Atlantic Ocean Fishing Report

Hi All,
It continues to be an odd season. Have no doubt, we are getting the job done; that is, catching sea bass. My sense of it is that the weeks of uninterrupted south by south west winds have allowed all the fish to move in unison whereas in a more typical year the more robust fish would arrive first. However, during the last few days it has seemed as though there were some fresh arrivals from offshore and they were great fish. Stomach contents are what I gauge that by. The fish that have very small ling and other species that I can't even identify in them probably last dined in the deep. Trying to figure it out...
Most days we are limiting a few customers out and low man in the 12 -15 range. Other days are a bit slower and a few are classic ~ load 'em up and go home ~ days.
I had a customer that was bitterly disappointed last week when he did not limit out. Nevermind that the guys on each side of him did... Seems as though his buddies "guaranteed" a limit... Ouch. I am really honored that folks drive as far as they do to fish the boat and that many folks have recommended my operation to others. At the end of the day though, of the many factors that go into a good day's fishing which we do not understand, there is no guarantee...
Speaking of fishy things that we don't understand ~ I have been filming some of our artificial reef and natural rocky bottoms of late. The water is too clear to ignore the opportunity. Most of the time customers were busy catching while I was dropping the underwater video camera. One spot presented a unique opportunity though. I had just burnt a bunch of fuel in order to try and push the day from decent to excellent. The screens (fathometers, aka - fish finders) looked really fine and we made the drop. Nothing. Then 2 or 3 around the rail. I lowered the camera and had fantastic visibility of several thousand sea bass and a few large tog clustered around natural coral. None of which were the least bit interested in eating! Many of the customers came into the cabin for a look. You could plainly see the rigs drifting through the fish and even the odd one take a bait... Seemed to confirm what we intuitively knew ~ fish don't always eat!
Filming? In other parts of the world and even in the US there are areas of natural bottom that receive protection from commercial gear that could damage the coral and hinder the "production" of an area. In our area, the whole mid-Atlantic region, these bottom types are not recognized to exist... I have tried before to get them "on the table" and will try again. Seems they have to become part of the "Essential Fish Habitat" before any action can be taken. These areas need to become (oh the dreaded!) Marine Protected Areas or MPA's. More properly GPA's or Gear Protected Areas for this effort. In the last 10 years or so some areas have come back very nicely. Of late though, with flounder harder to come by, I sense that we are losing some of the less robust areas to trawl impact...
Have a great Memorial Day weekend,
Monty
Capt. Monty Hawkins
Party Boat "Morning Star"
www.morningstarfishing.com
410 520 2076 Advance Ticket and Info line
mhawkins@siteone.net
11546 Dolly Circle
Berlin, MD. 21811
http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/coastal/an/anz650.txt
http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/offshore/an/anz085.txt
http://www.ocreeffoundation.com/main.html