|
Upcoming Events
( Continued from Page 1 )
New Fund Raiser:
As soon as tickets are printed the Frederick Chapter will begin ticket sales for a drawing to be held at the August Meeting (August 9th, 2006) for a five (5) day Carnival Cruise. Tickets will be sold for $10.00 each. The winner will be presented with a Carnival Cruise Certificate
valid year round (except the last two weeks of December) for a 5 day cruise on any Carnival Cruise (except NY sailings). All Government taxes, fees and shipboard gratuities are included in the Certificate. Gordon Jernigan will Chair this event with Co-Chair Bob Pellicot.
Flounder Tournament:
The 2006 Frederick Chapter Flounder Tournament, to be held in Chincoteague
Island, VA. on May 19-21, is now taking registrations. Fishing will start on Friday the 19th and that evening we will have a buffet dinner at Maria's Restaurant on Maddox Blvd at 7:00 pm. I've already put in an order for
great weather & great fishing for this event so you don't want to miss it! You can register at the March meeting or send your registration form to:
Dave Griffin at
15944 Rhododendron Dr.
Hagerstown, MD 21740
Entry fee is $50 until the April meeting and $75 after the meeting so get in early!
If you have any questions, call the tournament Chairmen, Dave Griffin or Mike Beans, at 304-676-3256 or 301-748-5791
Upcoming Events:
June Tuna Trip:
Buster Richards and Neil Pellicot are sponsoring an Outer Banks Chapter Tuna Trip on June 2-4, 2006. Accommodations will be either at the Sea Foam or Comfort Inn, Nags Head, NC ($150 per night double occupancy). This is not a Tournament, but will be a Chapter Sponsored Event.
Buster has made arrangements to reserve a few rooms at a special rate. Registration will start at the next meeting and run through the May 10th meeting, however room reservations at this rate will be made on a first come first served basis.
October North Carolina Trip:
Breaking News on the October Trip. We are changing locations from Atlantic Beach, NC to Hatteras, NC.
The dates will be the same Oct 7-14th. The new place will have reasonable accommodations either $59/night or $74/night and that includes a boat slip.
It has a covered fish cleaning area, restaurant on site and a seafood packaging house that will commercially vacuum bag and freeze your catch. The king fishing is excellent and close to shore like Atlantic Beach with the added benefit of the gulf stream only 20 miles out that
has some of the best wahoo fishing around. Also the inshore fishing is fantastic. The inlet is easy to navigate and well marked. This should be a great trip so make plans now as we will be taking reservations in April and May. We ill have more information and a presentation at
the May meeting. First timers don't worry as it will be your best time to go offshore with a bunch of buddy boats to show you the ropes. Any questions call John Travers (Crabby) at 301-370-7733 or
Bud Wildman at 240-372-7491
Turnament Awards:
Awards for the Spring Rockfish, Spring Flounder, and bragging rights from the June Tuna Trip will all be presented at the June Meeting. You should plan to attend.
|
Chincoteague Island, VA
Fishing Report by Charlie Koski
THEY ARE HERE!!! Yep the flatties are biting folks and have been since around April 5 or so. I have ran several trips the week before and after Easter Sunday and have had keepers on almost every trip. Water temps are just right hovering from 56-61 degrees. Alot of fish were missed
by the inexperienced anglers, oh well. Flounder are very elusive fish and when fishing for them patience is a virtue!!! Alot of anglers like to snatch the rod at that first bite and guess what, a flounder is missed. Flounder like to disable the live minnow by grabbing the back
half first, then they go after the whole thing. So if you do anything just feed him a little line by opening the bale and close and lift gently on your rod. If the rod bends you got your flounder. I seem to catch 90% of my flounder with my rod in the rod holder.
Snapper blues are starting to make their showing also, they like the squid so I kinda stay away from using it for that reason. I have also heard of some of them bottom dwelling croakers (aka cockroaches for the seas) around. To darn early for them things for me. When they show
up it is hard get the bait out there long enough for the flatties!!! Shucks they usually do not show up until the end of June, but it seems everything is early this year. Black Drum are being caught right outside the inlet in front of Assateague Island near the Chincoteague Shoal.
