We are starting a new feature, "Ask Outdoors Girl," where my alter ego will find answers to your questions: historical, cultural, legal, epistemological.
You may call it lazy. I call it a way to responsibly clean out my e-mail account.
We'll kick it off here this week and then move online next week. If you have questions, e-mail them to me and Outdoors Girl will begin the search.
George Sennett of Baltimore writes: "Where is Diamond Jim? The fish worth $20,000 must be in the [Chesapeake] Bay, right? In the history of the Maryland Fishing Challenge, has anyone ever caught Diamond Jim and won the big money?
Marty Gary, a biologist with the Department of Natural Resources' Fisheries Service and keeper of all things Diamond Jim, replies: "This year marks the fourth year for Diamond Jim. In each of the first three years (2006-2008), Fisheries tagged and released 61 striped bass. In 2006, three of the tagged fish were caught, two in 2007, and no tagged stripers were caught last year.
"Though no big-money Diamond Jim has been caught to date, a Monkton man did go home with a Toyota Tundra pickup truck for his catch of an impostor Diamond Jim in Eastern Bay in 2006.
"To improve the chances of catching a tagged fish, we have increased the number of tagged fish to 150. This year's tagged fish are generally in the 18-inch to 23-inch range, which are resident fish. Although they have tails and could swim to Virginia or other locations outside Maryland, what we do know about their migration tendencies indicates these fish are probably not far from where we originally tagged them (Solomons to the Bay Bridge).
"What we need are a few good anglers to catch the elusive Diamond Jim. As of Wednesday morning, he is worth $20,000."
Chuck Cobey of Reisterstown writes: "Where did the $284,819 in restitution go when those five striped bass poachers were sentenced - to the state's general fund or to DNR? That money could pay for the DNR's helicopter fund."
Tim Zink, spokesman for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, replies: "The penalties paid to NFWF in the recent striped bass poaching cases will be placed in the Impact-Directed Environmental Accounts Fund, which was created to handle money we receive from judicial proceedings, mitigation, licensing, etc.
