Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Blue Crabs Crest Tipping Point

But when half of all crabs are harvested each year, we’ve got to work to keep the population steady

Dennis Doyle

After almost three decades of effort, Maryland’s treasured Chesapeake Bay crustacean, the blue crab, has achieved a major scientific benchmark. The number of spawning females has at last reached the minimum target level for optimum species viability: 215 million sooks.

An Unexpected Feeding Frenzy

Our battle against heavy winds, stalled tide and slack current paid off

Dennis Doyle

Small-craft advisories and a forecast of 15- to 20-knot winds made canceling our planned outing a no-brainer. For those who chose to disregard the warnings, however, that day proved to be a placid beauty with five-knot winds, a slight overcast and a red-hot rockfish bite almost all day long off Hackett’s Bar.

Twilight Zone on the Bay

Where else can you be when nothing goes wrong?

Dennis Doyle

There is nothing like an early June morning on the Chesapeake. A bit of smoky haze was still rising off of the Eastern Shore in the far distance as we cleared the ramp and eased out of the channel onto glassy Bay surface. The quiet burble of our outboard was the only sound, and for a long while neither of us cared to hear anything else. At last, looking around at the rocky piers we were approaching, I took an already rigged light spin outfit and prepared a cast.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 6/8/17

The Bay Is Full of Surprises

While not a beautiful swimmer, the channel catfish provides the sweetest flesh a seafood fanatic can hope for

Dennis Doyle

Pulling on my weather gear, I headed out in the morning gloom to hook up the skiff. The forecast was poor, but I had cabin fever and had to get out on the water. The white perch were up the trib shallows, I felt sure, and there is no better cure for poor weather than the promise of a good perch fry that evening. Now all I needed was the fish.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 6/1/17

Why Doesn’t a Fish Bite?

In May, it could be full of worms

Dennis Doyle

The second rockfish season opened just days ago to mock my expectations of another great fishing year. Day one saw me headed to just below the Bay Bridge Western Shore rockpile, where the fishing had been gangbusters on the opener the last two years. Finding a dozen or so boats scattered there did not bother me. That early bite had been no secret, and I saw good marks on my finder throughout the area.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 5/25/17

Glory Days on the Bay

With resident rockfish season, fishing becomes catching

Dennis Doyle

Trophy rockfish season ends Monday, May 15. On Tuesday, May 16, the second Chesapeake Bay rockfish season begins. At the change, the size limit changes from one fish of over 35 inches to two fish 20 inches or larger, only one of which may be longer than 28 inches.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 5/11/17

The Learning Curve

This novice was hooked, even though her big fish got away

Dennis Doyle

Her rod was bowed over with strain, the line hissing out against the drag and the muscles of her arms tensed with the force of a good fish running hard. Julie’s face, however, was bright with a smile. She was checking off a significant item on her life list and was enjoying every minute of it.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 5/4/17

My First Trophy of the Year

Catching this rockfish was one great feeling

Dennis Doyle

I hadn’t been set up long. Fishing big chunks of cut fresh alewife on the bottom in 40 feet of water, I saw the rod in its starboard holder quiver, then dip. I reached over and slid the reel’s clicker off so there would be no resistance on the line. The spool started up, then stopped, then started up again … ever so slowly.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 4/27/17

The Oracle of Mill Creek

Leo James knows better than most what’s swimming down there

Dennis Doyle

In gauging the chances of a successful fishing season, I have learned to distrust the forecasting of state and conservation officials as fraught with politics and self-interest. Worse, my own guesses have proven wrong so often that I’ve learned to stop making them. There has been, however, one source I rely on year after year. I’ve come to think of this fellow with his thick mane of white hair as the Oracle of Mill Creek.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

People

– by Dennis Doyle – 4/20/17

Giants of the Chesapeake

Use light-tackle techniques for the fairest fight

Dennis Doyle

If you want the best odds for hooking up and landing the most and the biggest migrators in the early trophy rockfish season, then troll. A wide spread of big baits with multiple heavy-action trolling rods spooled with 30- to 50-pound line will give you a definite edge.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 4/13/17