Fish

On November 21, 2003, AARON FISH, beloved husband of Lillian Fish (nee Katzen), loving father of Sharon Puritz of Balto., Md. Loving father-in-law of Howard Puritz. Devoted brother of the late Abraham Fish. Adored grandfather of Dr. Allan & Kimberly Puritz, Richard Puritz and Melissa Kurland. Great-grandfather of Madison and Ashley Puritz. Services at SOL LEVINSON & BROS, INC., 8900 Reisterstown Road at Mount Wilson Lane on Sunday, November 23, at 12 noon. Interment Beth El Memorial Park, Randallstown.

A big fight is brewing over a little fish - a fish that no one wants to eat but that many regard as the most important in the sea. Catch restrictions loom on menhaden, which is too unsavory to grace a dinner plate but much sought by commercial fishermen. They catch them in staggering numbers to be ground into animal feed, to extract their heart-healthy oils for humans and to be used as bait to catch other fish, including Maryland's iconic blue crabs. Menhaden also play a vital role in the Chesapeake Bay's ecosystem, feeding on plankton and serving themselves as food for many of the fish, birds and animals that people do eat or care about.

LANDLOCKED Switzerland, the home of yodeling, cheese and watches, is not known for aquatic life. That's why artists there started erecting painted fiberglass cows in public places a few years back. They unleashed a worldwide craze. Chicago artists wanted to do cow sculptures, too. Cincinnati followed with pigs, Miami with flamingos, Boston with cod, Orlando with lizards. And so on, until 183 whimsical fish surfaced around Baltimore's downtown last spring. Those zany fantasy figures quickly captured the imagination of Baltimoreans.

The locations Piney Run: Park assistant Jim Gronaw says largemouth bass have been cooperative with anglers. Use top-water lures and Senko worms. Fifty anglers competed in the Lunar Lunker II bass tournament last Friday. The winning angler, Ron Hutchinson, caught a 21-inch, 4.9-pound bass. The Lunar Lunker III tournament will be at 6 p.m. on Aug. 15. Prettyboy Reservoir: Duke Nohe of the Maryland Aquatic Resource Coalition says the best action for smallmouth bass is between 25 and 35 deep on points, humps and mounds.

While the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay requires attention from all the half-dozen states in the 64,000-square-mile watershed, there is one step that must be taken almost entirely by one state alone. When the Virginia Assembly reconvenes for its annual 45-day legislative session in January, it needs to impose a strict quota on the harvest of menhaden. Perhaps no species is more important to the bay — and to the major East Coast fisheries in general — than the lowly menhaden, a small, oily fish that is familiar to Maryland anglers primarily as bait.

... red fish, blue fish. Three fish, four fish, Kisserfish, more fish. Five fish, six fish, At Your Serfish. Seven fish, eight fish. Had enough fish?(Actually, there are 120 fish.) The Fish Out of Water sculptures are out in full force. There's red-lipped Balti, the bright blue Kisserfish. He hangs out in McKeldin Square on the corner of Light and Pratt streets. Pucker up! Check out the painterly School on the Bay fish; it offers a wildlife lesson with the images on its fins. It's docked at the end of Constellation Pier, near a cozy little bench where a couple completes the portrait.