Anglers

State officials want to implement a comprehensive $15 saltwater fishing license starting next year to bring Maryland into compliance with federal law and keep revenue here that otherwise would be funneled to Washington. The license proposal, which is expected to be introduced in the General Assembly as early as today, would end free fishing for anglers in the Atlantic Ocean and in the coastal bays behind Ocean City. In addition, the bill would increase the length of short-term licenses from five to seven days; establish a free registry for anglers fishing from pleasure boats, waterfront property owners and their immediate family fishing from their property and individuals fishing in a free fishing area; create reciprocal fees for nonresident tidal licenses; and authorize a commercial pier fishing license.

Port City Bass Anglers will be sponsoring the 9th annual Kid's Fishing Festival June 9 at Bynum Run Park on Churchville Road in Bel Air. At this event, junior anglers will participate in a tournament and have a fun day of fishing that will be split into two age groups from 5 years old through 15 years old. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. at the park entrance. The event will take place from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Members of Port City will assist each youth in the competition. Prizes and trophies will be given out to the youth during and at the end of the event.

State officials say all Maryland recreational anglers must register with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before fishing in 2010. The requirement is part of a federal initiative to help ensure the long-term sustainability of America's fisheries. Although the survey is focused on saltwater species, some ocean fish travel between salt and fresh waters, so anyone fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries and coastal waters must register. Anglers must provide their name, birth date, address, telephone number and the regions they plan to fish.

What is now billed as the "world's largest rockfish tournament" began 30 years ago with a different catch in mind - bluefish - and pretty much remained that way until a decade ago. That's when the once-plentiful bluefish population became scarce around the Chesapeake Bay and rockfish, which began to repopulate during a three-year moratorium in the early 1990s, became the event's focal point. And so was born "The Championship on the Chesapeake. " Part of a branding move by the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association, the event was expected to attract 500 boats and 3,500 anglers this weekend.

With 253 boats from all over the east coast fishing the renown White Marlin Open Tournament in Ocean City, Jane, Tom and Lance Smith, of Bel Air, and crew on board their 43-foot custom Carolina boat, Longfin, were fortunate to get to the weigh scales and post a category win for the third time. They had consecutive winning years with a second place white marlin, and this year they took a second place in the shark division with a 126-pound mako shark. It was caught trolling in 300 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon on an artificially molded chugger.

Sometimes, you get your wish. Saturday was that day for the Barnes family of Upper Marlboro. Like hundreds of families before them, they learned about the magic of the Wish-A-Fish Foundation, which brings together recreational anglers and special needs children, or those fighting a cruel illness, for a free day of fishing on theChesapeake Bay. Saturday couldn't have been prettier, a rare break in the steam bath of July. The fish? They cooperated for the nearly two dozen families at this year's event.

For more than 56,000 Maryland anglers, there's nothing so sweet or more of a harbinger of spring than the growl of the big trucks filled with trout. In good weather and bad, state fisheries tank trucks load up with thousands of trout raised at hatcheries and drop them off in waterways from Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore: iridescent speckled rainbows; dusky, glistening brown trout; and a sunflower-yellow variety that makes the surrounding water glitter. "I left with 2,200 [fish]

Now I know how those White House party crashers felt. I received an e-mail Wednesday addressed to "Dear Chesapeake Bay colleague," inviting me to listen in on a "special briefing for the watermen and recreational fishing communities on a new federal strategy for protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay watershed." Earlier in the day, the Obama administration announced a "we really mean it this time" plan to restore the bay that involves tons of federal tough love and forces the six states in the watershed to break a sweat on enacting and enforcing stricter pollution and development laws.

The big one got away again at Saturday's Maryland Fishing Challenge finale in Annapolis. For the eighth straight year since the contest was established, no anglers caught the special Diamond Jim striped bass worth a $25,000 prize. Though the $25,000 striped bass wasn't caught, it marks the second year in which the Jim Diamond prize money was split among those who caught a fish carrying the designated tag. Instead, the nine anglers who caught fish that were tagged in the popular Maryland Department of Natural Resources' contest took home nearly $2,800 each.

Pardon Dee Tochterman if she doesn't have time for more than a quick hello. She has worms to wash. Thousands of them. Every day from spring to late fall, Tochterman is the head worm wrangler at T.G. Tochterman & Sons, the 94-year-old tackle shop on Eastern Avenue. Her specialty is bloodworms, the nasty critters from the mud flats of Maine and Canada that squirt blood and bite. Anglers love them. But the fish of the Chesapeake Bay — stripers, spot and croaker — love them even more.

