Spring Rockfish Tournament
Frederick Chapter

The awards will be presented at the June meeting. Congratulations to all the winners. The dinner on Friday night was a huge success. We gave away over $650 worth of cash & door prizes. I would like to thank Bass Pro, Tylers Tackle & Alltackle for their generous donations. Please support these establishments along with Boaters World & let them know you are with the Frederick MSSA & appreciate their support. Other thanks go out to Tyler Watson & his crew for picking up the food. Jerry Leuters & crew for the drinks. Walt Shaw, Bill Johnson & Fred Keene for setting up at the firehall & Chris Linnety for serving as the weigh master & donating the great looking leader board that will be used in all of tournaments. We are the only chapter to host such an event & are widely recognized as one of the best, if not the best chapter in the MSSA. It could not be possible without all your support & help. We have a great membership & even during the tournament, work together to help one another. You guys make this chapter first class.

Here is a list of the door prize winners.

•50/50 worth $200: Mike Beans
•Trolling Rod & Reel Combo loaded
  with line: Frank Molino
•Lure Bags: Matt Lacey & Bryan Etzler
•$25 Tyler Tackle Gift Certificates:
  Jim Stevens, Dinah Griffin & Jerry
  Leuters
•Waterproof Box: David Shaw
•Cooler Side Pad: Tyler Watson
•Hats, Shirts and Visors: Steve
  Durieu, Marty Russel & Eric Hansen

Spring Rockfish
Main MSSA Tournament
The Chapter had a good showing in the main tournament. Rick possibly 42.5# hog was 8th place in the Overall Tournament. John Travers had a 4th place daily winner for Sat. with a 37.45#. We also had 3 winners in the Manufacturers prizes: Ken Caudill 32.50 won Sea Tow Award. Chris Winpigler 39.5# won Seaswirl Striper Award. Bryan Etzler won Carolina Classic Award 32.9 lb fish. Overall we had a pretty good weekend with the exception of Sunday. Look forward to next years event & don't forget the rockfish regs. change on May 16th & the slot limit goes away. You can keep 2 fish 18"-28" per person or 1 fish 18"-28" & 1 over 28" (no slot exemptions) per person. The big fish are still around so catch'em up. Also if you have any suggestions or would like to get involved or even run the tournament please contact Rob Pellicot @ 301-696-7851. We are always looking for ways to improve the tournament & the chapter and can always use more volunteers.

Membership Coordinator
The chapter is looking for a membership coordinator. If you are interested in helping out or would like more information see Rick Thompson or Ken Wheeler at the meeting. Ken will make sure the transition is a smooth one & be there for any issues. We are looking for others that could serve as a call team etc, to help this coordinator from time to time. All positions will not involve a huge amount of time but we do need some volunteers.

Chincoteague Island, VA
Fishing Report by Charlie Koski

It was good to see all the folks from the Frederick Chapter MSSA & their families on the island for the Flounder Tourney. I was able to fish one day on the Barge with PG & Colleen. What weather we had for this one. Well that is fishing in May, you never know when it is going to blow. Flounder fishing is so-so with a 1 in 15 as a keeper. It is hard to throw back those 17"-18" fish. Some Sea Mullet are making their showing also. Croaker should be here by end of June. I had mentioned at the dinner at Maria's a reporting system for flounder for those who fish recreationally in VA. I have not heard anything else on the recreational side but VA charter captains are using it to report flounder catches. The hope is that we can show VMRC truer numbers than what is collect from the dockside surveys & coastal phone surveys. As is find out more I will let you know. The wrecks are hot with Sea Bass to 4 pounds & an occasional Tautog. I seen the first Mako being weighed at Capt. Bobs the other day so shark fishing is getting started. The offshore action should only be getting better as the weather warms. Here are some lat/lon numbers of an obstruction just outside the edge of the Assateague Point. If you cut the beach area close while cruising or fishing you DO NOT want to hit this. It is in 9 ft of water & is 8 + ft tall so at low tide you can just see it below the surface. It seems to be metal and concrete. Here are the #'s 37 52 31.4/75 24 14.4 Just go slow in this area until you can see it then mark your own GPS location. As of 3/12/07 it was still there. Tight Lines.

For daily fishing reports check out www.captbobs-marina.com/
NewsReports.php
and
www.stevesbaitandtackle.com/
NewsReports.php

Report from Bill's Fishing Shack: by Bill Johnson
The striped bass trophy season was definitely more a challenge of fishing rather than catching with the required slot limit this year. I made a lot fewer trips this year but was able to come up with at least one or two fish in the required boundaries. I took a neighbor out on my last trip on May 25 and managed to put a 35", 34" and 26" fish in the cooler in four hours of fishing. It appears that the fish are migrating to their summer habitat. There are reports of catches of decent sized croakers in the mouth of the Patuxent River, fishing late evening with bloodworms and shrimp. An occasional nice spot has shown up in some of these areas. Hopefully as the water temperatures rise, we'll see some bluefish action and, behind that, maybe some trout. I'll be back in Frederick for the month of June and hope to see you at the chapter meeting.