Sunday, December 23, 2018

Fish Report 12/23/18

Fish Report 12/23/18 
More Trips 
Sea Bass Success 
Tog w/Lockjaw 
Reef Wish List & Worthy Fundraiser..

Trips Also Announced on Facebook at Morning Star Fishing https://www.facebook.com/ocfishing/ & my personal page..
Sea Bass Trips: 
Wednesday, 12/26/18 - 12 Hour Long Sea Bass - Depart 4:30 - $170.00 - Sells Out At 20 - Long Run - Couple spots left. Calling for calm seas..
Thursday, 12/27/18 - 10 Hour Sea Bass - Depart 6 to 4 - $150.00 - Sells Out At 20
Sunday, 12/20/18 - 12 Hour Long Sea Bass - Depart 4:30 - $170.00 - Sells Out At 20 - Long Run.. 

Tog Trip: 
Saturday, 12/29/18 - 10 Hour Tog - 6 to 4 - $130 - Sells Out at 16.. 

Reservations Required at 410 520 2076 - Staffed 24/7 (Asking me for a reservation via FB or Email is a guaranteed way to wrench up the business! Use the reservation line!)  On My Rig You Can Reserve What Spot You're In. Please See http://morningstarfishing.com For How The Rail's Laid Out..
LEAVE YOUR BEST POSSIBLE CONTACT NUMBER & LISTEN TO YOUR MESSAGES - Weather Cancelations Happen - I Make Every Attempt To Let Clients Sleep In If The Weather's Not Going Our Way..

Bait is provided on all trips: A variety for sea bass; green crabs for tog. (No white crabs at this time. Maybe soon?) Rental Rods are $7.00 - Each A Rod I'd Use Myself..
Wear Boots! Sneakers this time of year can ruin your trip...

Be a half hour early! We always leave early!
..except when someone shows up right on time.
Clients arriving late will see the west end of an east bound boat. With a limited number of reserved spots, I do not refund because you over-slept or had a flat..

No Live Tog Leave The Boat - Dead & Bled - Period. (I Believe The Live Tog Black Market Has Hurt This Fishery ..But Nowhere Near As Much As Bad Sea Bass Regulation)
Agreed With Or Not, All Regulations Observed – Maryland: 4 Tog @ 16 Inches

If You Won't Measure & Count Your Fish, The State Will Provide A Man With A Gun To Do It For You. We Measure & Count — ALWAYS — No Exceptions!

It's Simple To Prevent Motion Sickness, Difficult To Cure. Bonine seems best because it's non-drowsy. Truly cheap & effective insurance.
Honestly - If you get to go on the ocean once month, once a year, or even less; why risk chumming all day? Similarly, if you howl at the moon all night, chances are good you'll howl into a bucket all day.

Bring A Cooler With Ice For Your Fish – A 48 Quart Cooler Is Fine For A Few People. Do Not Bring A Very Large Cooler. We DO have a few loaners - you'll still need ice.
No Galley! Bring Food & Beverages To Suit. A few beers in cans is fine for the ride home.

In winter waterproof boots are almost a necessity - sneakers can ruin your day. While some rarely, or never, wear gloves for fishing, you'd not likely see me fishing this time of year w/o at least the half-finger wool gloves. Tuck a "hot hands" warmer in the palm and life is good..
Layers are best because, believe it or not, sometimes it can be very pleasant offshore--especially when the wind lays down. In winter it's warmer offshore owing to warmer waters. In summer it's cooler..

Sponsor the Ocean City Reef Foundation!
http://www.ocreefs.org
We're Nowhere Near Reef Building's True Potential.

If you have concrete blocks in the backyard taking up space and just making snake reef, bring em. We'll toss em overboard with the rest.

23,635 Reef Blocks deployed at numerous sites as of 12/11/18. Here are sites currently being targeted: Capt. Jack Kaeufer's Reef 634 - Doug Ake's Reef 3,739 - St. Ann's 2,234 - Sue's Block Drop 637 - Two-Tanks Reef 338 - Capt. Bob's Inshore Block Drop 900 - Benelli Reef 746 - Capt. Bob's Bass Grounds Reef 1,218 - Wolf & Daughters Reef 688.

Pam Moore & Heidi Smith bagged out on sea bass 12/23/18 

Christmas Greetings All, 
Have a bit of good weather coming up. Will sneak out a few times to enjoy the last of sea bass before they close 12/31/19. Have posted a tog trip too.  
New Year is coming fast. Be all tog until the ocean gets too cold. (then some painting!) 
Our last sea bass trip was December 19. Ended the trip with a college student, Heidi, taking high-hook. Everyone boxed out including crew. Sea bass were some plump. Fattening for winter? Seems so. More sea bass trips coming.. 
Also had a tog trip. Surprise showing by a DNR biologist with the 007 license to kill, (a scientific collection permit!) he needed just 25 more tog to meet ASMFC required aging analysis.. 
I thought we might have a bit of trouble as I headed toward a small city's worth of tog condos - too many fish coming too fast to keep up
..so it was the exact opposite. Pretty lousy bite. I'd call it lockjaw. 
I look for improvement tomorrow! 

Most readers are aware I'm deeply involved with coastal artificial reef construction. Have been a long time. The Ocean City Reef Foundation was formed when Maryland dropped their reef program in 1997. We're making fishing better - promise. Am currently president..
We need eyes on the water - folks looking especially for barges nearing their final tow. If they still float, and can contact who owns it, we can take a shot. 
Cleaning a ship to EPA specs is brutally expensive. We're on a low budget! Barges, however, rarely need cleaning at all... 
Should be sinking several this week into next with this shot of pretty weather coming. 

Also need a contact who sells 100+ pound anchors. Can't seem to get them locally. They're vital to positioning our reef deployments. 

Any readers connected with the marine rock industry? Have had a time getting a boulder reef built. Funding is in place.. Afraid we'll lose part of it, a $50K grant from The Nature Conservancy, if we don't get boulder on the bottom soon. 

Reef blocks are well in hand. Have 14 tractor trailer loads being stored.. Will take a while to wear through them. 

Donations help! 
Actually? Donations do it all.. See  http://www.ocreefs.org/ to see what it's about. 

One last thing.. 
A personable young skipper, a fellow tied up near me last couple months -- new charter boat business, and one of the rare ones I think has a shot at it -- young man passed away following an accident recently. 
He leaves a young wife & infant behind. 
I didn't know him from "Wicked Tuna"  ..Will Hathaway was just a dern good fisherman trying to scratch a living. 
See https://www.facebook.com/donate/1999378630355197/514234975737086/ if you'd care to help.. 

Here's Morgan James. Gal puts some soul in Christmas music..  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szErOiB50uw 
I wish you all a Merry Christmas & a prosperous New Year.
Regards,
Monty 

Capt. Monty Hawkins 
mhawkins@morningstarfishing.com 

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