Eastern Bay

Lawrence Murphy has been a waterman for 28 of the Chesapeake Bay's leanest years, but he still believes in a generous and forgiving Mother Nature. And this spring in the waters of Eastern Bay near Kent Island, he has been raking in a unique harvest that seems to prove him right:Baby oysters in amazing and mysterious abundance -- so many that 800 million of them are being gathered to help Maryland's Department of Natural Resources re-establish failing oyster...

The protective underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay have dropped to their lowest levels since 2006, according to the latest report from Maryland and Virginia scientists. The scientists from the Chesapeake Bay Program, a regional partnership, view the grasses as a key measure of bay health because they provide shelter for fish and crabs, protect the shoreline and keep the water clear. The program measures the grasses annually from the Susquehanna Flats to the mouth of the bay, as well as those in the system's rivers.

The weather this spring has had many upper bay fishermen wondering where the rockfish went, as cool, wet conditions kept water temperatures unseasonably low and larger fish off the bite.With daytime temperatures regularly in the 80s now, rockfish action is heating up from the Susquehanna River to the Bay Bridge. In the Susquehanna, some of the best action has been on poppers or live-lined perch. But in the bay proper, it has been hard to beat chumming for the past week or so.Earlier this spring, while the post-spawn runs of rockfish were heavy out of the rivers on the lower Eastern Shore, DNR biologists reported that the upper bay stripers had yet to spawn in great numbers.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, I suppose, that the striped bass season began Saturday with uneasy folks focused on the intensity and direction of the wind. Concerns about our own health and well-being on the water aren't much different than the worries a lot of people have about the health and well-being of the fish themselves. Two decades removed from the end of the moratorium that helped bring striped bass back from the brink of extinction, there's a growing feeling that the winds have shifted and we're seeing the makings of another crash.

"I'll be at the Poe House, of course. Halloween weekend is our second biggest time of the year. Whenever I'm done there, I hope to do some evening fishing on the eastern bay. I'll also take the kids trick-or-treating Monday - and no, they don't dress up as Poe characters." - Jeff Jerome, curator, Edgar Allan Poe House Halloween at the Poe House: four performances of The Telltale Heart today and tomorrow beginnning at 12:15 p.m. $5 (12 and under $2). Not recommended for children 7 and under.

The underwater grasses that provide vital shelter to Chesapeake Bay creatures are rebounding in an important blue crab nursery, but they declined sharply in the middle bay last year, according to a new survey. In Tangier Sound, where juvenile blue crabs rely on the grasses for concealment from predators, the bay's largest underwater meadows expanded by nearly 3,000 acres last year. It was the second year in a row that the grasses grew back, showing signs of recovery after mysterious, enormous losses in 1998.

Between the striped bass (rockfish) fishing being enjoyed on the Chesapeake Bay, the tidal and freshwater bassin' on the Potomac River and local reservoirs, and the super blue water angling awaiting vacationers in Ocean City, I have to proclaim that Maryland fishing is great this spring.I followed up a truly memorable tidal Potomac River bass trip with Reel Bass Adventures pro Andy Andrzejewski last week with an equally mind-boggling angling outing with Captain Gordon Haegerich on Monday.

KENT ISLAND -- Talk of suspense.Sixteen eyes were riveted on the engine box of Joe Bernard's cabin cruiser as Michael Rossbach checked out the center of attraction. The hushed group watched him lay the rule alongside the object of attention.A loud cheer erupted. The rockfish taken on a Rat-L-Trap measured exactly 18 inches. It was a keeper, and our only legal one in a sunrise to past sunset odyssey that took us completely around Kent Island.In all we cast and trolled more than 65 miles in our junket down the Wye, Miles, Eastern Bay, up and down the Chesapeake and past Love Point, into the Chester, and homeward via Kent Narrows.

Rockfish on riseMore keepers: Catch reports filed with the Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service indicate that upper Chesapeake Bay rockfish anglers are starting to catch increasing numbers of keepers. The main stem of the Chesapeake above Brewerton Channel at the mouth of the Patapsco River was opened for rockfish on June 1. Until June 15, however, the minimum size remains 28 inches and the creel limit remains 1 per day per person."It looks like the mouth of the Chester [River]

"Naw, I think the dove season around here is a total bust," my future son-in-law, Richard Gonsman, replied when I half-heartedly suggested an afternoon of scattergunning.His assessment of the early season matched mine, so I countered with, "How about some striped bass fishing?" and got the young man's immediate attention.And that's how I happened to find myself on a boat with three anglers named Richard, which initially presented a bit of a problem. Like seeing three men dive for the same rod when I unthinkingly set up the alarm, "Richard!

