The bad news was the Department of Natural Resources pulled the plug in late October on coastal flounder fishing. But that turned out to be a good move for two reasons. First, there are not that many anglers fishing Ocean City that late in the season. Second, by stopping the flounder fishing then, the DNR also stopped any continued overage of flounder catches that could have impeded our 2009 flounder season, creel limits and/or size limits.
Right now, we don’t know what those figures will be, since it depends upon data going into the National Marine Fisheries Service, which controls flounder fishing quotas allowed by each state. We should get the flounder news — hopefully good news — by mid-February. We are a little over our 2008 quota, but it’s not that bad.
Another big plus for bottom-fishing boat anglers is that last Wednesday 44 decommissioned New York City streetcars went into the ocean off Ocean City. There are 1,600 cars that New York is getting rid off and are available to states for fishing reefs. The states or private donors pay for part of the barge transportation. Much of the current effort with streetcars is being funded by the Ocean City Reef Foundation.
The first batch of fishing goodies for Maryland was a barge-load of 44 stainless steel streetcars dumped in mid-May at the Jackspot. It has already attracted a lot of flounder along with sea bass, tautog and other species. Dives on this site in July and August proved the value of these wrecks in attracting fish.
“It is amazing the numbers of fish and the size of the fish,” exclaimed DNR biologist Marty Gary, who dove on the site and found flounder in the mid-to-upper 20s in size, well above this years 17 1/2-inch size limit.
He also described an area full of big flounder. Sounds like an angler’s heaven, with the bottom paved with flounder instead of streets paved with gold.
This second batch went of cars went into the ocean at the Bass Grounds, spread out over a five-square-mile area to provide good fishing for the party boat regulars along with small boat anglers.
“Small boaters can get out there on a good day with no problem,” said Gary. It will provide good fishing for private boat anglers as well as for half-day and full-day head boat trips.
These same wrecks are also cranking up enthusiasm of party boat skippers, such as Capt. Monty Hawkins, who runs the Morning Star for anglers wishing to top off coolers with sea bass. He also likes the smaller sea bass that are showing up, which augur well for this coming season.
“We had a bare hook bite,” he said of some fall fishing — not knowing if he is kidding or if sea bass are really biting on plain shiny hooks, “but they were all small.” That made no difference to Hawkins, who looks to the future.
“You gotta have acorns before you get oak trees,” Hawkins said of the size of the sea bass that he was finding on some sites in exploratory tagging trips this fall. To help with the conservation and management of ocean species, he actively tags fish for biological research. Now, even more sea bass should be attracted to and fatten up near the streetcar reefs.
Judging from his enthusiasm, Hawkins might be cranking up trips this winter for sea bass or tautog. He has in the past.
“I’ve had years when I go January 1,” he said of fishing on the first legal day for tautog. You can check his early season schedule by calling 410-520-2076 or e-mailing [email protected].
There are more streetcars for more fishing available for Maryland, along with a huge ship that could be placed at a site almost equal distant from Ocean City, Indian River Inlet and New Jersey. The Radford, a 700-foot-long decommissioned Navy destroyer, only requires some gutting and moving costs to end up on the bottom for anglers.
It is a great opportunity for a corporation to donate to conservation and sport fishing. About $200,000 ought to do it, but I think the state will take smaller contributions as well. For information, check with Gary at [email protected] or 410-279-0459.
C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting and the outdoors.
He can be reached at [email protected].
