Article by Dale Timmons
Bluefish and shad made their way into the bay just inside the inlet last week, much to the delight of anglers who appreciate their fighting ability and “just want to pull on something.” Ever since I informally started keeping track of it, probably for at least 30 years, it seems that the blues have shown up in the bay in early May whenever the incoming tide fell in the late afternoon or early evening. That started me thinking about how many species can be counted on to appear at almost the same time each season, no matter how bad the winter has been. The exception might be if we have extremely cold water in the spring. Think about it—the bigger, migrating cow stripers can be counted on to show up moving north along the beaches in late April or early May, the small black drum will hit the surf about the same time, while the flounder are usually in the bays by early April. This year, in spite of our cold, snowy winter, some species have even put in a slightly early appearance. Red drum were found early down around the southern Virginia barrier islands, and the word is that the cobia have been putting on a spectacular show off Cape Hatteras—a couple of weeks earlier than usually expected. The variation will never be very radical, however. The question in my mind has always been—how do the fish know when to show up where? How does the information get passed from one generation to the next? There is probably a scientific answer tied up in the lateral line, or DNA, or something even more complicated, but it’s another one of those mysteries better left unsolved, I guess, because it makes life more interesting…
If you want to target those blues in the bay, use a plain bucktail jig, a spoon or a Hopkins metal with a single hooks rather than a treble. Unless you simply enjoy buying new lures, wire leaders in the 8 to 12 inch class are recommended, and they won’t affect the bite…
After I wrote about some new Mustad hooks last week, especially the 10/0 for red drum or stripers in the surf, someone asked me, “Why do you need such big hooks? They catch marlin on 5/0 or 6/0 hooks.” The simple answer is more about the bait than the fish. Many surf anglers targeting large stripers or red drum use big baits, such as a bunker head or a chunk (often called a “tenderloin”). If the hook is too small, it is difficult to go through the bottom jaw and out the top of the head or through a chunk and still have enough hook protruding to catch the fish. In the “old days,” when we all used j-hooks, which normally have a wider gap than a circle hook, the larger hooks weren’t usually necessary, and I have caught many reds on 5/0 hooks, although usually with smaller baits. With circles, however, I don’t like to use them if the knuckle of my index finger won’t pass through the gap between the point and the shank. I figure my finger is about the same size as the jawbone of a large red drum, and the hook has to wrap around it. Not very scientific, I know, but it seems to work for me. Another factor is that there isn’t much uniformity in the circle hook world. A 10/0 made by one manufacturer might have a completely different gap and be a different size than one made by another company, which I don’t understand at all, but so far, at least, that’s the way it is…
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASFMC) Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board voted last week to give states the option to institute a new sea bass season that would add 90 days to what had been proposed earlier. The proposed new season will run from May 22 through October 11, with an additional open period from November 1 through December 31. According to the RFA (Recreational Fishing Alliance), “The increase in fishing days became possible after the recent release of 2009 black sea bass landings. Projected 2009 landings had been mandating a 44% reduction in ladings for 2010, but the updated data showed that only a 21% reduction was needed, allowing for the liberalization.” Individual states will have to implement the new proposal. My question is, “Why the need for ‘updated data’? Every time the ASMFC or NMFS comes out with some extreme draconian season or limits, and the public screams in outrage, there is “updated data” that shows the numbers were completely screwed up in the first place. At the very least, somebody should be fired. Even better, Congress should wake up and clean house and start all over again, since “Fisheries Management” has become a classic case of mismanagement at practically every level…
It’s that time of year when blue crabs shed, and I understand the “peeler run” has been excellent on the Chesapeake Bay and started to improve rapidly in the coastal bays, though the little cold snap we just had may have slowed them down for a bit. Peeler crabs make excellent bait for a lot of species, including red and black drum, kingfish, speckled and gray trout, tautog, stripers and even flounder. A few of the local bait shops sell live peelers, and though they are a little pricey, they are definitely worth a try. I did a short piece last year on how to cut up and use peelers as bait, so I won’t get into all that again, but if you have never tried fresh peeler, I highly recommend you start to include them in your arsenal of “go to” baits, especially in the spring of the year…
Gray trout, or weakfish, have been on an extreme down cycle in their population for several years, and this year fisheries officials have finally done something about it and cut limits drastically. Recreational anglers are only allowed one fish, while commercial fishermen can possess up to 100 pounds. There are apparently a few older, very large trout around, however, that have survived for many years. A friend of a friend of mine who is a crabber and sets a few gill nets commercially on the Chesapeake Bay side recently caught a trout that measured an incredible 41 inches. The fish was estimated at over 20 pounds. To give you an idea of just how big this trout was, the Maryland state record is 16 pounds. It was caught in the Ocean City Inlet in the fall of 1976. The all tackle world record is 19 lbs., 2 ozs. Hard to tell exactly how old a 20 lb. trout would be, but my guess would be over 20 years…maybe it’s time for a hunk of that fresh peeler crab on a bucktail at the south jetty…
Contact Dale Timmons at [email protected] or call 410-629-1191.