Saltwater Boating and
Fishing
I began fishing the Chesapeake Bay when I was a kid. My father would
take me out in a rowboat from Chesapeake Beach and we'd catch Spot. Over the
years we fished from headboats, the shore, or a relative's small boat but the
trips were infrequent. When I became an adult I continued to fish saltwater but
in the early 60's I fell in with a friend whose passion was freshwater fishing.
I pursued that until he made the mistake of inviting me along on a saltwater trip
to Cape Charles, Virginia in the mid 70's. I was hooked. I had never fished an
area that held such an abundance of
large fish not to mention the variety... Black Drum, Red Drum, Cobia, Rockfish, Flounder, Spot and Croaker,
Sharks...huge ones, Spadefish, Bluefish, and so on. To make matters better, the Eastern
Shore is only ten miles wide in that area and on one side is the Bay and the
other is the Atlantic Ocean with eight miles of salt marsh, tidal creeks and
open bays. Nirvana! Free public launch
ramps and a campground stuck in the middle. How much better could it get?
I
1977 I couldn't stand it any longer and bought a used boat, formed a
"crew" of my buddies and off we went every available weekend. We
usually went down on Friday evening and returned on Sunday night. This boat was
a Winner brand and had a stepped hull which made forpounding in waves and since
the steering was pretty well forward also made for a wet ride. In the fall of 1985 my wife (who doesn't
fish and can't take the sun) and I hit the boat show in Baltimore and I saw a
boat that I fell in love with. It was the most completely outfitted boat I had
ever seen...an Aquasport 200CCP. The CCP stood for "Center Console
Professional". I had to have one and after selling my old boat purchased
one from North Bay Marine in Delaware. Today I still have her and after
eighteen years she still looks good. It's been outfitted with a Lowrance
LMS-320 GPS/Fishfinder, VHF radio, and repowered with a new Mariner 150HP
Optimax outboard replacing the 150HP Mercury it came with. I take it offshore
every July for tuna and dolphin and fish the Lower Bay when I can get away. The
campground is still there but now my son has married a girl from Nasswadox, VA
which is about fifteen miles up the road from Cape Charles so I stay with his
in-laws, some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. If you are ever
in the area of Cape Charles and the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel or Oyster, Virginia give me a shout on the VHF.
The boat's name is "Bullwinkle". Hey what can I say...I'm a big fan.
Bullwinkle when new. Click
on the pictures
Today
the Chesapeake Bay is in trouble. Rampant housing growth along the shoreline
has contributed to erosion, and silting of creeks and the bay itself.
Fertilizer runoff from farms and lawns spill directly into the Bay causing
algae blooms and the destruction of marine grasses necessary for the young fish
and crabs protection from predators. Clean water legislation passed in the
early 70's is a joke. Large corporations on the Bay in Baltimore scoffed at the
laws since it was cheaper to pay the fine than to comply with it. Every state in
the watershed makes noises about cleaning the Bay up but little gets done. People in New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania don't see the Chesapeake as their problem but it is...we get their
runoff. Even the District of Columbia, home to the very Congress that passed
these laws, dumps raw untreated sewage from Blue Plains Treatment plant right
into the Potomac River.
Commercial
over-fishing has been another big problem. In the 60's and 70's the crabbers
scraped crabs off the bottom destroying vast swaths on marine growth. Now that
practice is banned but the number of crab pots resembles a minefield. As the
number of traps has increased the number of crabs has decreased to the point
that stock is in decline. Oysters are suffering from several diseases and on
the verge of being wiped in the Bay. Each spring there was a ritual of big
Bluefish invading the Bay up to the Bay Bridge in Annapolis. It was the kickoff
of the fishing season. No more. The Blues followed the menhaden, the commercial
companies decided that menhaden made good fertilizer so now fleets of ever more
efficient operation have decimated out the menhaden. Result? No more Bluefish
invasion. The Rockfish declined so badly that there was a fifteen-year
moratorium on catching them.
So
what can you do? Get involved! I'm not advocating the outright ban on
commercial fishing. I'm saying there has to be limits placed on what these
people do and how they do it. The laws passed by Congress and state
legislatures to insure the Bay's health have to be enforced. Period. Support
organizations that will fight for clean water and sensible boating and fishing
regulations. Two are below.
and
Delaware Bay Loran Coordinates
Links to Fishing
and Boating Sites
Comments
or questions drop me a line :
Last updated Friday, November 07, 2003