FISH-ON

[Randy Stinchcomb]

......Well, it didn't look like it was going to start out that way
got up at 4am and it was drizzling and the usally on-time Kurt was late and the usally late Philip was on-time, so I knew it was going to0be "one-of-those-days"

Got "Get Wet" in the water at 6am at Sandy Pt and motored out to the bay bridge, boat traffic was very light. I got 3 lines in the water and had Kurt set a southernly course while I got more lines in the water. We were trolling at 50ft in the main channel for only a half hour when the shallow right flatt wet-off, but just a short burst and gone. we pulled in the lines and checked the lures, all looked well, so we put the lines back-out and headed south

Got down to Thomas Pt light about 10:30 and I saw it comming, white sails to the west, yes an invasion of sailboaters comming out of the South river and on up from Annapolis, all heading my way they were holding a saling regatta all day

So we turned north back towards the bay bridge and @11:00, as I was steering north, Philip(who is sitting next to me) taps me on the shoulder and points to the right flatt, behind me. so I picked it up, why he didn't, I don't know. I never saw the fish hit but when I picked-up the rod, he was on and hooked. since it was the shallow flatt the fight was over in a minute or so. Kurt netted the brute which just fit in the net, it had inhaled this lure so far you couldn't even see it (pics below) and as soon as the Striper hit the deck, he started bleeding and bad. now I've gaffed Tuna that didn't bleed as bad as this fish and I knew it was done for, we all thought fresh Rockfish for Dinner tonight

now the sad part to this story and I am still angry about this the fish measured out at 38" which is a NON keeper, up to 34" and over 41" now this fish is gonna' dye and I gotta' dump him back in the bay, dead. what a waste, I so freakin' mad

So that was our only action of the day, we trolled till 3pm and it the skys started looking a little dark and the temp started dropping so we pulled up and headed back to Sandy pt. end of story, we will try again naxt saturday for a legal keeper Striper

p.s. dont pay any attetion to the dates in the pics from the camera, trust me it was yesterday

[ocsnapper]

Randy sounds like a lot of fun and it does suck that you have to toss back a fish that will die

[Sam]

Randy, I'm glad you got to get out there and catch fish! Sounds like a fun day on the bay.

[DaveH]

Looks like a great day on the bay! Thanks for the photos.

[Randy Stinchcomb]

thanks guys, was a good day on the bay but Im still steamed about having to releasing a dead fish

thanks gov. marty o'maully

[mdram]

nice catches randy

but a bit of info, the regs page at the dnr says
Striped bass larger than 35" or smaller than 41" must be released to the water unharmed.

just givin ya an inch on the low side

[Bohica]

Randy - nice fish, and thanks for the live report.

[Randy Stinchcomb]

Originally Posted by mdram

nice catches randy

but a bit of info, the regs page at the dnr says
Striped bass larger than 35" or smaller than 41" must be released to the water unharmed.

just givin ya an inch on the low side

yeah, thanks Roger
I'd have like to have released that fish "UNHARMED" but no chance. I did my best to save it but the hooks we're deep and the blood loss was too great, Im still upset about this and Im going to give the DNR an ear-full today, I meen, what so special about fish in the 35" to 41" range anyway

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Randy Stinchcomb

... and Im going to give the DNR an ear-full today, I mean, what so special about fish in the 35" to 41" range anyway

Randy, I'm curious to know the answer to this question as well. I suppose it is because that is their most productive spawning age? I guess we'll see!

[Bohica]

That brings up a good point. Why doesn't MD require non-offset circle hooks during trophy season like DE does? You gotta wonder how many fish are thrown back with NO chance at recovery each year. Someone once told me that the mortality rate was somewhere around 40%......

[Charkbait]

it's not the DNR that did it, it's the ASFMC that selected the regs.

The reg is designed to protect the 1999 YOY class of fish that are projected to be in that size range. This YOY class was one of the largest ever and are entering their prime breeding years.

One mistake is that they have no way to account for dead releases against what is taken from the stock. All in all I think it's a step in the right direction, but there are some holes like Randy found out.

I wouldn't mind seeing stripers go the way of Reds, say a world wide keeper slot reg of 20"-30", then we'd start to see some giants!

[Randy Stinchcomb]

Originally Posted by Bohica

That brings up a good point. Why doesn't MD require non-offset circle hooks during trophy season like DE does? You gotta wonder how many fish are thrown back with NO chance at recovery each year. Someone once told me that the mortality rate was somewhere around 40%......

yeah, 40%, thats high

Bob, Im not sure if I've ever seen a circle-hook on a jig/lure not sure it would have helped in this case ne-way
also I forget 2 things, most importantly, is the lure thats in the above pics is what I caught it on and it had a 3rd "trailer" hook on it, which I left in the fish because it was burried and I just crimped the barb on the second hook so the "eye" of the trailer would slip off. I never even noticed that the Jig had 3 hooks on-it and I will make Damn- Sure We NEVER Drag a 3 hook rig again

second, we makred ALOT of bait and we fished in "slicks" ALL DAY. water temps were 52* in the AM and upto 56* by mid-day

[Charkbait]

with the amount of releases required by the regs they should have outlawed trailers, saw a post about it on another board and the DNR had no idea how many people pulled lures with trailers. They guessed 20%, it's closer to 80%. All they had to do was go to some shows and see what the guys were buying and selling.

What is screwy to me is that usually the small fish are the short strikers and the bigguns inhale it. So you have to target smaller fish out of the slot by using trailers but then can really damage a release fish.

They did what they could to keep the season open for the charter guys, live-n-learn. Hope they get it right next year.

[mdram]

Originally Posted by Bohica

That brings up a good point. Why doesn't MD require non-offset circle hooks during trophy season like DE does? You gotta wonder how many fish are thrown back with NO chance at recovery each year. Someone once told me that the mortality rate was somewhere around 40%......

actually the do in some locations

<table style="border-collapse: collapse;" bgcolor="#ffff80" border="2" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td align="center">Bass, Striped
CATCH AND RELEASE ONLY</td> <td align="center"></td> <td align="center">Mar 1, 2007 - May 3, 2007
Please use non-offset circle hooks</td> <td>Susquehanna Flats, upstream of a line from Sandy Point to Turkey Point and the Susquehanna River downstream from a line connecting the Susquehanna State Park Boat Ramp in Lapidum to Twin Rocks to Tomes Wharf in Port Deposit; and Northeast River. No eels. If using bait and hook has gap 1/2" or more, must use non-offset circle hooks.</td></tr></tbody></table>