Catching sea bass on the Angler

I had been looking forward to Nov. 6 for several weeks, ever since I made my reservation on the Angler head boat out of Ocean City, Md. I have not been fishing since I went with my son Ric out of Virginia Beach back in August, when I caught a couple of big sheepshead and a Virginia citation red drum.

My right shoulder has been giving me fits for quite awhile, and I am set to get a new one Dec. 6. This has been the excuse I have used for my lack of fishing activity. Before this trip, I borrowed my friend Mike Pizzolato’s electric reel outfit in case my shoulder gave out. I am happy to report the shoulder held up just fine.

I was up at 3 a.m. and out the door by 4. I love driving down to Ocean City at this time of night. There are very few cars on the road and all the traffic lights are synced to the speed limit, so I only had a stop a few times during the entire trip. 

I think some of these guys camp out the entire night because no matter how early I get to the dock, there is always a large group of fishermen there already. I unload my gear, park my truck and get in line before the captain starts handing out the tickets. Once that begins, I find out I am No. 21, so I can get my spot on the bow and a place at one of the tables.

Boarding starts around 5:30. One of the mates carries my cooler and tackle to the bow, and I go inside to put my lunch cooler at the table. As usual, I find my table mate is very interesting. It seems he is a software engineer who developed a system for something important that I don’t understand, sold the company and is now retired at a very young age.

Around 8, we anchor at the first spot and I head for the bow. On my first drop, I catch a keeper and a short, and the day has begun. I have a perfect layout for myself with my cooler with a ruler glued to the top at my left hand, my bait bucket to my right and my seat perfectly located so I can drop my rig directly over the side. The rig is supplied by the boat and comprises a mono leader with two in-line circle hooks spaced about 12 inches apart with a perfection loop on top and a surgeon’s loop on the bottom for the sinker. Nothing fancy. No feathers, beads, spoons or other bells and whistles. Just two plain hooks with salted clam. As soon as the sinker hits bottom, you have a bite.

I began fishing at 8 and never quit until 2, unless the captain was repositioning the boat. During the entire six hours of fishing, I had at least one and often two fish on every drop with the rare exception when the sneaky devils would clean my hooks. I didn’t keep count, but I know I must have caught well over 100 sea bass during that time in all sizes, from “How in the heck did something that small get a hook that big in its mouth” to “Oh boy, that’s a keeper.”

Everyone around me was doing the same. I don’t know how many head were on the boat, but it looked pretty full. If I caught 100 sea bass and all hands did at least that well, the total sea bass caught would be 8,000.

Unfortunately, out of my 100 fish only 10 made the 13-inch minimum size limit. That is five short of the 15-fish bag limit. There was one flounder caught; it looked to be around 3 pounds and probably won the pool.

Another thing I like about the Angler is the mates clean the fish on the way back to the dock. The cost is $1.50 per sea bass, and you end up with a nice bag of filets and no more work once you get home.

I have a meeting of the Advisory Council on Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass coming up. I plan to present my case for lowering the size limit for black sea bass to 12 inches. I threw back many nice fish in that size, and I am certain the mortality rate was high because they were cranked up from over 100 feet and their swim bladder was extended. Not only would the change drastically reduce the mortality of black sea bass, but it would also reduce the time it would take to catch a limit and save the larger fish that are mostly males.