Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Holding Hard to the Bottom

I’ve found an anchor I can depend on

Dennis Doyle

Running out of options, I had one card left to play. Over the last few hours, I had fished a different areas without success. My plan to chum up a pair of fat rockfish for a weekend dinner was coming undone. The wind had freshened and the tide was running stronger than I preferred. But I had still to try one spot that had saved me in the past. As I neared, I noted with satisfaction another boat already anchored, set up and fighting a fish.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

– by Dennis Doyle – 8/17/17

My Birthday Wish Fulfilled

The crabs were fat, plentiful and willing to be caught

Dennis Doyle

I had violated my sacred rule never to promise blue crabs before they were caught. To further increase the danger of a dinner failure when an ever-growing number of people was expecting to be fed, I had not run a trotline in more than a year. Now, at well past dawn, we were only laying out the baited line at the mouth of a neighborhood creek.

Fat Cats

Though not Bay natives, channel catfish are worth an angler’s time

Dennis Doyle

Despite a firm New Year’s resolution to rise earlier during the hot summer months to take advantage of the cooler dawn hours when the rockfish are on the hunt, I once again failed to get out of bed and on the water until 8am. The day by then was already heating up and the striper bite a memory.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 7/27/17

Give It a Fly

Here’s what you need to have fun

Dennis Doyle

Afish caught on the fly is easily twice as much fun as one caught any other way. Right now is an ideal time to fish the long rod for rockfish and white perch. The first rule is to leave your conventional tackle at home. If you’ve decided to use the fly rod, it’s best to be fully committed.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 7/20/17

Fishing in the Dark

When the days are too hot, try the hours before midnight

Dennis Doyle

The temperature in the low 70s seemed cool after the scorching sun, just a few hours ago, had sent the mercury into the high 90s. The multitudes of motorized craft churning the waters had long ago headed for home. I had the spot to myself, a rather surreal feeling in the silence and darkness.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 7/13/17

Step Up Your Chumming Game

10 tips to keep you catching

Dennis Doyle

Chumming is one of the simplest ways to catch your limit of nice rockfish on light tackle. It involves a minimum of fuel, since you’re fishing anchored, and that helps cover the cost for the chum and bait. It is also an excellent way for anyone of any experience to tangle with the Bay’s premier gamefish.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 7/6/17

The Fish You Can Count On

For good sport and good eating, white perch deserve respect

Dennis Doyle

The day was a success from the beginning. Son Harrison and I were on a perch outing, and the very first structure we targeted was rich with sizeable whities. Both of us were fishing six-foot light-action spin rods spooled with six-pound line and baited with one of the most productive lures in our box, spinner baits. Our tackle was constantly being strained to its limits.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 6/29/17

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.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 6/22/17

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.

article – Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle

Fishing

– by Dennis Doyle – 6/15/17

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