Get some clams and give them a try. Tog are also still being caught at Blackfish Banks, a friend had 10 pounder from there the other day. They are biting on Blue Crabs cut in half.
Look forward to seeing you all during the Flounder Tourney May 19-21. I will be out there at all my undisclosed locations fishing on the Barge!!! Tight lines.
Check out this web-site for more info on this and other VA Reef sites.
http://www.mrc.state.va.us/
vsrfdf/reef.htm
Report from Bill's Fishing Shack: by Bill Johnson
None Submitted.
|
Last Month's Raffle Winners
none reported
Crabby's Fishin' Fever
If interested in fishing anywhere, anytime or anyplace, call Crabby for details at 301-253-9806
Frederick Chapter Yearbook
Tyler Watson, our photographer, requests photos of member's boats. His email is:
or bring to next meeting. A book of all of the chapter rigs will be on display at the meetings. This way we can put a name with a boat.
For fish pictures, complete a Fishing Album Submittal Form & attach picture of fish
& submit to Tyler Watson. Forms available at meetings & the website.
Scholarship Applications:
Call the MSSA office at 410-255-5535 for applications. They are due back by April 30th.
Terrafin Offshore Temperature Services: at terrafin.com or 800-993-0939 has a deal for $99 providing a 1 year unlimited subscription. They also donated
free services that we will give away at the meeting In addition they will be providing a 2 week trial period from July 7-21 with the following:
Alltackle.Com:
The online resource for fishing gear at alltackle.com has agreed to give Frederick Chapter Members discounts on their already low prices. Call them at 888-810-7283 from 9am-9pm and tell them you are with Frederick MSSA
to get special pricing, no shipping or sales tax.
HMS Permit
Highly Migratory Species Permit
This is required if you fish offshore. It's $22 for the boat and you can print it online at nmfspermits.com or call at 888-872-8862.
Fishing Regulations:
Maryland - Flounder
15.5" & 4 fish on the Coast
15.0" & 2 fish in Chesapeake Bay
Virginia - Flounder
16.5" & 6 fish.
MD - Rockfish Survey:
Everyone make sure to record your data & submit it online to the
Cooperative Striped Bass Survey.
Why participate in the cooperative striped bass survey? This data will help us keep our allocation and provide accurate data on our catch. Otherwise we will be subject to what the scientists indicate. Please
take the time to fill this out as I'm sure many of you fished on opening day. We will also try to have the hard copy survey at the meeting. For more info go to the Maryland DNR Fisheries web site.
It is in everyone's best interests to provide accurate data on Rockfish landings so that we are not shortchanged (again) when creel limits are being set. Please obtain a copy of the survey form and send information on all landings to MSSA/DNR.
MSSA HQ notes that by now most Maryland recreational anglers know that the minimum size for the 2006 spring trophy rockfish season, which opens on April 15th, is 33 inches, up from last year's limit of 28 inches. Fishermen may have also read that no fishing tournaments (except
catch & release) are permitted until May 1st, which is why MSSA's 23rd Annual Spring Rockfish Tournament will be held May 5-7. The regulation changes stem from a ruling this winter by the federal Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) that requires Maryland to
adjust its recreational trophy season to compensate for overages that occurred from 2003 to 2005.
While questions remain about the fairness of the quota system and the accuracy of the dock survey data that led to these stricter measures, MSSA encourages recreational anglers participate in the state's rockfish survey to address these concerns. The easy-to-use form asks anglers
to record the length of the first 20 rockfish they catch on each trip this season. The data will help fisheries managers more accurately estimate the Bay's resident rockfish stocks, an important factor when determining creel and minimum of size limits.
The survey data will give fisheries managers much needed information to more fairly allocate rockfish for the spring trophy season," said Rich Novotny, executive director the MSSA.
"And anyone who regularly fishes in Maryland waters during the resident season knows keeper rockfish (18 inches) can be hard to come by. We hope this information can help refute the unfounded criticisms from other states, some of which want to increase the minimum size for
resident Chesapeake rockfish." The rockfish survey could produce benefits to recreational anglers similar to those created by the state's coastal flounder survey, modeled after the MSSA Atlantic Coast chapter's highly successful effort that has tagged more than 1,000 flounder.
|