Healthy Grin Sport Fishing

We met at the boat at 4 AM Saturday morning. It was cold. Seas were still rather bumpy from the gale the day before. The spray was freezing on contact and shortly there was a sheet of ice on the front of the boat and the ice covering the windshield greatly reduced visibility. When we approached the wreck we intended to fish, RADAR showed there were already a couple of other boats there. We turned the boat so we could see the two head boats that were there, bright and early. Those boys left the dock early, I bet they had a good catch. We moved onto some other wrecks. We found a couple loaded with big sea bass. We caught our 75-fish limit. Back at the dock, we put 6 fish on the scale. All weighed over 5 pounds. There were probably a handful more that would have reached that mark if we had weighed them. We had a couple of 6-pounders. The largest fish weighed a bit over 7 pounds. Keith Blackburn caught that fish. It is his second 7-plus pound sea bass that he has caught in as many trips this year. We had squid and clam but most of the bass were caught on jigs.

For Immediate Release
January 31, 2013

Anglers Top 6000 Citations for the First Time Since 2007

Anglers registered 6,071 trophy-size fish for Citation awards during the 55th Annual Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament that ran from January 1st through December 31st 2012. This was only the eighth time anglers had achieved 6,000 or more Citations in any year since the Tournament began in 1958.

Striped bass lead all other eligible species with 1,331 awards (44-inch for a release and 40 pounds for a kill) in 2012. This total included 425 fish (32 %) for release and 906 fish (68 %) for a kill, and accounted for 22 % of the year’s total awards. The season total was the second highest number of striped bass awards in Tournament history. One-hundred and seven of the kill Citations were for fish 50 pounds or greater and 22 of these striped bass weighed 55 pounds or more. Of those 22 fish a total of 11 weighed 60 pounds or more and this total included the new state record striped bass at 74 pounds. The fishery benefitted greatly by a mild 2012 January and February and this meant these fish were available in Virginia’s coastal waters much of the time. Likewise the late November period was relatively mild and waters remained in the upper 40’s through the end of the year.

Speckled trout accounted for the second largest number of Citations among the 35 eligible species in 2012 with a total of 1,279 awards with 774 (61%) releases and 505 (39%) kills. Trophy trout represented 21% of the year’s awards. The 2012 total was the highest in the Tournament’s history. The only other year when anglers collected a 1,000 or more awards for speckled trout was in 2008 when 1056 Citation speckled trout were registered. The Virginia’s trophy speckled trout fishery is truly a year round fishery and Citation trout were registered in every month of the year in 2012. While the majority of speckled trout registered were released, of those that were killed, ten fish topped the magic 10-pound mark and 54 fish weighed 8 pounds or more.

It was another spectacular year off the Virginia coast for white marlin as offshore anglers registered 1,179 white marlin releases in 2012. This was the second highest number of white marlin awards in Tournament history and second only to the 1253 releases registered in 2010. White marlin accounted for the third most Citations and 19% of all Citations registered in 2012. White marlin are only eligible for release so all of these beautiful billfish were released. The marlin fishing was consistently good from July through September although the season’s first white marlin was caught June 9 at the Norfolk Canyon and the last was landed December 1 at the Washington Canyon.

Red drum accounted for the fourth highest number of Citations in 2012, representing 13% of the year’s total number. The 772 red drum Citations represent the second highest number of awards issued for the species in the Program’s history. Red drum Citations became “release only” in 2000, and coincidently, that was the first time in Tournament history more than 500 Citation red drum were registered in a single year. Since 2000, anglers have failed to register less than 500 reds in only two years, as management measures for the sought after red fish preclude the keeping of the large adult fish. The season for trophy-sized red drum is a long one in Virginia. The season’s first red drum was caught on the Ocean View Pier on March 19 and the last red drum of the year was registered November 19 off the bayside of Eastern Shore.

Several species deserve honorable mention in the 2012 review. Gray triggerfish awards reached their highest level since the species was added to the program in 1999 with 54 fish registered, and sailfish numbers (release only) reached their second highest level as 81 were registered in 2012 while blue marlin had an above average year (fourth highest in Tournament history) with 119 releases. Blueline tilefish, with 289 Citations registered, reached their second highest total since this species was added to the program in 2007.

As good of a year as it was for some species the opposite was true for several popular inshore species. Anglers failed to register a single Citation spot for the first time since 1994. Likewise, no gray trout Citations were registered in 2012, as a decreasing trend in trophy sized fish has been evident since 2007. Better news in 2012 was the number of 2 to 4 pound fish reported increased. Spadefish also registered a goose egg in terms of Citation numbers in 2012 and this was the lowest total since this species was added to the Citation program in 1995. Anglers are seeing numerous spades of 5 pounds and less but larger specimens have become scarce. Trophy-sized flounder continued a downward trend that began in 2006, as only 99 flatfish met the minimum qualifying standards in 2012. Croaker, arguably the bottom fishermen’s most popular target in the Chesapeake Bay because of the long season and its abundance, saw their lowest number of Citation fish registered since 1993 with just five fish in 2012.

The Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament is operated by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission with funding provided by the Virginia Saltwater Recreational Fishing License Fund. Awards are made to anglers catching fish meeting established weight criteria in 25 species while an additional 10 species meeting established length criteria are only available for release awards for a total of 35 species eligible for Citation recognition.

Citation awards are full color certificates delivered at the recipient’s choice as a plaque or in a plastic album page. Special awards are presented to anglers meeting the eligibility requirements of the Master Angler and Expert Angler programs. The Program also administers the very popular Virginia Junior Angler award program, where any angler 15 years of age and younger can earn a special Virginia Junior Angler Award certificate by catching and releasing 6 different species of saltwater fish in Virginia during a calendar year.

For more information, contact Lewis S. Gillingham, Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, 2600 Washington Ave.; Third Floor, Newport News, VA 23607, (757) 491-5160, vswft@mrc.virginia.gov

Virginia was under their quota again last year so we can relax the regulations if we want to. These 4 options have been pre-approved by ASMFC. VMRC will consider these at the February meeting.

The Commission will consider four options for management of the 2013 recreational summer flounder fishery. The 2012 fishery was managed by a 16.5 inches minimum size limit, four fish possession limit, and no closed season. The four options for the 2013 fishery are:

1) 16.5 inches minimum size limit, 4 fish possession limit and no closed season
2) 15.5 inches minimum size limit, 4 fish possession limit and no closed season
3) 16 inches minimum size limit, 4 fish possession limit and no closed season
4) 16.5 inches minimum size limit, 5 fish possession limit and no closed season
The purpose of this proposed amendment is to comply with interstate management plan requirements.

Hunter Southall went to the Elizabeth River today after school. He caught speckled trout to 24 inches long.

We ran out after tautog today. It was cold and rough. Too rough to tog fish but we tried it anyway. We fished wrecks within sight of land using clam and shrimp for bait. We caught 20 tautog up to 21 inches long. 4 of the togs had tags in them. We also caught some sea bass. Mostly small with a couple large enough to keep. Deven Simmerman caught his first-ever tog today.

We tried for a bluefin today. We started around the dump site buoy and worked towards Sandbridge. Hearing of a couple tuna encounters near the CLT, we headed that way. Out there, we caught and released a handful of rockfish but we did not get a big bite. Plenty of life out near the Chesapeake Light Tower and at least a few tuna are still around.

I just received my February issues of Sport Fishing and Salt Water Sportsman magazines. There is right much of us in them.

Sport Fishing magazine

Page 42: Grouper article. I am one of the “experts”. My little photo is on page 47 with a comment about the current snowy grouper world record.

Page 46: photo of Jorj Head with a big snowy grouper at the top of the page.

Page 54: piece by Ric Burnley: Top-Secret Fishing-Norfolk, VA

Page 70: big photo of Michael Hurst with his bluefin tuna in the Traveling Angler. The Peninsula Salt Water Fisherman’s Association website is quoted.

Salt Water Sportsman magazine

Page 62: big photo of Gabe Sava with his bluefin tuna.

Page 64: article by Ric Burnley about his bug jigs.

Page 72: article about trophy tautog. “Capt.” Ken Neill of the Healthy Grin is one of the “experts”, and my 24-3 tautog is in there somewhere.

Page 84: little photos of Zach Hoffman and me for the National Seminar Series.

Norfolk Anglers Club
MEETING
Monday, Jan. 14th, 7pm

Meet
Dr. Ken Neill III
IGFA Representative
Healthy Grin Sportsfishing

Topic – Ocean Stripers & IGFA

Dr. Ken Neill III will be our guest speaker providing some best practices for catching ocean rockfish and outlining some IGFA regulations. Ken is an avid angler and has fished the Chesapeake Bay and offshore waters for many years. Many fellow anglers have fished with Ken and have caught many citation fish. Ken will be sharing many of his fishing experiences so please attend our January meeting and learn what successful tactics he has used.

Location
Mom & Pops
Family Restaurant
331 E Bayview Blvd.
Norfolk, Va. 23503

We fished for bluefin near Rudee Inlet today. We had 3 bites on ballyhoo/ilanders. One came tight. Hunter Southall fought it to the boat but the hook pulled before we got the leader. A lot of bait and whales just SE of the inlet.