 -1531 or Mike Luisi at 410 -260 – 8341.

If you would like to express your opinion to the VMRC on the size and season options for the 2009 summer flounder regulations you have until February 23 to do so. The VMRC will hold a public hearing on the regulations on February 24.  These are the three options being considered.

Option A      19″        5 fish      No closure

Option B 18.5″ 5 fish
2-week closure (either 7/21 to 8/3, or a 2-week period in May or June

Option C 18.5″ 5 fish No closure

The public hearing will be held at 12 Noon, Tuesday, February 24, 2009, at the Marine Resources Commission, 2600 Washington Avenue, Newport News, Virginia.  Copies of the proposed regulations may be reviewed, at the Commission, Monday through Friday, 8:15am to 5pm and may be obtained by calling the Commission at (757) 247-2248.  Written comments on the proposals should be received by 5 pm, Monday, February 23, 2009.  Send your comments on the proposed regulations to: Continue Reading »

We are 1% of our historic levels of oysters in the Chesapeake and still allow a fishery for them in Maryland. Someone still needs to explain this to me. But anyway, below is the police blotter I got from Maryland Department of Natural Resources today,totally ridiculous officers even have to mess with oyster harvesting enforcement. How many people get away with this stuff and can we even afford to entertain this question at 1% of historic levels….holy cow batman it stakeholder fisheries management at it’s finest…it costs tax payers about $180 to restore a bushel of oysters.  I’ll let you do the math of how many bushels these jokers threw overboard and how much money was wasted…total disregard for our Chesapeake Bay natural resource. 

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Queen Anne’s County – On Monday, Feb. 9, the Maryland Natural Resources Police charged Eric P. Horney, 42, of Queenstown, Ian N. Horney, 32, and Shawn M. Horney, 43, both of Grasonville with commercial oyster harvesting violations in the Chester River and Corsica River area of Queen Anne’s County.

At approximately 5 a.m., NRP observed two vessels operating without navigational lights, harvest oysters and quickly leave the area. The officer was able to stop one vessel that was operated by Ian Horney. During the course of the stop, 12 bushels of oysters were located on the vessel. The officer ordered Ian Horney to leave his catch onboard and to return to the Kent Narrows area where Continue Reading »