Yellow Perch

A federal judge in Baltimore has fined two Ohio brothers $20,000 for buying 1,400 pounds of yellow perch that were illegally caught in Maryland waters, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office announced yesterday.U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis also sentenced Anthony DeMore, 59, to three months' home detention and two years' probation and Terry DeMore, 56, to two years' probation. Both men live in Sandusky, Ohio, where they operated the now-defunct DeMore's Lake Fish Co.The brothers forfeited to the government the 1988 Ford truck they used to transport the fish from Maryland to Ohio, and the $2,444.

John R. Griffin, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, has named Forest, Wildlife and Heritage Service director Eric Schwaab to replace Dr. Robert Bachman as head of the state Fisheries Service.Bachman, 65, is retiring after 13 years with DNR.Schwaab, who has held a number of positions with DNR over 16 years, transferred to fisheries effective last Wednesday.Schwaab, 38, began his career with DNR in 1983 as a Natural Resources Police officer, managed Deep Creek Lake State Park, served in waterfront and resource management positions with the State Forest and Park Service and was director of the Forest Service.

Last Thursday afternoon, fisheries biologist Paul Piavis was removing ear bones from yellow perch caught earlier in the week in the Patuxent River, where once there was a thriving fishery for yellow perch and where one might be built in the future.By removing and sectioning the ear bones and counting the calcified rings, much as one might count the rings on a tree stump, Piavis said biologists can get a read on age and growth rates.But, he said, ear bones reveal only a part of the mysteries surrounding yellow perch, a species that inhabits the upper reaches of tidal rivers and creeks.

Maryland's two-year drought continues to create inhospitable conditions for fish in the Baltimore area, and state officials said yesterday kills of baitfish and yellow perch have spread to four more tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay this week.Charles Poukish, environmental specialist for the Maryland Department of the Environment, said fish kills in the Middle River, as well as in Frog Mortar, Galloway and Dundee creeks, were first reported Tuesday.While the kills so far have been limited to large numbers of silversides, mummichogs, young menhaden and yellow perch, pickerel, catfish and sunfish also have been affected.

Fishing often takes a back seat to fishing shows in January, but in Maryland there are a number of places to catch fish even in the coldest months of the year."

Angling for yellow perch usually is a rite of late winter and early spring, with the perch making their spawning runs toward the heads of tidewater rivers. In this, the year of no winter, the yellow perch already have spawned and run.Martin Gary, who tracks recreational fishing success for the Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service, said that for yellow perch anglers, "All in all, this year has been pretty much a bust."According to DNR, the yellow perch run is past its peak and white perch are now moving into the upper tributaries to spawn.

The afternoon was warm at midweek, more like late March than the latter stages of February, warm enough to work up a sweat while refinishing the spars and struts of an old catamaran bought from a neighbor down the beach.And after the final coat of paint was sprayed, giving a new silver sheen to the aluminum extrusions that had been badly weathered through 20-some seasons, a light spinning rod and a box of spinners were pulled from a corner of the garage and we made our way down through the bramble and blow-downs of winter to the creek.

There weren't any long, tearful farewells -- just a few quips of "hasta luego" and the sage advice: "Don't get eaten."With such unceremonious send-offs, some 400 inch-long yellow perch darted away yesterday to hide from predators in the marshy headwaters of Indian Creek, a tributary of the Severn River.About 27 North County High School students released the fingerlings that their classes have raised this spring in hopes of helping restore the Severn's decimated yellow perch population.The raise-and-release project is part of a cooperative program between Anne Arundel County schools' Arlington Echo Outdoor Center and the state Department of Natural Resources.

For the second year in a row, the Potomac River has produced a record-setting tiger muskie, this time a 47-incher weighing more than 29 pounds.Kevin Conner of Martinsburg, W. Va., caught the record-setter on Feb. 14 near Clear Spring while fishing a plastic worm and lead-headed jig.John Mullican, a fisheries biologist with the Department of Natural Resources, verified the catch, listing it as 47 inches, 29 pounds, 4.75 ounces.The previous mark was set last March by Richard "Yogi" Sword of Clear Spring, who caught a 46-incher weighing 27 pounds.

Any day now, the annual yellow perch spawning run will be getting under way and we will then be assured that the winter's spell has been broken.The key to the spawning run is water temperature. Forty-five degrees is the magic number that opens the gate to the greenish-yellow perch as they pour into tidal creeks and streams throughout Anne Arundel County and neighboring shorelines.In most of the waterways the arrival of spawning perch is marked by the presence of long, ribbon-like strings of eggs.

