Striped Bass

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.

The state says it's OK to eat more striped bass, but the question today, the opening of the spring season, is whether you'll be able to catch them. In a repeat of last year, high winds are expected to rake the bay, generating three- to five-foot waves and convincing many anglers to remain in safe harbor. For those who love the taste of the firm, white flesh of morone saxatilis , being so close but so far from piscatorial paradise is, well, a form of purgatory. After all, it's been four months since the 2010 season closed.

Nine recreational anglers from out of state were charged with fishing for striped bass in protected waters during a weekend sting operation in the Choptank River south of Denton, just one week before the start of Maryland's spring season. Working on tips from the public, Natural Resources Police officers shot video of the alleged poachers fishing on known spawning grounds and intercepted them as they returned to shore at Ganeys Wharf. Police say one angler caught 20 striped bass.

Few experiences compare to boating in the Chesapeake Bay at dawn, gliding among blue herons and submerged oak trees. As a nature lover and conservationist, I often take young students to the Chesapeake to teach them about ocean ecology. Lately, these nascent outdoorsmen have been noticing disturbances in the complex chain of marine life that sustains the ocean and its estuaries. An alarming 70 percent of adult striped bass sampled in the Chesapeake Bay are infected with a serious condition called mycobacteriosis, and these ailing fish are migrating from their nursery in the bay all along the Atlantic Coast.

There's nothing like a stroll through the halls of Annapolis to make you wonder how we've managed to survive this long. Legislativus horribilis is a creature with no backbone or vision. It is most often seen with a single moistened digit extended skyward to check for wind patterns. Often found running in circles or huddled in groups, it emits an unpleasant whining sound that ceases only at midnight on the 90 t h day of its lifecycle. Last week the beast was in full rut. Legislativus horribilis sided with Virginia over Maryland interests, dissed its natural resources law enforcement community and contemplated pilfering legacy money earmarked for land acquisition to plug holes elsewhere.

A three-year federal undercover investigation into charter boats illegally fishing for striped bass in a closed area off the Atlantic coast led to the seizure Thursday of electronics and records from a number of vessels in Virginia. Special agents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration served search warrants on at least four boats that primarily operate out of the Northern Neck and Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach. The vessels' port of origin is not known, but as many as 35 Maryland charter boats spend a month or two during the winter in Virginia.

Hampered by bad weather, Maryland watermen were able to catch just 82,567 pounds of striped bass during the two-day commercial gill net season that ended Monday. That total leaves a surplus of 120,802 pounds, which will be rolled over to the December season or used to cover any additional poaching discovered by Natural Resources Police. The season closed on Feb. 4 after officers found illegal nets containing 10 tons of striped bass in the waters off Kent Island and state officials acknowledged they could not ensure that the February quota would not be exceeded.

First, poachers took away their livelihoods. Then Maryland watermen battled two days of brutal weather as they tried to salvage the final days of February's striped bass gill net season. The double whammy proved too much. Friday's harvest was 32,346 pounds — about half the daily catch before the season was closed Feb. 4. Monday's tally won't be known until Tuesday afternoon, but traffic was light at check stations up and down the Chesapeake Bay. United Shellfish Co. at Kent Narrows was processing a small amount of fish from other wholesalers to keep workers busy.

The yellow perch was crunchy and flavorful. The oysters — two kinds — were briny and cold. The grilled striped bass with a daub of lemon sauce melted in the mouth. Those were just some of the delectable local edibles at "A Celebration of Maryland Seafood" last Tuesday night at Eastport's Boatyard Bar and Grill. The $40-a-head eat-a-thon, sponsored by the state, was just the thing to remind folks how good we can have it if we act responsibly. It also was a reminder of how quickly good things slip away if we get careless.

Six Eastern Shore men were charged Thursday with stealing oysters from a state sanctuary in the Corsica River, and Natural Resources Police officers discovered another illegal striped bass net in the waters off Kent Island. NRP officers saw the men hand tonging for oysters just before noon Monday in the Possum Point Oyster Sanctuary, a 3.67-acre site in Queen Anne's County that is designated by markers. As the patrol boat followed the boat toward the harbor, the men threw the oysters overboard.