Article by Dale Timmons
It’s hard to believe, but next week, August 3-7, is White Marlin Open week, and just like I have done for many years, I want to wish all of the anglers and crews, both the “locals” and those of you who come to OC just for the tournament, good fishing and safe sailing. Not too many boats have even been fishing offshore at this point in the season, so it’s kind of hard to tell what is there and what kind of tournament it will shape up to be, but put a few hundred boats out there and it’s hard to tell what might be caught. I am confident we will see some impressive fish. So once again, good luck—make sure you know the minimums and the rules, be safe…and catch ‘em up…hope to see you at the scales…
Under relatively new federal regulations, anglers fishing in any tournament that offers a prize for billfish (marlin, sailfish, etc.), like the White Marlin Open, are required to use non-offset circle hooks only. This requirement is to better protect the billfish that are released, because unlike the traditional “j-hook,” which can grab a fish anywhere, including in its stomach or gills, the circle hook works by grabbing and wrapping around the jaw of the fish, often in the corner of the mouth. This usually happens, it is assumed, as the fish turns and is swimming away with the bait. It wouldn’t surprise me that the fish is often hooked as it feels pressure and is actually trying to get rid of the bait. The circle hook is so named because its shape is more circular than the traditional “j” shape of a standard hook. The hook point is perpendicular to the shaft of the hook rather than parallel to it. The use of circle hooks actually began with commercial fishermen, especially longliners, probably because the hooks themselves actually do the hooking, and once the hook is wrapped around the jaw it is very difficult for a fish to get away. The use of circle hooks has required the development of very different techniques for rigging baits that are to be trolled, the usual method of fishing offshore in this area, and captains and mates have come up with some very inventive ways of rigging ballyhoo, mackerel, eels, etc. for marlin fishing. Circle hooks also require a different technique for hooking the fish, mainly by pointing the rod at the fish and simply reeling rather than “setting” the hook, to put it simply. It has taken some getting used to, to say the least, making an already sometimes frustrating sport even more aggravating…and “Roddy” (the rodholder) may still be the best fisherman on the boat…
If you fish for stripers, or care about the striper population, there is an excellent article that you should read by Ted Williams in the current July/September issue of Fly Rod & Reel magazine. I ran across a link to it in the Virginia forum of tidalfish.com. It is too long for me to quote at length here, but the gist of the article is that the striper is once again in trouble, primarily from overfishing, in spite of what “fisheries managers” would have us believe. Some of the numbers that Williams reveals are compelling, like the 2008 statistics for recreational anglers, which show that Virginia was down from 1,357,299 fish in the year 2000 to 647,542 in 2008. Maine went from 1,004,780 fish to 518,988 fish in the same time period. Another figure quoted by Williams is from a cooperative trawling expedition for wintering striped bass off North Carolina. Williams says, “This is not a population survey; it is strictly a tagging operation. Still, it’s a good indicator of abundance. Since 1990 the best catch was 6,275 fish in the year 2000; the worst was 147 in 2009. The average from 1987 to 2006 was 2,212, but the average for the last three years was 516.” Williams goes into the plundering of menhaden in Chesapeake Bay as well as the “recremercial” rod and reel anglers in the state of Massachusetts, who pay a measly $65 fee and are allowed to kill and sell as many as 30 stripers a day over 34 inches, mostly spawning age females. It’s a very disturbing article if you care anything about the striper. Unfortunately, the reality is that the folks who could actually do anything about it look at the striper primarily as a commodity, and the population will probably have to crash again before anything is done…
I see where the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) has recommended a 2010 fluke (summer flounder) quota of 22.13 million pounds. This would be up from 18.45 million pounds this year. Unfortunately, even if the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the MAFMC pass this recommendation in August, NOAA Fisheries still has the final say and could reject it like they did last year. And of course, of the almost four million pound increase, recreational anglers only get 40 per cent. Still, it gives some hope that the ridiculous minimum sizes of 18 and 19 inches in the mid-Atlantic area might be reduced a little…
Speaking of flounder, last week I wrote about George Henning at the OC Fishing Center trying an experimental ocean flounder rig of mine when he ran into very cold water on the bottom while fishing on the “Morning Star”. Well, this week George tried again, and he reported catching four keepers and several other fish on the new rig. Don’t know if I’ll package it, but at least it’s nice to know when something new works. Course I understand a certain famous mate didn’t like it when the rig got tangled in his net…have to get Capt. Monty to spring for a new rubber or knotless model, I guess…
I wrote about a dropper loop knot called a Kiwi Knot earlier in the season. A friend of mine, Dave Cropper, who is chief of the volunteer division of the Ocean City Fire Dept. as well as a professional paramedic/firefighter and a rope and knot nut himself (if you need any double braid spliced, he’s the man), told me he had “been studying” one of my flounder rigs with the new knot and decided that “in the rescue world” it is basically the same as what is called a Butterfly Knot. It is used because it will hold no matter what the direction of pull on the knot. I have probably tied a least a thousand of these loops in mono rigs since I wrote the initial blurb, and I like it even more now. It is easy to tie, strong, and versatile…one worth learning…
Contact Dale Timmons at [email protected] or call 410-629-1191.