Natural Resources Police officers recovered another 1,500 yards of illegal fishing net containing 300 pounds of striped bass Wednesday night in Eastern Bay off Kent Island. This is the eighth time in three weeks that patrol boats dragging grappling hooks have snagged submerged nets. The total length of confiscated nets is 5.5 miles and the weight of the poached striped bass, also known as rockfish, is 12.6 tons. NRP Sgt. Art Windemuth said the latest nets had been in the water for some time because officers found decomposing mud shad in them along with live striped bass.

Ralph Curtis Hammer, a noted shellfish biologist who led the old Maryland Tidewater Fisheries Commission's efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay's dwindling oyster population, died of Alzheimer's disease Sunday at Genesis ElderCare-The Pines in Easton. The Centreville resident was 92. Mr. Hammer was born in Franklin, W.Va., and raised in Cumberland, where he graduated from Allegany High School in 1933. He earned a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1940 and a master's in 1942 from the University of Maryland, College Park.

"I'll be at the Poe House, of course. Halloween weekend is our second biggest time of the year. Whenever I'm done there, I hope to do some evening fishing on the eastern bay. I'll also take the kids trick-or-treating Monday - and no, they don't dress up as Poe characters." - Jeff Jerome, curator, Edgar Allan Poe House Halloween at the Poe House: four performances of The Telltale Heart today and tomorrow beginnning at 12:15 p.m. $5 (12 and under $2). Not recommended for children 7 and under.

The underwater grasses that provide vital shelter to Chesapeake Bay creatures are rebounding in an important blue crab nursery, but they declined sharply in the middle bay last year, according to a new survey. In Tangier Sound, where juvenile blue crabs rely on the grasses for concealment from predators, the bay's largest underwater meadows expanded by nearly 3,000 acres last year. It was the second year in a row that the grasses grew back, showing signs of recovery after mysterious, enormous losses in 1998.

Rockfish on riseMore keepers: Catch reports filed with the Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service indicate that upper Chesapeake Bay rockfish anglers are starting to catch increasing numbers of keepers. The main stem of the Chesapeake above Brewerton Channel at the mouth of the Patapsco River was opened for rockfish on June 1. Until June 15, however, the minimum size remains 28 inches and the creel limit remains 1 per day per person."It looks like the mouth of the Chester [River]

Lawrence Murphy has been a waterman for 28 of the Chesapeake Bay's leanest years, but he still believes in a generous and forgiving Mother Nature. And this spring in the waters of Eastern Bay near Kent Island, he has been raking in a unique harvest that seems to prove him right:Baby oysters in amazing and mysterious abundance -- so many that 800 million of them are being gathered to help Maryland's Department of Natural Resources re-establish failing oyster...

Ralph Curtis Hammer, a noted shellfish biologist who led the old Maryland Tidewater Fisheries Commission's efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay's dwindling oyster population, died of Alzheimer's disease Sunday at Genesis ElderCare-The Pines in Easton. The Centreville resident was 92. Mr. Hammer was born in Franklin, W.Va., and raised in Cumberland, where he graduated from Allegany High School in 1933. He earned a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1940 and a master's in 1942 from the University of Maryland, College Park.

This year's fall striped bass (rockfish) season is set to begin Friday, and Anne Arundel County anglers will find themselves in the middle of the best fishing prospects.Traditional middle Chesapeake Bay hot spots include the area around the Bay Bridges pilings, Eastern Bay, Thomas Point, the Magothy River area, the Chester River area and around Love Point, plus one end of the Choptank to the other. Farther south, in the Potomac, you will find a staggering number of 18-inch and better rockfish.

The weather this spring has had many upper bay fishermen wondering where the rockfish went, as cool, wet conditions kept water temperatures unseasonably low and larger fish off the bite.With daytime temperatures regularly in the 80s now, rockfish action is heating up from the Susquehanna River to the Bay Bridge. In the Susquehanna, some of the best action has been on poppers or live-lined perch. But in the bay proper, it has been hard to beat chumming for the past week or so.Earlier this spring, while the post-spawn runs of rockfish were heavy out of the rivers on the lower Eastern Shore, DNR biologists reported that the upper bay stripers had yet to spawn in great numbers.

"Naw, I think the dove season around here is a total bust," my future son-in-law, Richard Gonsman, replied when I half-heartedly suggested an afternoon of scattergunning.His assessment of the early season matched mine, so I countered with, "How about some striped bass fishing?" and got the young man's immediate attention.And that's how I happened to find myself on a boat with three anglers named Richard, which initially presented a bit of a problem. Like seeing three men dive for the same rod when I unthinkingly set up the alarm, "Richard!