Until last weekend, Jada Fulton had never caught a fish. The 9-year-old from North East was more interested in her soccer team, Cecil Fire, than what swam in the water not far from her home. On her first cast, she didn't catch a fish. She caught two. And then she caught two more. By the time she reeled in her line for the last time an hour later, Jada had landed nine yellow perch. Her soccer teammate, Rose Benjamin, caught six. Jada was hooked. "Better than a soccer win?" someone asked.

It has been a good news, bad news kind of week. But these days, if you can get a 50-50 mix, consider yourself ahead. Good news: Yellow perch are beginning to make guest appearances in Chesapeake Bay tributaries, a sure sign we're on the back side of winter (fingers crossed). Up in North East, Capt. Mike Benjamin is already offering half-day yellow perch charter trips on the Susquehanna River. When it comes to spring, I'll take yellow perch arriving over a groundhog seeing its shadow any day of the week.

As the yellow perch begin their spawning runs up Chesapeake Bay tributaries, the state is set to implement regulations to protect the species from overfishing while giving recreational anglers a greater share of the annual allocation. The rules, developed over the past year after pressure from the General Assembly, will take effect Monday. "I think we made a lot of progress," said Tom O'Connell, head of the Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service. "We learned that we have to be more conservative in management to allow the population to sustain itself and grow in time."

Chesapeake Bay tributaries in the Baltimore area closed 20 years ago to protect the dwindling yellow perch population might soon be opened to recreational anglers under a blueprint being prepared by state natural resources officials. The proposal, more than 10 years in the making, is a series of mix-and-match options for anglers and commercial fishermen that covers season length, size of catch and which waterways should remain closed. The plan is in its final days of drafting, with representatives of the recreational and commercial communities weighing in. A public comment period begins next month.

Four thoughts about the meeting last week in Annapolis on new yellow perch fishing regulations, then I promise to let it go. 1.) Eight thousand pounds of fish. Were we really having a serious, adult conversation about 8,000 pounds of fish? That's what watermen reported catching this spring in their truncated season. The state estimates that no more than 40 watermen take part in the harvest. Forty into 8,000 is 200 pounds. What kind of a fishery is that? Of course, Baltimore County watermen Daniel F. Beck, Charles Norris and Harry Foote III were caught in 2005 for poaching 22,000 pounds of yellow perch off Aberdeen Proving Ground.

It might not be fair, but the Maryland Fisheries Service has got to get it absolutely right this time when it offers up its new plan to manage yellow perch. One hundred percent. No doubt about it. Nailed. So much is riding on it, beginning with the service's credibility with recreational anglers, who saw their license fees double last year, and state lawmakers, who are watching the process. At a meeting tomorrow night in Annapolis, officials will ask anglers what they want to see in new regulations.

Social networking in the outdoors usually starts with borrowing bug spray or scrounging coffee from someone with a thermos or getting a jump start for a dead-as-a-doornail battery. Sometimes, it's interactive: telling the person who's snoring to shut up or being told yourself. Denny Reid, a hunter and farmer from Dorchester County, and his friends figured there had to be a better way. Borrowing from sites such as MySpace and Facebook, Reid and Co. launched CamoSpace.com last August to give hunters and anglers a free place to swap photos, videos, tips and tall tales (Hey, it wouldn't be social networking without some fibbing)

You really can't go wrong this month if you say, "I'll have the fish, please." Out on the water, stripers and blues are schooling up for their annual fall dance. On terra firma, the calendar is filling with the dates of meetings and hearings to talk about finned critters. With time running out, the Department of Natural Resources is moving quickly to draft a yellow perch management plan that would take effect Jan. 1. A group of stakeholders met Aug. 22 to review proposals that would help yellow perch migrate up rivers and streams to their historical spawning areas and provide a formula for divvying up the harvest between recreational and commercial fishermen.

The legislative session that ended at the stroke of midnight Monday didn't turn outdoors lovers into pumpkins. Instead, for the first time in several years, things largely went their way. But not without casualties. After watching more than four years of inept top-level management at the Department of Natural Resources, lawmakers imposed their sense of order on three popular issues: terrapins, yellow perch and fisheries policy. Also shaken by the scruff, the leaders of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association and Coastal Conservation Association Maryland, by suspicious members who wonder if they were misled on a bill that raised the cost of fishing licenses.

When it comes to consumer confidence in the Department of Natural Resources, Senate Bill 702 shows how far the agency has fallen. The Coastal Conservation Association Maryland is pushing legislation that would ban commercial yellow perch fishing in Chesapeake Bay tributaries from Jan. 1 to March 20 to protect spawning fish. Leadership of the group says after waiting eight years for DNR to do something to protect yellow perch, it had to take the lead. Ken Lewis, chairman of CCA's Government Relations Committee, acknowledges that it would rather let DNR do its job. "When it doesn't, we have no alternative but to turn to our elected representatives in the legislature," he says.