A recent report from the U.S. Fishery Management Council finds more than 72% of federal waters are classified as conservation areas. When I read that headline, I about had a heart attack. Conservation area usually means “fishermen keep out,” and with 72% of federal waters closed to fishing, that doesn’t leave much for us to use.
Then I read the rest of the release.
It seems a conservation area, by this definition, includes any location where bottom trawling is not permitted. While it is true that bottom trawling is very destructive, in the past, conservation areas have had considerably more restrictions.
Without going into a whole lot of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, let’s just say a committee was formed to look at each council’s conservation areas and report back to the chair of the subcommittee. A report was then developed that identified a total of 648 conservation areas comprising 3.4 million square miles of federal waters.
This report will now go to the America the Beautiful Campaign as part of the 30 by 30 Program.
While this particular program has no effect on recreational fishing, we must always keep an eye out on any attempt to restrict us from any part of the ocean or bays. There are groups that will stop all recreational fishing if they have the chance. They are well funded and not without political clout.
Black sea bass
Last Wednesday, I had a meeting of the Advisory Council for Black Sea Bass, Summer Flounder and Scup. I plan to ask for a reduction in the minimum size limit for black sea bass from 16 to 15.5 inches. I believe this would help reduce the number of dead discards.
If you have fished for black sea bass in the last year or two, you know how many small fish you have caught and had to throw back. Since they were hauled up from 100 feet or more, they had their organs extended and floated away from the boat until they were either eaten by a seagull or their organs returned to normal and they swam to the bottom.
In my experience, most of those fish would have fallen in the 15.5-inch range. In that case, they would have gone in the cooler, been counted in the 15-fish bag limit and the angler would have caught his or her limit much sooner. The end result would have been fewer discards and fewer dead fish.
Now I have no illusions that the powers that be at the National Marine Fisheries Service are going to jump up and down and exclaim, “Wow, Eric, what a brilliant idea!”
The best I can hope for is that they will take the idea under consideration and see if it has merit.
Since dead discards count against the recreational limit the same as if we were able to retain them, I would think that reducing that number would increase the number of fish that we could keep. Of course, logic is never a part of the thinking at National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
Check next week’s column for the result of my effort.
Fishing report
While I have not been fishing since my very wet experience of a week ago when Dave Nickle and I got caught in a downpour at the Lewes boat ramp, I do have lots of good reports from other anglers.
As this is written on Wednesday, flounder fishing is pretty good at the Old Grounds, Indian River and Rehoboth bays, Massey’s Ditch, the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, Indian River Inlet and from the fishing pier at Cape Henlopen State Park. Two baits stand out in my reports, minnows and Gulp!, followed by squid and shiners.
No matter what bait you use or where you fish, the bait must be on or very close to the bottom. Places like the rocks at Indian River Inlet call for a light touch where you work your jig or bucktail just above the rocky bottom. Get too close, and you will be adding to the considerable amount of lead already lining the bottom.
I am seeing some larger trout so far this year. A 7-pounder was caught at the Outer Wall and several 2 and 3 pounders are taken almost daily.
If I was going to target trout, I believe I would find my old yellow bucktail and purple worm. Then I would cast it to structure such as the Inner or Outer walls, the Ice Breakers, the lighthouse bases or jig it across the bottom at any of the bay’s reef sites. Who knows, you might just catch a real tiderunner.
Tuna fishing is good when the weather allows boats to reach the canyons.
-
Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. Since 1978 he has written countless articles about hunting and fishing in Delaware and elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast. He has been the regional editor for several publications and was the founding editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman magazine. Eric is the author of three books: Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast, The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing and Fishing Saltwater Baits. He and his wife Barbara live near Milton, Delaware. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.
