This column will be the first in a series describing the increasingly serious problem of a declining stock of menhaden. First order of business is to define the problem. While that ought to be simple and straightforward, it is anything but. In reality there are several problems when combined have a significant effect on East Coast fisheries now and is getting more serious as time passes. The overriding physical problem is the abundance of menhaden on a coastwide basis is declining. The extent of decline is such that the available biomass now is insufficient to meet the needs of a bait fishery, a reduction fishery, a variety of predator finfish, a variety of fish eating birds, and last, but not least, filtration capacity to reduce nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay waters.
Regulation of the menhaden harvest is the responsibility of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). They have failed to properly assess the needs for menhaden jn relation to the stock abundance. More about the ASMFC in an upcoming article. It is doubtful that many people involved in saltwater fishing know that there is a problem and those not along the coast have no interest in the issue. For at least a decade or more, the official document on the health of the menhaden stock known as the stock assessment has declared the stock as “not overfished and overfishing is not occurring”. This permits the ASMFC to declare that there is no problem with...read more
The Spanish are invading Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, Spanish Mackerel that is. Reports are in with excellent catches of Spanish Macs from the Maryland line all the way up to in and around the bay bridge area. Flounder pounding reports are in the from the middle and lower Chesapeake. It’s been a few years since I’ve heard such good reports coming in, but keeper flounder are back in Maryland’s Chesapeake waters. Punk (ie undersize) striped bass are all over the bay along with their friends the bluefish. The action has mainly concentrated from Sharps Island, Popular Island up to Thomas Point, mostly on the...
The water temperatures dropped into the mid forties this week in the lower Bay and coastal waters. With some days better than others, boats are finding big fish with a few ranging over forty pounds. Plentiful, large pods of bait should hold fish, so once the waters clear ...
Striped Bass, Bluefish, Ablies and Bonita (aka Bones) fishing is busting loose in the Northeast! The last few days there has been some bad weather which has kept anglers off the water, but before that it’s been pretty wide open for light tackle and fly anglers. Full details in the reports...
Some decent, cold weather fishing in NC. There have been a few bad nor'easters keeping anglers off the water. When the winds have parted, anglers have caught some nice yellow fin tuna offshore, along with a few prized blue fins. Inshore, anglers have caught some nice red drum, flounder and blue fish along with some scattered rockfish for a lucky few. Best of luck fishing out there!
From the Bay Bridge to the Choptank to Cove Point to Point Lookout, summer fun begins with a livewell full of spot and ends with a cooler of kickin’ stripers. You want to get the fish snapping this season? Live-lining is the ticket to bent rods—here’s how it works...One question regularly heard when discussing live-baiting: how do you hook the baitfish? Through the jaws, or the back? Actually, the answer is both and one or the other, depending on where in the water column the fish are feeding...
Polarized sunglasses are one of the most important pieces of equipment any angler can have whether he/she is fishing the bay, flats, inshore or offshore waters. Glare is the enemy and reducing it as much as possible gives an angler better visibility and the ability to spot and see fish...I have been wearing these glasses exclusively over the last year for all my fishing adventures; they have accompanied me...read the full article
Are you tired of perusing through catalog after catalog looking for the perfect fly box? Do you have 10 inch flies and 4 inch flies that are a tangled mess? I think you might enjoy having one or two inexpensive boxes that can store 10 inch to one inch flies and keep them in perfect working condition....read the full article
You want a volcano-like explosion 30’ behind your transom? Tuna fish to come flying out of the water in attack-mode? Billfish to rise with their weaponry swinging? Then I sure hope you’re pulling spreader bars, because these lures will trigger more pelagics to attack than any other single lure in the water today. Spreader bars consist of multiple chains of baits—usually plastic squid, but also skirts or rubber ballyhoo in some cases—rigged to a single bar, which keeps them in an organized pattern as they troll through the water. The farthest aft bait should be...
This column will be the first in a series describing the increasingly serious problem of a declining stock of menhaden. First order of business is to define the problem. While that ought to be simple and straightforward, it is anything but. In reality there are several problems when combined have a significant effect on East Coast fisheries now and is getting more serious as time passes. The overriding physical problem is the abundance of menhaden on a coastwide basis is declining. The extent of decline is such that the available biomass now is insufficient to meet the needs of a bait fishery, a reduction fishery, a variety of predator finfish, a variety of fish eating birds, and last, but not least, filtration capacity to reduce nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay waters.
The Spanish are invading Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, Spanish Mackerel that is. Reports are in with excellent catches of Spanish Macs from the Maryland line all the way up to in and around the bay bridge area. Flounder pounding reports are in the from the middle and lower Chesapeake. It’s been a few years since I’ve heard such good reports coming in, but keeper flounder are back in Maryland’s Chesapeake waters. Punk (ie undersize) striped bass are all over the bay along with their friends the bluefish. The action has mainly concentrated from Sharps Island, Popular Island up to Thomas Point, mostly on the...
The water temperatures dropped into the mid forties this week in the lower Bay and coastal waters. With some days better than others, boats are finding big fish with a few ranging over forty pounds. Plentiful, large pods of bait should hold fish, so once the waters clear ...
Striped Bass, Bluefish, Ablies and Bonita (aka Bones) fishing is busting loose in the Northeast! The last few days there has been some bad weather which has kept anglers off the water, but before that it’s been pretty wide open for light tackle and fly anglers. Full details in the reports...
Some decent, cold weather fishing in NC. There have been a few bad nor'easters keeping anglers off the water. When the winds have parted, anglers have caught some nice yellow fin tuna offshore, along with a few prized blue fins. Inshore, anglers have caught some nice red drum, flounder and blue fish along with some scattered rockfish for a lucky few. Best of luck fishing out there! 
From the Bay Bridge to the Choptank to Cove Point to Point Lookout, summer fun begins with a livewell full of spot and ends with a cooler of kickin’ stripers. You want to get the fish snapping this season? Live-lining is the ticket to bent rods—here’s how it works...One question regularly heard when discussing live-baiting: how do you hook the baitfish? Through the jaws, or the back? Actually, the answer is both and one or the other, depending on where in the water column the fish are feeding... 
Polarized sunglasses are one of the most important pieces of equipment any angler can have whether he/she is fishing the bay, flats, inshore or offshore waters. Glare is the enemy and reducing it as much as possible gives an angler better visibility and the ability to spot and see fish...I have been wearing these glasses exclusively over the last year for all my fishing adventures; they have accompanied me...
Are you tired of perusing through catalog after catalog looking for the perfect fly box? Do you have 10 inch flies and 4 inch flies that are a tangled mess? I think you might enjoy having one or two inexpensive boxes that can store 10 inch to one inch flies and keep them in perfect working condition....
You want a volcano-like explosion 30’ behind your transom? Tuna fish to come flying out of the water in attack-mode? Billfish to rise with their weaponry swinging? Then I sure hope you’re pulling spreader bars, because these lures will trigger more pelagics to attack than any other single lure in the water today.
