2019 Spring Rockfish Season

Dirichlet · Apr 23, 2019

Combined from Sat-Mon I did a total of ~24 hours of trolling with only two bites, nothing landed. And that's with 15 lines (7 tandems, 6 large umbrellas, 2 small umbrellas) in the water. Locations were from Chesapeake Beach to Bay Bridge. Conditions were everywhere from really bad (Saturday and parts of Sunday) to pretty nice (parts of Monday). We snagged a couple of sticks over the three days, but other than that the lures were running clean (no jellies or seaweed to contend with). I know a few charterboat captains who've been skunked so far as well. This is a really, really bad sign for the bay.

John from MD · Apr 23, 2019

In my opinion, there are two direct threats to the Striped Bass population. 1st is the commercial fish harvest. I see the numbers and the commercial people are taking a lot of fish out of the bay. The recreational fisherman are willing to take cuts but the commercial people have more clout and never get cut like they should.

The 2nd threat are the non English speaking foreigners fishing in Maryland. I have watched them take 6 inch bass and put it in their bucket. Many of them do not have licenses and are the first to claim you are targeting them because they are Hispanic, Korean or Chinese ( add ethnicity).

Many fisherman that I know who target SB, usually catch and release and don't want to eat large Rocks as they don't taste as well as a 25 inch fish.

Just my .02.

Doco Overboard · Apr 23, 2019

Has anyone checked the streams yet for spawning activity? Usually I take a stroll near the Nanticoke or Marshyhope to have a look but haven't had time to do it. Anyone had a look?

Archeryrob · Apr 24, 2019

I agree John, Commercial fishermen are not helping very much at all and their lobby prevents them from taking cuts to harvest much at all. The second get caught, but I wonder if they even show up for court to pay the fines. So Maybe no real deterrent here.

Virginia took action yesterday and is asking other states to do the same. While I like what Virginia has done, they have always been know as the rapers of the Menhaden and Shad. If they plan to fix one, they are all interconnected.

Today, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted unanimously (7-0) to enact an emergency closure for the spring recreational striped bass trophy season.

Now, they are serious about saving the stripped bass. Someday when they are serious about saving the Bay and the Stripped Bass limits on Medhanden and Omega Proteins harvest will sometimes be talked about. Algae builds up in the bay and makes dead zones while you are overharvesting the filter feeders and the forage fish for the striped bass. Someday they will figure 2 + 2 = 4. Oysters and Menhaden play a huge roles in saving the bay and are nowhere near the levels they should be.

John from MD · Apr 24, 2019

Well stated.

gtodave · Apr 24, 2019

John from MD said:
The 2nd threat are the non English speaking foreigners fishing in Maryland. I have watched them take 6 inch bass and put it in their bucket. Many of them do not have licenses and are the first to claim you are targeting them because they are Hispanic, Korean or Chinese ( add ethnicity).

If you want to get REALLY angry, read the DNR Police blotter, and watch the same names pop up over and over again, and then check to see what they actually were convicted of, and the repercussions. Hint: You can harvest thousands of pounds of under sized stripers out of season without a license and pay a fine of ~$500.

It's no wonder they keep doing it.

Abuck · Apr 24, 2019

Never been surf fishing before, but heading down this weekend to the Mid Atlantic Fireworks festival with several friends, staying 4 days in the St Leonard area, and picked up a bunch of gear to give it a try. Wow, a lot to learn, that's for sure, lol.

Hoping to catch some stripers going by, but what else can we expect to hook from the beach now? Anything worth keeping to eat? Seeing this thread makes me wonder about keeping any rockfish if we get any legal size.

Todd S · Apr 24, 2019

If the Rockfish stock is that low, put a moratorium on them, NOW! But don't tell me as a fisherman in the Chesapeake, that I have to limit my catch of these big fish, so that another in NY or New England, can slaughter these same fish all summer long. Total BS. Big population centers can push around smaller population centers. :mad54:

44man · Apr 24, 2019

If folks want to get serious and save the bay and it’s creatures I say we put a 25 year moratorium on harvesting ANYTHING from the bay.

I say the feds make Pennsylvania cut nitrogen going into the bay by 95%

We ban farming in md

And force everyone who owns property that drains into the bay to decrease nitrogen input by 95% and 100% from any and all septic and 100% chemical free discharge from 100% of the sewer treatment plants

We can still swim and sunbathe and boat and if we want to fish we can pond fish or ocean fish

Seems reasonable to me

It sure would do the trick

LimaVictor · Apr 24, 2019

So far this season, I have had to tell about a dozen people that we could not renew their fishing licenses due to some restriction on the DNR License Renewal website that prevents us from doing so. In my 5 years at the shop, that has never happened when I've renewed a customer's license.
Does this stop these people from fishing? Nope. Not when they've already purchased rigs, bait, and a new fishing pole combo.

ChrisD · Apr 24, 2019

I have fished Sunday (Rebel59 on the boat), not a touch, Monday not a touch, and today, boxed 1 and had 1 under 35” minimum that was released. This is the worse I have seen, and the stock is down for sure. But I would also add after reading all of the recent posts in this
thread and the other recent thread about Virginia Trophy season. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on between states on the ASMFC on management decisions. Way more than I would get into here. I belong to and am active in several Charter boat organizations, as well as attend the ASMFC meetings pertaining to striped bass management. There are some politics between upper and lower bay fisherman, as well as between the states on the coast that just make my head spin. Something definitely needs to be done about striped bass management, but one state, and one sector can’t bare the brunt of the reduction needed. The lower bay fishermen want the summer shut down, so they can have the spring and late fall open. That will #1 exclude a large segment of the bay’s fishermen from the fishery (when the resident stock is in the upper bay waters), and #2 put additional pressure exclusively on the spawners in the spring and late fall. The striped bass typically move north in the summer months, and there aren’t as many to target in the lower bay in those months.(they have little to lose with a summer closure) There is some behind the scenes politics with Virginia closing the recreation trophy down, but only after the commercial Fishermen had their wack at them on the way to the spawning grounds.
I have a lot more thoughts but can’t put them all here.

ChrisD · Apr 25, 2019

We are also seeing very little in the way of baitfish so far this year. No menhaden for them to eat means the stripers won’t be sticking around.

John from MD · Apr 25, 2019

I agree. I have been out in the South, Severn and Magothy area and have not had any luck nor have I seen any baitfish. Checking the Gooses Reef buoy shows the salt level is down which is another bad thing to factor in. Hopefully DNR will deploy the ANP buoy so we get some real data locally.

outrider58 · Apr 25, 2019

We're headedout now. Gonna try again...

ChrisD · Apr 25, 2019

outrider58 said:
We're headedout now. Gonna try again...

Good luck!
I just got lines set.

outrider58 · Apr 25, 2019

ChrisD said:
Good luck!

I just got lines set.

Us too. Good fishing!

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ChannelCat · Apr 25, 2019

outrider58 said:
Us too. Good fishing!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I've decided to save gas this year. I chummed near Thomas Point on Tuesday, caught a 26-inch rockfish, and a fat channel cat. I harvested the cat, and have a couple nice fillets waiting for me. I'd like to chum a few more times before switching to light tackle jigging and targeting perch. Tight lines to all!

LimaVictor · Apr 25, 2019

outrider58 said:
We're headedout now. Gonna try again...

Good luck and be safe out there.

outrider58 · Apr 25, 2019

Thanks! Will do.

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LimaVictor · Apr 25, 2019

All the pressure from the northern states to curb our trophy seasons... We should put pressure on them on their waterfowl seasons!

2019 Spring Rockfish Season

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