Speckled Trout in the Honga, the Real Story

[Capt Brady Bounds]

Many folks have been reading reports by myself and others (walleye pete) that the speck bite is the Honga River has been good but not entirely reliable. One day they are in certain places with regularity and the next day they are gone. And these are not places that are commonly fished or frequented by the public. For professional guides like Pete and myself, we like reliability, and frankly I'm kinda secretive about my best reliable places. However if you fish in enough places, sooner or later, you are going to be successful and that kinda overcomes the irregularity. Fish after all move around, and ya think that by now an old pro like myself would understand that and just quit with harboring unrealistic expectations .

But it is that wealth of experience that also detects when something isn't right.

Specks shouldn't be moving around when there is a profusion of bait ;lately it's been peanut bunker. Right now is a full moon with crabs shedding in the shallow weedbeds, and every point has peanut bunker moving through on the tide in addition to the doubler crabs. Huge bait supply for specks to forage. There's no reason for them to move around. My observations have been out on the weedbeds, where the specks are widely spread out, the bite is constant. In the holes where specks congregate in large numbers, they are there one day and not the next. So let's say they move. Where do they go ? My searching of the area, and I'm very good at this, is that they disappeared. That is until yesterday.

I found them, in a splash netters boat at 4:30 am being loaded onto a trailer and taken away to market or wherever. If you are not familiar with splash netting, it is a practice of laying gill nets across the mouth of a tributary and then by causing a ruckus in the trib, it drives the fish into the nets. I'm told it's illegal. It maybe illegal or not but now I know where those fish are going.

[Reel Affliction]

On a related note, I don't see any commercial daily poundage limit defined for Spotted Sea Trout, only that they need to be 14" or greater and the mesh size on the nets. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...p?c=commercial

[shoot-straight]

Many folks have been reading reports by myself and others (walleye pete) that the speck bite is the Honga River has been good but not entirely reliable. One day they are in certain places with regularity and the next day they are gone. And these are not places that are commonly fished or frequented by the public. For professional guides like Pete and myself, we like reliability, and frankly I'm kinda secretive about my best reliable places. However if you fish in enough places, sooner or later, you are going to be successful and that kinda overcomes the irregularity. Fish after all move around, and ya think that by now an old pro like myself would understand that and just quit with harboring unrealistic expectations .

But it is that wealth of experience that also detects when something isn't right.

Specks shouldn't be moving around when there is a profusion of bait ;lately it's been peanut bunker. Right now is a full moon with crabs shedding in the shallow weedbeds, and every point has peanut bunker moving through on the tide in addition to the doubler crabs. Huge bait supply for specks to forage. There's no reason for them to move around. My observations have been out on the weedbeds, where the specks are widely spread out, the bite is constant. In the holes where specks congregate in large numbers, they are there one day and not the next. So let's say they move. Where do they go ? My searching of the area, and I'm very good at this, is that they disappeared. That is until yesterday.

I found them, in a splash netters boat at 4:30 am being loaded onto a trailer and taken away to market or wherever. If you are not familiar with splash netting, it is a practice of laying gill nets across the mouth of a tributary and then by causing a ruckus in the trib, it drives the fish into the nets. I'm told it's illegal. It maybe illegal or not but now I know where those fish are going.

did you call nrp?

[paxfish]

Sure sounds like it at 0430.

[Capt.Nick]

Turn them in.They're stealing from all of us.You'd be a Hero,not a snitcher.We'll back you all the way.Catch A Poacher 1-800-635-6124

[3400 SS]

Did you get the boat number or a tag number from the trailer?

[bebopper]

How would one identify a splash netter at the dock? I assume by your post that they must operate under the cover of darkness. It always amazes me the ways that people come up with to circumvent the law. Just more poachers ruining a bright future for another great game fish. This does answer why my fishing trips to the Honga seem to be erratic.

[h2oboss]

I'm sure it's just one or two "bad apples"......sorry to hear that

[sunman]

One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.

[Gerald]

Many folks have been reading reports by myself and others (walleye pete) that the speck bite is the Honga River has been good but not entirely reliable. One day they are in certain places with regularity and the next day they are gone. And these are not places that are commonly fished or frequented by the public. For professional guides like Pete and myself, we like reliability, and frankly I'm kinda secretive about my best reliable places. However if you fish in enough places, sooner or later, you are going to be successful and that kinda overcomes the irregularity. Fish after all move around, and ya think that by now an old pro like myself would understand that and just quit with harboring unrealistic expectations .

But it is that wealth of experience that also detects when something isn't right.

Specks shouldn't be moving around when there is a profusion of bait ;lately it's been peanut bunker. Right now is a full moon with crabs shedding in the shallow weedbeds, and every point has peanut bunker moving through on the tide in addition to the doubler crabs. Huge bait supply for specks to forage. There's no reason for them to move around. My observations have been out on the weedbeds, where the specks are widely spread out, the bite is constant. In the holes where specks congregate in large numbers, they are there one day and not the next. So let's say they move. Where do they go ? My searching of the area, and I'm very good at this, is that they disappeared. That is until yesterday.

I found them, in a splash netters boat at 4:30 am being loaded onto a trailer and taken away to market or wherever. If you are not familiar with splash netting, it is a practice of laying gill nets across the mouth of a tributary and then by causing a ruckus in the trib, it drives the fish into the nets. I'm told it's illegal. It maybe illegal or not but now I know where those fish are going.

Ya know damn well that's not legal Capt....Burn'm. Their burn'n your gig.