A preliminary report on the deaths of two anglers on the opening day of the Chesapeake Bay rockfish season says all six persons aboard the boat that capsized off Point Lookout had life vests, but not all wore them, according to the Maryland Natural Resources Police. David Fletcher, 43, and David Chase, 55, both of Lexington Park in Southern Maryland, died Saturday morning when a friend's fishing boat took on water and capsized. Four persons, including the owner-operator of the boat, were rescued.

For someone who didn't much consider himself a writer, Hayward Putnam certainly had a long career in the field. Roughly 40 years ago, he and Joseph Zimmer Jr. approached The Aegis about the paper's coverage of outdoors issues. Shortly thereafter, they became responsible for the newspaper's outdoors coverage, mainly hunting and fishing. Mr. Zimmer would do the writing and Mr. Putnam, a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, would put together a drawing to go with the text.

More Americans hunted, fished and watched wildlife in 2011 than five years earlier, according to final statistics released last month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "This is good news for our lifestyles and our economy," said Dan Ashe, director of the service. The results are from the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, an outdoor participation survey the agency has conducted since 1955. The survey results are released every five years.

In a move hailed by conservationists, East Coast regulators ordered Friday a 20 percent reduction in the commercial catch of Atlantic menhaden, despite warnings that the cutback would cost some fishermen their jobs and may affect crabbers in the Chesapeake Bay. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, meeting before a packed ballroom of partisans in a Southeast Baltimore hotel, ended years of debate over whether the fish were in trouble and...

The final event of the 2012 season for the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association (MSSA) attracted more than 800 anglers on 220 boats in pursuit of almost $80,000 in prize money. Fishing out of Solomons, Lee Tippett, captain of the Fin Finder II, along with Andrew Turner and his crew reeled in a 41.35 pound rockfish to win the first prize of $45,000 in the MSSA Fall Classic Rockfish Tournament, the country's largest rockfish tournament. The event was held Nov. 17 and 18 on the Chesapeake Bay from Sandy Point to Point Lookout.

With 253 boats from all over the east coast fishing the renown White Marlin Open Tournament in Ocean City, Jane, Tom and Lance Smith, of Bel Air, and crew on board their 43-foot custom Carolina boat, Longfin, were fortunate to get to the weigh scales and post a category win for the third time. They had consecutive winning years with a second place white marlin, and this year they took a second place in the shark division with a 126-pound mako shark. It was caught trolling in 300 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon on an artificially molded chugger.

Despite strong winds and rough water the first few days of this fall's striped bass (rockfish) season, middle bay-area anglers have been reeling with joy. From one end of the Chesapeake to the other, an empty-handed rockfish angler is a rare find.Ray Bowman of Laurel managed to pull a 31 1/2 -inch rockfish from the popular Choptank Fishing Pier."I was over that way Saturday, but didn't fish because the pier and the river below were too crowded," he said. "Then, Sunday afternoon while watching the football game, it occurred to me that if I drove back over there late in the day it would probably be empty."

With the lure of making as much as $100,000 in prize money, nearly 4,000 anglers in some 650 boats are expected to descend on the Chesapeake Bay next weekend for what is billed as "the largest rockfish tournament in the world. " According to Dave Smith, executive director of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association, there are "over 50 ways to win. " First place in the main draw is worth a guaranteed $15,000. The big money is made in what MSSA bills as a "tournament within a tournament.

Tony Tochterman, who along with his wife, Dee, owns Tochterman's Fishing Tackle, the city's oldest bait and tackle store, remembers it well. Tony and Bob Wall, division chief of Baltimore's Recreation and Parks Department, helped introduce area children to fishing by hosting a tournament. As they led the group down the hill, rods in hand, the Inner Harbor slowly came into view and the children's eyes lit up. "Wow," one youth said. "That's the ocean. " Wrong. "They had never seen water before," Tochterman said.

The big one got away again at Saturday's Maryland Fishing Challenge finale in Annapolis. For the eighth straight year since the contest was established, no anglers caught the special Diamond Jim striped bass worth a $25,000 prize. Though the $25,000 striped bass wasn't caught, it marks the second year in which the Jim Diamond prize money was split among those who caught a fish carrying the designated tag. Instead, the nine anglers who caught fish that were tagged in the popular Maryland Department of Natural Resources' contest took home nearly $2,800 each.