Fish Report 2/11/12

Fish Report 2/11/12

Toggin Along

Hedgerows

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Going:
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday -- February 14-16-17, 2012 -- 6 to 4 -- $125.00 -- 14 Sells Out -- Tog.

No Live Fish Leave The Boat -- Period.

All Regulations Observed.

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Hi All,

Had some pretty tough fishing this week; Days when it was hard to scratch everyone up a few fish. At one point two very talented anglers were shoulder to shoulder, rod tip to rod tip; Despite being a recent inductee to the twenty pound club, one togger had to watch--helpless without Lady Luck, as an old 8-foot blue St. Croix kept raising the bar on the fish-pool.

Another day a gentleman I consider one of the top bottom fishers on the coast was positively trounced by all aboard. Perhaps daydreaming where his new grandson's fishing tackle would be stored, no complaint was heard. CSI Mike didn't mind taking the spotlight with a 14 1/4 pound fish; Dae posed in the picture too with one a shade over 12.
Another old-salt had his turn in the doghouse; Three days later he was serving heaping portions of crow to all.

Two heartbreakers this week; Fish that, literally, straightened the hook--high-dollar hooks too. Both expert anglers, we'll never know ..15 pound fish that got lucky or "The One."

Wasn't all tough, we also had fishing with a nice, evenly paced bite around the rail and many, many limits for the week.

When you raise up on a good tog the bull-dogging begins. That's what keeps these fishers going.

I'm partial to it myself..

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Is it possible to keep fishing while making more fish? Can habitat really be a factor?

Old-time farmers in these parts fondly recall the English setters & pointers of their youth; A good bird dog and a well-worn double, Winchester model 12, or Belgian-made Browning A-5; Remember walking the hedgerows and flushing first a large covey of quail, then putting up singles & doubles as they worked along.

There are still a few bird dogs in rural Worchester County, but they're trained on pen-raised quail: Hedgerows are gone, birds with them.

These natural fences were from a different era in farming, A time when dairy was local -- not mechanized, pasteurized and shipped from afar; A time when fields were smaller and often lain fallow, rested a year before replanting.

Lot more quail then; lot more quail habitat.

Despite every farm having at least one young son trying to eradicate the birds, and that a well-mannered stranger simply asking would likely be granted permission to work his dogs too: Despite yesteryear's hunting pressure, Quail were far more numerous in the days of hedgerows -- are far less numerous today.

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With hunting effort reduced to almost nothing, have we now these birds in incredible number?

No: When hunting was at peak, so too were the birds, so too was their habitat.

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Pointer working bird-scent: Now nose-low, right front paw lifted, tail frozen; Flush & Shotgun's Report: No one can forget.

Tog's thumping dive equally treasured; a bent hook, a missed fish, a wonderful meal: Both experiences inextricably tied to habitat; Neither managed well without knowledge of the past.

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Just as farming industrialization had an effect on quail habitat that is not apparent in a day's drive along country roads, Industrial fishing's changes to our seafloor ecology over many decades will not be readily apparent in bottom surveys of what's out there now.

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We have no reef habitat for management to concern itself with, No age-at-maturity physiological forcing of spawning stock, No regional quota/habitat fidelity..

There's only whether NJ's jetty fisherman really caught 72,000 or 173,000 tog in March & April, 2010.

"Overfishing Scoundrels! Close The Fishery!"

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Between 1950 and 1959 commercial fishermen sold more pounds of sea bass, our most prolific reef fish, than in all succeeding decades combined.

Catch Restriction Alone Can't Fix It.

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For fishery managers to recognize their true task in restoration, they must first appreciate the fishery production of marine & estuarine ecologies past.

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What a difficult undertaking that simple bit of logic has created.

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As James Carville pounded on President Clinton daily; "It's the economy, Stupid."

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Regards,

Monty

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Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/