Regulars (Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle)

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 5/26/11

A Bay Triple Crown

The last jewel, white perch, returning to the shallows

Just as horse racing has its Triple Crown, with Maryland’s Preakness its second jewel, the Chesapeake has its own Triple Crown: a gourmet celebration of the three tastiest seafoods the Bay has to offer. This year two of our three savories — the rockfish and the blue crab — have already resumed presence around the Bay. The third, white perch, had yet to return to their traditional summertime residences. Fish Are Biting ... Silt-laden water...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 5/19/11

Rockfish On!

Hooking up with a striper is sweet, and sweeter still if it’s a keeper

The sound of line being pulled off a reel sent both of us into high alert. The tip of my nearby rod in its holder flexed only slightly under the pressure of the run. Except for the meager tension of the clicker, the reel was in free spool, and line fed out smoothly as the fish accelerated off with my bait. Fish Are Biting ... They are biting with warm days and gentle breezes no longer a rarity. The limit on rockfish as of May 16 is two fish with an 18-inch minimum size. Only...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 5/12/11

Surprises on the Trotline

Blue crabs bite early, but we get the better meal

The marine weather forecast promised only a short window of good weather, but that early May day was the only opportunity coming for quite some time. My friend Mike, his girlfriend Michelle and I launched my skiff that morning, just as a generous full tide was beginning to fall, a good phase to crab the long narrow inlet we had in mind. The first weeks of May are early for crabs in the mid-Bay — or have been the last few years. But we’d heard from some commercial...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 5/5/11

Are My Ears Deceiving Me?

It should be too early for croakers, but who’s complaining?

It was our first drift. My two youngest sons, both still in their teens, were holding medium-weight spin rods poised over the side, awaiting action. Spooled with 12-pound line and baited with pieces of common grocery-store shrimp, with an ounce-and-a-half sinker, the rig dropped right to the bottom where the fish were — without overpowering the twitching tips of their six-foot sticks. Fish Are Biting ... Larger trophy rockfish landings are becoming much more common,...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 4/28/11

Breaming with Joy

Seek bluegill, or bream, in sweetwater when the dogwood blooms

It was warm and sunny, a lovely day with a light, early morning breeze coming out of the southeast. I hadn’t seen a day like it in some time, and from the last weather forecast, I knew that I might not see another for perhaps longer still. Hurrying, I slid my squat, blue dingy into the back of the pickup and filled it with tackle, battery and an electric motor. Then I headed for the Eastern Shore. Fish Are Biting ... Up to now, the rockfish bite...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 4/21/11

Though April Showers Come Our Way

Surely the fishing will get better in May

Cold, rain, wind and otherwise miserable weather. That’s the standard spring day in 2011. I can’t remember another year when I have gotten so few days on the water by this time. April 16, the opening day of rockfish season, was particularly difficult, with a morning that saw at least half-gale winds and an afternoon that added torrential rains. April 17 proceeded with a blow so bad that a 23-foot boat capsized with five anglers on board off of Thomas Point,...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 4/14/11

Torn Between Two Loves

It’s open water vs. sweetwater

This time of year brings conflict for me. The Trophy Rockfish Season beckons with the promise of big fish on big water, a temptation that is almost impossible to resist. Yet there is another of nature’s sirens murmuring in my ear. This one promises even more luscious treats to be had as the sweetwater bite blossoms. Fish Are Biting ... The white perch run continues to please a lot of anglers on Chesapeake tributaries. But most are poised for Saturday, April 16, when the Trophy...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 4/7/11

Trophy Rockfish Season

April 16 is the big day

Anglers have been waiting for this event for more than 120 miserable days, ever since the season closed last December 16. These have been cold, snowy, rainy, windy days, days without hope of even a glimpse of Mr. Pajama-sides. But all of that is over on April 16, when Trophy Rockfish Season begins at last.1 Fish Are Biting ... White perch continue to tease anglers in Bay tributaries. The cold spring weather is making the bite difficult to anticipate. Yellow perch are mostly...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 3/31/11

Between White Perch and Hickory Shad

Chesapeake Bay’s most common and perhaps least common catches

Sending out a chartreuse shad dart tipped with a grass shrimp toward the dark water of the far bank, I let it sink for a brief three-count before tightening up my line. Almost immediately there came a sharp tap, and I set the hook. My rod bowed as I leaned into yet another lively white perch. Fish Are Biting ... The yellow perch run is still happening but only in dribs and drabs as the majority of these fish are spent and have left the headwaters. The white perch run is...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 3/24/11

White Perch Have Sprung

To catch them, fish fresh shallows of tribs

The spring equinox has kicked this year’s white perch run into overdrive. An increasing amount of daylight in early spring is one of the prime stimulants to the white perch spawn. The equinox, coupled with our recent record rainfalls, has gotten this best loved denizen of the Tidewater moving early. White perch are semi-anadromous, which means that they prefer salty, brackish water, but each spring they migrate to freshwater tributaries to spawn. They are a slow-...