Fish/Trip Report 12/5/18

Trip Report 12/5/18 

Couple New Sea Bass Trips & My First Tog Trips 

A Reef Report Too.. 

I have 10 hour sea bass trips 12/6 (tomorrow!) 12/8 (Saturday) & 12/12 (Wednesday).. These trips depart at 6 - return at 4. For these trips I've cut 5 spots off the rail for more room & more room in the heated cabin. Fare $150.00 .. Sea Bass Have Been Fairly Consistent - Last Trip Not Up To Par, Otherwise Pretty Dern Good..

I'm also doing Inshore Tog Trips 12/7 (Friday*) & Sunday 12/9.. Friday we'll depart at 7:00 - return at 3:00.. Sunday shows weather in the afternoon - Bite before the blow? Depart 7 to return at 2 - Rail limited to 12 - Fare is $110.00 - This is Tog Fishing! Sometimes Exciting  ..sometimes NOT! (Friday had been a cbass trip but looked breezy - I opted for the switch to inshore tog. Now it looks calmer! Oyyyyy....) 

Bait is provided on all trips: A variety for sea bass, and green crabs for tog. (No white crabs at this time.)  

Reservations Required at 410 520 2076 Open 24/7 - 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 - Weather Cancelations Happen - I Make Every Attempt To Let Clients Sleep In If The Weather's Not Going Our Way..  

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. 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. 

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

23,471 Reef Blocks deployed at numerous sites as of 10/18/18. Here are sites currently being targeted: Capt. Jack Kaeufer's Reef 571 - Doug Ake's Reef 3,721 - St. Ann's 2,234 - Sue's Block Drop 637 - Two-Tanks Reef 288 - Capt. Bob's Inshore Block Drop 868 - Benelli Reef 746 - Capt. Bob's Bass Grounds Reef 1,218 - Wolf & Daughters Reef 688.

Greetings All, 

No holding forth on some wintery thoughts about fishery management here - just some trips & a glimpse of today's reef building activities. 

Took a pair of reef moorings out. The inshore set was a pair of 85 pound Danforth anchors & 450 feet of 1 inch rope. Hope to sink 3 or 4 small barges there for Capt. Greg Hall's Memorial Reef. (have 3 lined up - working on another..) The offshore set was a pair of 110 pound Danforths and nearly 600 feet of 1-1/8 inch rope. This set is for a 110 foot barge (Hopefully!) coming next week.  

Lots of work splicing/shackling: making everything fast - nothing fun or safe about setting moorings - has to be right so the reef material sinks in perfect position.. What's worse is picking them up! 
MD's Atlantic reef building is funded by donations to the Ocean City Reef Foundation. Thanks to all who have helped! 

Had a calm easterly for our 12 hour trip last Saturday. Paddled a bit further than normal, hit a few spots I really enjoy. Amazing was the variety. First fish I saw over the rail was a decent scup. Caught more too. Probably as many nice ones as I've caught in all my nearly 40 years of fishing off here combined I think. (or what a party boat up north would catch in a minute on a bad day..) Had a few white hake too. These are 'jumbo ling' for those who remember when we used to catch red hake in great numbers. Also caught the biggest triggerfish I've seen this year; plus cunner, pollock, a lost tautog, a really lost blueline tile, some blues, & lots of super-sweet jumbo sea bass.
Many winter trips we catch sea bass and a few blues (plus the accursed spiny dog!) This day a variety.. 

Monday's 10 hour wasn't as glamorous - One fellow with a limit. A couple guys close. Boy did we work for them! On one spot I had 30 feet of cbass on the screen ..yet a tepid bite slowing. 

Hoping to see a lot more cbass limits in coming days, and  sportsmanship on my tog trips. 

Regards,

Monty