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Opening weekend of Trophy season

7K views 31 replies 21 participants last post by  moorehavenGrady 
#1 ·
Me and a few buddies chartered a boat for the Rod and Reel Tournament. We had 40 lines out. Hundreds of boats up and down the bay. Thousands of lines and lures in the water. We only caught 1 fish for 2 days. Some didn't catch any. If you consider the number of boats, amount of lures pulled and the amount of fishing hours put in, very few Rockfish were caught.
Trophy season is nothing close to what it used to be. What a shame.
 
#2 ·
Many years ago on this board, after a fantastic ,torrid , Spring Striped Bass fishing report of catching 20-30 Big Cows a day ,a popular closing statement was " get out there and " Catch Em Up " ...Mission accomplished . Now they're working on the so called 'Invasive Species " The only fish left that have a chance to stand up to heavy fishing pressure . The curtain is beginning to close .
 
#5 ·
It's been like that for a while now. A few years ago Greg Buckner and Lee Tippet got skunked on opening day. They are two of the best out there pulling 46 lines. Many others skunked too as I only heard of a few fish caught and that was jigging at the power plant. Only thing left is the Summer schoolies that get slaughtered at Swan Pt....... Gary
 
#12 ·
When the planers got up to lines in the high teens (years ago) I started telling the guys "may as well be running a combine down the Bay". Been getting hate mail ever since....
When the planers got up to lines in the high teens (years ago) I started telling the guys "may as well be running a combine down the Bay". Been getting hate mail ever since....
When the planers got up to lines in the high teens (years ago) I started telling the guys "may as well be running a combine down the Bay". Been getting hate mail ever since....
I couldn't agree with you more. Its beyond me how the DNR hasn't put a restriction on the number of lines that can be ran in a trolling spread for rockfish. I think it should be no more than 12 period for both recreational and charter boats and you can run them where ever you want either behind the boat behind boards or a mix it up. This 40 something line business is just ridiculous and takes a lot of the sport out of fishing. You gotta give the fish a chance or there's gonna be a tipping point and I think we've reached it and then some.
 
#29 ·
Agree with all the posts. Rockfish have been crushed. And us morons will keep crushing them untill they are gone. Maybe next year someone will have a new method to troll 92 rods. Or we can just use nets and dynamite
Love your post. We been "pulling 40 some lines" and limiting out since the end of the moratorium. Gallons of fish eggs emptied into the trash can at the cleaning station at rod and reel dock. But we'll blame it on climate change and invasive species. I might add crabs are going the same way: We say "It's only me and my wife but I'll catch a bushel anyway and pack the freezer and feed my neighbors." And now we complain that there is nothing to catch.
 
#18 ·
I feel like the crying Indian from the 70’s litter commercial when I think about what the Rockfish fishery was 6-7 years ago, God forbid 20 years ago. Without a good spawn this year, no spawning stock biomass, it’s over.

I don’t care what anybody says, the invasives can be controlled. The issue is that for many years they went somewhat unnoticed, proliferated and got big and numerous. Now there is great attention on them and let’s face it, Rockfishing generally sucks and the invasives fill the void.

The Potomac is a fraction of the Snakehead fishery it once was and the ES rivers are already showing reduced catches. They are small areas with ALOT of pressure.
I fished Egypt Road Sunday and there were about 12 yaks in a 1 mile stretch of river. Keep in mind the Little Blackwater is only about 50 yards wide in that mile. Transquaking, Marshyhope, Chicamacomico, same thing. Blackwater proper has some size, but proportionately higher pressure too.

Chris
 
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#19 ·
I don’t care what anybody says, the invasives can be controlled. The issue is that for many years they went somewhat unnoticed, proliferated and got big and numerous. Now there is great attention on them and let’s face it, Rockfishing generally sucks and the invasives fill the void

The Potomac is a fraction of the Snakehead fishery it once was and the ES rivers are already showing reduced catches. They are small areas with ALOT of pressure.
I fished Egypt Road Sunday and there were about 12 yaks in a 1 mile stretch of river. Keep in mind the Little Blackwater is only about 50 yards wide in that mile. Transquaking, Marshyhope, Chicamacomico, same thing. Blackwater proper has some size, but proportionately higher pressure too.

Chris
seeing fishing impacts on invasives is a good thing. I dont Totally agree, but reduction in their biomass is the goal. So it's good if you think we are heading toward that.
 
#24 · (Edited)
If you look at sexual maturity in age and then convert that to inches, we are maybe more culpable. I said maybe.

Consider the bay fishery 10-15 years ago and how many 26-28” fish were taken during our summer season!!

Most, if not all, coastal states are under a 28”+ limit for the ocean waters.

From NOAA:
Males are sexuallymature between the ages of 2 and 4 years old. Females are able to reproduce when they are 4 to 8 years old. Females produce large quantities of eggs, which are fertilized by males as they are released.

Take the middle ground of 3 & 6 years old, or heck even take the high end. Now look at what that corresponds to in length. This is pretty much a common chart from what I’ve seen.


Now tell me where the problem is/was.

Chris
 
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#28 ·
Gary, I would even say the blues can be knocked back with enough pressure and time. Control is a relative term. Heck even bluefish are back to 3 per person, where’d that come from?

The formula is easy, take all the breeders out, these are old fish and not easily replaced in short order. Add in increases in commercial harvest, don’t forget stocking pay lakes and people wanting to catch something, anything, and give it a few good years. Plus they’re pretty good on the table.

Here’s part of the problem as I see it. I fish for trophy blues first and may take a small fish or two home. I won’t put my boat in just for the eaters. For people in that category, you lose them if you lose the giants. Granted, my few eaters are a small drop in a very large pool.

Remember, for many years the blues went largely unchecked and had a chance to explode because we had rockfish. Now, that is not the case. It’s hard to say what might happen if a rockfish ban ever comes about. Soon the rockfish fleet will switch over to Catfishing, like I believe some already have.
 
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#31 ·
Me too. I think many of us are guilty of this, at least at some point in time. It's a matter of whether we are willing to look into the mirror and change. I know they have been times where I have taken more than I need, just to say I have limited out and basically brag. But not so much anymore now that I am older. I'm curious how many of us have cleaned out the bottom of that freezer only to find old freezer burned quarry that we killed but never used...? Rhetorically speaking..
 
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