Articles by Dennis Doyle

Hooray for an Early Spring!

The Ides of March brings the year’s best fishing

It was just the slightest bit of resistance. I was working my minnow-tipped Tony spoon deep across a wide section of the Upper Choptank when that hint of hesitation made me lift my rod tip. With the feeling of yet more resistance, I set the hook and was rewarded by a heavy surge at the end of the line on my ultra-light spinning rod. Fishfinder Yellow perch runs are winding down, though they will continue at an ever-slower rate at least through the rest...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 3/15/12

Hunting License Fees to Go Up

If you love Maryland wildlife, thank a hunter

I expected rancor, high emotion and fireworks. Who wouldn’t complain, years into a recession, at being targeted for a substantial hike in fees? What happened at last Saturday’s hunters’ roundtable was nothing of the kind. Maryland hunters, outfitters and waterfowl guides were assembled by the Maryland Sportsmen’s Legislative Foundation to meet with the Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife & Heritage Division. The...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 3/8/12

Searching for a Bucket of Gold

Fortune favors the relentless

The fish were big and fat: two limits of golden-yellow perch that barely fit into a large bucket. What a haul! Beautiful, healthy fish, most over 12 inches and a few that exceeded 14. Unfortunately they weren’t ours. Angling friend Ed Robinson and I spent the day chasing that gold and just missing it. Starting out fishing from the Millington shoreline on the perfect cusp of a flood tide beginning to fall, we were told we should have been there yesterday. ...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 3/1/12

Boaters Should Pay Their Fair Share

But proposed registration increases need tweaking

Fishing and boating on Chesapeake Bay are among Maryland’s great attractions. But you’ve got to pay to play. The list of what needs doing is long and constant: Fishfinder Yellow perch and pickerel are still the headliners for late February and going into March. The majority of neds are still small males, though short runs of larger males and gravid females are becoming a bit more frequent...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 2/23/12

Rabbits and Hounds

February is the grand finale of the rabbit hunter’s year

Charles Rodney was poised precariously atop a low pile of downed tree toppings, matted with honeysuckle and woven through by sharp briars. The bright orange of his hunting shirt and hat made him visible through the thick undergrowth. He held his shotgun safely off to the side, and stomped the brush pile, first with one foot, then the other. “Come on Slim, find ’em. Copper! Here Copper, get over here. Jack, get back in here. Come on Lou, hunt ’em up. Ya, ya...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 2/16/12

DNR vs. Outlaw Watermen

After 143 years, it’s time to win this battle

At long last, Maryland’s commercial oyster industry is about to come under control of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Comprehensive recommendations like these are the only way to save that great public natural resource. That 143-year-old report to the General Assembly of Maryland by Hunter Davidson, commissioner of the State Oyster Police, recommended “enactment of a law restraining and regulating the present thoughtless and improvident industry...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 2/9/12

First Sign of the Coming Spring

Yellow perch are here

Daylight hours have been getting longer, yet most days, temperatures keep us in winter. But the yellow perch know that their springtime is here. Moving now into the deeper water of the tributaries, they are forming large schools and staging. Yellow perch are the earliest fish to spawn in the Tidewater, and their run is the first trumpet sounding the Bay’s piscatorial spring. Called yellow neds, ring perch or just plain neds, they are one of the most...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 2/2/12

Antidotes for the Anglers’ Blues

Eat, drink, see movies and strengthen your skills

Ye gads it’s been a difficult winter! Today it’s bitter cold and windy, and the long-range forecast looks like a lot more of the same, except for the charming likelihood of a few days of freezing rain. With two of my offspring still in college, there is no fiscal possibility of escaping to the tropics. I’ve got to face up to the inevitable, the imminent approach of the most agonizing month of the year, February....

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 1/19/12

January on the Magothy

Who can resist the water on a mild day?

January’s first Saturday afternoon was a beautiful time to be on the water. It was near 70 degrees, sunny, calm and the incoming tide was making up nicely. Drifting in my small skiff over a shell bottom at the mouth of the Magothy, I threaded a piece of worm on a size-two hook. The upper hook on my top and bottom rig already sported a small, wriggling bull minnow. Fishfinder Up in the tributaries is the place to fish in the mid-Bay, with lots of...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 1/12/12

Rockfish in Review

It was a mostly great year

The rockfish season this year was, on the whole, great. It didn’t start until June because spring was a three-month mix of heavy rains, high winds, muddy water and low temperatures. While that early scenario was disappointing for anglers, it was fantastic for the fish, because just about every species that reproduces in the Chesapeake had a very successful spawn. In spite of the spring weather, the June bite started out hot. Live-lining took the limelight right from...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle; 12/22/11