Fish Report 10/19/21
Twenty Four Days Without A Boat..
Times a'changin though.
From a seized-up marine gear/transmission's removal and fruitless worldwide parts search (no exaggeration); a new, if different, twin disc 2 to 1 gear is now fully bolted-up and aligned — sea trials passed.
Not so long ago I was running a small partyboat from OC that gauranteed elbow-room at the rail while fishing a reserved spot. After 41 years it's the best balance of client satisfaction I've found — not only in the catching, but in service & safety ..all while keeping passengers' (& captain's!) blood pressure on an even keel.
Been a while since I fished, 24 days! Time to try that some more—see if I still remember how to catch a sea bass.
Offering Sea Bass Trips With Prices Same As Last Year. Sea bassing should be plenty dagoned good. Ain't but one way to find out.
I'm selling a sea bass trip—will do all I can to catch clients plenty of cbass. It will be a sea bass only pool. If you want to target fluke? Knock yourself out - just don't hold it against us if the guy 2 spots down is limited on sea bass while you have to head to McDonalds for a fillet of fish sandwich!
Ticket Sales Limited To Four. (Let your friends take care of their own reservations!) Will sometimes sell all spots—as in a charter. Has to go through me and not terribly likely. I've built a livelihood carrying individual anglers and enjoy their company.
Opening to October 30th.. Saturdays 6:30 to 3:30 at $155.00 — Weekdays 7 to 3 at $135 — All cbass trips sell out at a nicely spaced 18 Anglers...
Sundays & Mondays continue to be held in reserve. Day off? Special trip? (Usually I spend all day working on reef building..) Any special trips I might post will announce here..
Reservations Required For All Trips - Call Anna (and sometimes daughter Hanna!) Reservation Line is Open 8am to 8pm at 443-235-5577 It always jams when I fist open.
Yes - I am fishing Wednesday, October 20th in fair westerlies.
Tomorrow!
Without a soul already booked.
Dang good chance of a private charter for just a couple anglers..
For this trip (and no they in this series) you may need to email me if the reservation line jams. We'll make it work.
As ever, 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
overslept or had a flat. No Refund or Reschedule for a missed trip!
Trips Also Announced (but later - email is always first) on Facebook at Morning Star Fishing
https://www.facebook.com/ocfishing/
My personal and Morning Star FB pages get daily after action (or lack thereof) reports..
Bait is provided on all trips.
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. This is 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
Two 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.
As of 10/19/21 we have 35,023 Reef Blocks + 359 Concrete Pyramids (170lb ea) deployed at numerous ACE permitted ocean reef sites - and, also as of 10/19/21, we have 312 pyramids in Chesapeake Bay working to restore blue ocean water…
Currently being targeted oceanside: Virginia Lee Hawkins Memorial Reef 99 Reef Blocks (+53 Reef Pyramids begun 8/18/20) - Capt. Jack Kaeufer's/Lucas Alexander's Reefs 1,856 Blocks (+44 Reef Pyramids) - Doug Ake's Reef 4,154 blocks (+16 Pyramid Reef Pyramids) - St. Ann's 2,777 (+8 Reef Pyramids) - Sue's Block Drop 1,582 (+20 Reef Pyramids) - TwoTanks Reef 1,223 (+ 11 Reef Pyramids) - Capt. Bob's Inshore Block Drop 912 - Benelli Reef 1,491 (+ 15 Pyramids) - Rudy's Reef 465 - Capt. Bob's Bass Grounds Reef 3,508 (+56 reef pyramids) - Wolf & Daughters Reef 734 - Al Berger's Reef 1,009 (+11 Reef Pyramids) - Great Eastern Block Drop 1,094 (+10 Reef Pyramids).. And a soon-to-be-named reef at Russell's Reef 30 Blocks & 49 Pyramids - We've also begun work at Capt Greg Hall's Memorial Reef with 92 Tog Monster Blocks & 2 Pyramids…
Greetings All,
Sure knocked wind from my sails. Being wharfed up for nearly a month of prime fishing season with a breakdown? No Joy.
Surprising to me, the cessation of my boat's tiny bit of reef building was especially irksome. Even as I slashed through this summer's earnings and desperately needed to go fishing to restore cash flow, I wanted to be building reef.
Who you are when no one's looking, right?
Did work the phones some. Did Sunday drawings too, but without Facebook fanfare. OC Reef Foundation has 2 barges coming. There may well be a third, pending inspection.
I'd like to get them gussied up with concrete pipe units - near about anything that will last a few centuries underwater. Anything we can attach to a barge's deck prior to deployment makes it that much better of a reef.
One of these barges will become Capt. Big Dad's Memorial Reef (for Capt. Darrell Nottingham) and sunk at Jackspot. Another will become Tyler Long's Memorial Reef, also at Jackspot I suspect.
We're going to soon begin an aggressive reef building program with pyramids. I've long dreamt of using the cement industry's good will & waste product as a key component of reef restoration in the Mid-Atlantic. It's really starting to happen. Bear Concrete is sending trailer full after trailer full, other companies including Atlantic Concrete in Dagsboro, Gillis Gilkerson in Salisbury, and especially an anonymous source are making pyramids at a steady pace.
We'll soon build the Nancy Dawson Arnold Memorial Reef within the Arnold Family Reef Group at the Queen Reef with pyramids.
Also and interestingly, scout Jacob Massey is shooting for rank of Eagle Scout. He wants to build a reef at the Bass Grounds using 50 pyramids he's going to make using OCRF molds and cement donated by Hardwire down in Pocomoke. He also intends to raise money for pallets of 16x20 chimney blocks (by far my fav block - monster tog blocks) to also deploy at that reef.
Then, if everything works out, we'll drop another barge right atop the monster 200' Dan Crocker Barge we sank last March. Imagine what a tog palace several barges and thousands of pieces of concrete shall become.
Only one way to make it happen: Build Reef!
..and only one way to build reef - Raise Money!
More to come. For now please believe the Best Weekly Prizes in our annual raffle are coming. I haven't made a post about it in some while, but I've been pulling our weekly winners.
The raffle is about to get awesome!
Those who play it and other donors are going to make fishing better & better.
In fact, our actions in coming years may be viewed by history as crucial in the fight to restore our 'deep blue sea' ..that's now turned green.
I've long told management: "reef restoration makes fisheries restorations simple" meaning ocean corals.
It's even more true that oyster bars & reefs in our estuaries are the only way to restore ocean water quality.
Marlin at Jackspot?
Let's get it done!
Raffle tix can be found online or at Raceway Citgo by Crabs to Go at 589 & Rt 50 - or at Lighthouse Guns & Gear with Gus & Debbie. One for $10 - six for $50 - fourteen for $100.
For online tix just select Raffle at the bottom of our ocreefs.org "donate" page. We'll fill out your raffle tickets and email you a copy.
I'm guessing there will never be better odds to win a raffle!
Going Fishing!
Cheers
Monty
