Fish Report 10/8/10

Fish Report 10/8/10

Nice Surprise & Weeding

More Trips

Long Fluke & Tog

 

Hi All,

Had a light rail on Thursday. Went anyway. Most always do. NW winds at 15 to 20 diminishing 10 to 15 was the forecast. 7 or 8 miles out it seemed more like 25 and no 15. Looking upwind, lots of white.

I slowed and turned nose into it, considering the day. 

Hmm.. great marks on the fathometer.

What the heck. We awaited the wind's diminishing while bailing croakers. Certainly the best I've had this year, some were 16 inches - many doubles.

When the wind died down most were limited.

Then we went sea bassing.

Looked at my 9/26/03 fish report--Double limits of cbass & croakers 4 days straight. In September, 2003, we had lots of those days..

Not in 2010. Despite some very nice fish--What we did Thursday afternoon and all day Friday was weed; Weed through small cbass for keepers.

I probably had a couple guys break 20 Friday - lots of small & medium blues too.

Some of which we saved for tilefish bait.

Everyone who had an outstanding ticket used it.

Another report that.............

 

With this email I'm opening the first week of November, when sea bass reopen. November first through the fifth will be regular trips, the 6th we'll stay longer as we often do on Saturdays.

Spots are wide open - there are no previous reservations.

 

I'm also opening this Wednesday-coming to a long tog trip - A sampling trip, October 13th, we'll be gone from 6:30 to 4:30 - Limit 14 people. $100 regular fare.

 

Also going to go long on Oct 14, 15, 16 -- from 6:30 am to 4pm -- Flounder/fluke on wrecks & reefs - Even some drifting despite that I catch most of my flounder on anchor. We haven't had the weather to catch them this fall -now finally settling- I think they're out there. 18 people sells the boat out - $120 fare. 

 

Weeding through two years of cbass production for 12 1/2 inch fish in late fall is a workout.

I witnessed the sea bass population proliferate with no recreational creel limit and a smaller size limit through the late 90s & early 2000s.

I witnessed the sea bass population fall in a heap in early 2004 as regulations drew ever tighter.  

Now rebounding in our region, we need management to redirect their efforts to where real problems lie.

Indeed, the statistics that brought us the upcoming cbass closure are at the heart of our current regulatory troubles. The old recreational catch statistics program, MRFSS, is dead - yet haunting.

And there's reef-fishes' inconvenient habit of living only where there's reef.

..and that we use a 'coastwide stock' - a single coastal population model - in the management of a fish that might migrate as much as 40 to 60 miles offshore only to return, not just to the same reef, but the same spot on that reef.

Never coastwide.

I think it's very poor use of management's might given the possibilities.

 

Regards,

Monty

 

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