Healthy Grin Sport Fishing

We went marlin fishing yesterday. The bite out of Virginia is very good right now. The good news is that the boat ran great, it was a gorgeous day on the water, and we caught 2 white marlin. The bad news is that we caught 2 white marlin. We did not have our “A” game (or B Game) on. We had a couple of others jumping and we just plain missed the rest. The good boats around us caught 8. The top boat caught 13. We did get to watch a whole bunch of beautiful boats going in reverse all day. For the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament that is finishing up today, the total releases for the first 2 days of fishing is 464 billfish (10 blue marlin, 7 sailfish, and a whole bunch of whites). That is with 69 boats in the tournament. Most have fished their 2 days but some are fishing today. The previous high for the tournament is a total 194 billfish. Visit www.vbbt.com for more information.

http://issuu.com/proptalk/docs/sept_pt_2013/74?e=2079200/4502548

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=579582562083295&l=7288041730086293709

PSWSFA CHUMLINE AUG 2013

We went remora fishing yesterday. We were east of the Cigar in about 500 fathoms. I have no idea what the Virginia Institute of Marine Science is doing with remoras, some DNA research thing, but we got some remoras. We also had some white marlin by-catch.

We had VIMS graduate student Lela Schlenker with us. She is bringing white marlin into the boat, collecting blood and tissue samples, placing pop-up satellite tags, and releasing the fish. She has her portable centrifuge with her along with a big canister of liquid nitrogen turning the Healthy Grin into a laboratory at sea.

It was gorgeous out there all day. We saw a large variety of marine mammals including mother and calf sperm whales. We ended up catching 2 of 3 white marlin. I had a pair come in on my long rigger baits. I had a rod in each hand dropping back and figured out that I did not have a third hand to put the reels in gear. I shoved a rod under my arm so I was holding both rods with one arm and tried both fish. I got one of them. The water was calm and very clear. We saw a white swimming under the surface, pulled the baits in front of it and got that one. Did the same thing with a nice blue marlin but it was not interested in what we were pulling. It did take a look at the boat.

In addition to the remoras and marlin, we caught a few nice dolphin. This science stuff is fun!

http://news.fredericksburg.com/sports/2013/07/31/outdoors-angler-hooked-on-assisting-vmrc/

Ran over to the Eastern Shore this morning to try for tarpon. There were a couple of nice croaker in the crab pots at our dock. Went to my normal spot and there were tarpon rolling and plenty of sharks. Left there to run to another spot I have wanted to try. I can only get in there at higher water. Once in, the water is plenty deep. No tarpon, plenty of sharks and I was stuck until the tide came back in. Should have stayed in my first spot.

Each summer, when the children are out of school, the Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman’s Association holds a Youth and Ladies Croaker and Flounder Tournament. This year’s event was conducted by tournament director, Capt. Rick Wineman. The tournament is free and it culminated with a picnic held at Dare Marina. On the menu, were grilled scallops, fried scallops, hamburgers, and a sundry of other items prepared by Steve Martin and his happy band of helpers.

The tournament could be renamed the Elford Family Fishing Tournament as they won most of the prize money this year. At the picnic, women and children could be heard making plans for different results next year.

This year’s winners:

Ladies Flounder

1st Place-Kim Shepard-3lbs 8oz
2nd Place-Wendy Elford-2lbs

Ladies Croaker

1st Place-Wendy Elford-1lb 2oz
2nd Place-Diane Greasley-1lb 1oz
3rd Place-Ruth McCormick-1lb 1oz (time of catch tie-breaker)

Youth Flounder

1st Place-Spencer Elford-4lbs 8oz
2nd Place-Hayden Head-2lbs 8oz
3rd Place-Hannah Elford-2lbs 3oz

Youth Croaker

1st Place-Hannah Elford-1lb 8oz
2nd Place-Spencer Elford-1lb 6.5oz
3rd Place-Hayden Head-1lb 5oz

The PSWSFA Youth and Ladies Croaker and Flounder is going on. Tricia and I ran to the York River today after croaker. We caught some really nice spot. We did catch some croaker, but a lot more spot. I am going tuna fishing tomorrow. Hope I’m better at those than I was with croaker today.

I got the September issue of Salt Water Sportsman Magazine. There were 3 Healthy Grin photos in there. Lee Williams is in 2 of them.

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/07/mcdonnell-names-two-state-fishing-board

McDonnell names two to state fishing board

Ken Neill is going to be forced to cut back on his fishing. But he’s doing it for fishing’s sake.

Neill, a dentist from York County, has been appointed by Gov. Bob McDonnell to the board of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

A.J. Erskine of Kilmarnock also was appointed. Erskine is a former president of the Virginia Seafood Council and a scientist.

Neill will be one of the board’s recreational fishing representatives.

The positions are four-year terms, and appointees can serve two terms. They replace Rick Robins of Suffolk and Carter Fox of Reedville.

“Yep… it will eat up a lot of my fishing time,” said Neill, 50. “I’ll have to rearrange a lot of my dentistry, but we’ll make it happen. This is an important job, and it’s important that the job gets done.”

Neill is familiar with the workings of the commission, which is charged with governing Virginia’s saltwater fishing – both commercially and recreationally.

He has served on its Finfish Management Advisory Committee and Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament Committee. He also is a representative to the International Game Fish Association – an organization that keeps track of world records.

Neill is familiar with such records. Anglers fishing on his boat, Healthy Grin, have caught 10 IGFA world records and set six Virginia records.

He also is on the National Marine Fisheries Service Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel and a lifelong member of the Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman’s Association.

He has been involved in research projects for the VMRC, Old Dominion University and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science – from which he received the 2012 Robert Freeman Volunteer of the Year award.

A longtime angler raised in Yorktown, Neill said he accepted the position because he wants to continue to help the commission’s conservation efforts.

“I would not be my first choice for this job,” he said with a laugh. “But I’m going to do my best. This is a huge honor and very humbling. Serving on the commission is a thankless job, but the commission has become much more responsive to conservation efforts for both commercial and recreational interests. Everybody at the VMRC is going a great job.

“And conservation is the most important thing. We have to protect Virginia’s marine resources so that we have them for the future.”

Lee Tolliver, 757-222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com