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Fishing

Way Downstream … (Nov. 21-27, 2019)

Is massive sea creature a Chessie ancestor?

Bill Lambrecht
       Researchers in Poland recently announced discovery of what’s left of a pliosaur, a fierce predator that patrolled the oceans 150 million years ago, in the Jurassic period.          Paleontologists working a cornfield in the Holly Cross Mountains in central Poland also found bones from a second ocean creature, this one with a long neck, as well as bones of ancient turtles and fossilized teeth three inches wide. They described their findings in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.
article –   –  by Bill Lambrecht  – 11/21/19

A Rockfish Reckoning

Action is needed to rescue our iconic species

Matthew Liptak
     A handful of vehicles, mostly pickup trucks and SUVs, lined up behind a small steel gate on a warm summer morning. Inside them was the regular 7:30am crowd, striped-bass fishermen patiently waiting for the Thomas Point ranger to arrive to give them access to one of the Bay’s most sought-after fish.     In opening the gate, the ranger is allowing the men their daily shot at a species that can often grow upward of 50 pounds and offers some delicious eating. Excitement charges the air.
article –   –  by Matthew Liptak  – 9/19/19

Way Downstream …(Sept. 19-23, 2019)

Canadian company to blow past menhaden ­harvest cap

Bill Lambrecht
      Omega Protein Corp., which has battled for years to harvest more menhaden from Chesapeake Bay, says it intends to exceed recommendations from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission for the company’s takes this year.          Two years ago, the regional commission recommended a 40 percent cut to 51,000 metric tons — or more than 112 million pounds — in Omega’s annual take. The company, which operates out of Reedville, Va., converts baitfish from the Chesapeake into fish oil supplements.
article –   –  by Bill Lambrecht  – 9/19/19

Way Downstream … (Sept. 12, 2019)

Lionfish “Taking Over the Atlantic”

Bill Lambrecht
       We encountered a lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago, and they still swim around in bad dreams.             They look like no other sea creature, colored like a VW love bus from the 1960s but with venomous spines that protrude like spears.
article –   –  by Bill Lambrecht  – 9/12/19

Our Rockfish Future

We’ll soon be dividing shares of a diminished striped bass pie

Dennis Doyle
     Once again our rockfish are in trouble. They have been overfished, commercially and recreationally for some time. The overall Atlantic population, including in the Chesapeake, has become depleted and the larger fish of the species seriously so. That is an accepted fact, based on thorough studies by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
article –   –  by Dennis Doyle  – 8/29/19

Blue Cat Invasion

Must we eat our way out of this problem?

Bill Lambrecht
     Stopping at Bob Evans Seafood in Shady Side, Lou Hyde reports he routinely finds blue catfish in his 240 crab pots in Herring Bay. Some of the horned invaders are so fat that he tears up his pots cutting them loose.       Mick Blackistone, fishmonger, worries that they’re eating juvenile crabs.
article –   –  by Bill Lambrecht  – 8/15/19

Diversions & Excursions: Pulling Crabs from the Bay

You have to get up early if you’re going to fill your basket
Susan Nolan
     “Nothing is better than being on the water in the morning,” I tell my skeptical family as we head out the door at 5:45am.       We are meeting Captain Trey Plumb and my colleague Audrey at Collins Marine Railway in Deale. Plumb, owner of FishMermaniac Charters, is a Maryland native and a lifelong waterman. He has been fishing the Bay, its tributaries and the Atlantic Ocean for more than 30 years. Five years ago, he expanded his business by offering crabbing charters.
article –   –  by Susan Nolan  – 8/15/19

The Snack Rockfish Can’t Resist

Live-lining Norfolk spot sacrifices a fish to catch a bigger fish

Dennis Doyle
The Chesapeake tide was ebbing to almost placid. Rockfish prefer their dinner be swept to them by moving water. But in this case the stalling currents allowed them more freedom to gather around the structures where we were fishing. Our bait was their favorite snack this time of year, Norfolk spot.
article –   –  by Dennis Doyle  – 7/11/19

Way Downstream …

Dam Snakeheads Nabbed in Migration

 

     If there’s slight consolation in Chesapeake Country’s invasion by snakeheads, it could be that more of them are hightailing it north up the Susquehanna.
article –   –  by  – 6/20/19

The Enduring Legend of Bernie Fowler’s Wade-In

For the 32nd straight year, Fowler will lead friends and family into the Patuxent to make a point. For the first time, Betty Fowler won’t be with him.

 

Sandra Olivetti Martin
      When 95-year-old Bernie Fowler leads people into the Patuxent River on Sunday, the river in his heart will be one neither you nor I can imagine.      For the chain of followers linked arm in arm with the river champion in the annual test of water clarity, statistics tell the story of the river’s woes or redemption. Can the put-upon river with its D-grade report card achieve its Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan targets for 2025?
article –   –  by Sandra Olivetti Martin  – 6/7/19
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Format: 2020-01-17
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