Posted on January 1st, 2024
Happy New Year!!
Now that Maryland sea bass season is officially closed ocean bottom fisherman are moving on to targeting tautog for the next several months and there are already some very nice fish being caught.
Captain Kane Bounds of the Fish Bound has had a few tautog trips over Christmas / New Year break and his anglers have been seeing some very good fish. Captain Kane has seen 16 fish over 10 pounds with the two largest a couple of 17 pound males.
Captain DJ Churchill of Double Trouble has had some good tautog fishing over the past few trips as well. Along with a surprise finish to the sea bass season yesterday that resulted in a box full of two pounders.
Anglers fishing on the Morning Star with Captain Monty Hawkins had nice day of toggin’ today.
Caught a nice New Year’s Day sunrise at the inlet; came a pretty day too – calm. Ryan gave a stack of 50 concrete pavers a shove and we were soon fishing.
Not catching so much, just fishing. The very first drop, you see, Brian had a real one take drag back into the hang and bust off.. I’ve seen it many times – Instant bite toggin? Bad juju!
Well, that and the current was about still.
(Have also seen it become a mad bite – but the short lived ‘instant gratification-instant halt’ kind of day stand out in painful sort of memories..)
Despite a tough start, the day finally came our favor. The more current we had, the better. Seemed like most everyone caught a keeper – some their limit – not many actually kept a keeper though. We released more legal fish than we bled.
Pat took top honors with a 25inch male that he released.
Usually in our pics a tog you see with the third dorsal fin torn was released.
Weatherman had called for a bit of NE breeze come 7 tonight.
Naaawww! Wind came early afternoon!
Derned if it didn’t breeze up near 20 NE too. Sure made for a more boisterous ride in than I’d anticipated.
Pulling the Grand Prizes for the OC Reef Foundation’s Park Place Jewelers & Bemelli USA Annual Raffle tonight.
Feeling Lucky?? Still Time To Buy Tickets For Grand Prizes!
If you fish, dive, or just want a healthier ocean? Buying these tickets automatically makes you a winner!
About 8 o’clock tonight – 1/1/24 – we’ll draw for a beautiful Benelli semiauto in 28ga donated by Benelli USA;
A gourgous diamond encrusted gold hook necklace from Park Place Jewelers;
A ‘Name A Reef’ donated by Creatures Great & Small.
Another of Brian Mullhausen’s custom trigger sticks – this one donated by Bernie O & the Morning Star’s Daily Raffle.
A 12 GA Stoeger OU shotgun donated by Paul;
A Gift Certificate for a pair of Hook Sunglasses donated by Niki, Bob & Chris Pino (I’d get the double mirror/double dark upgrades. I use my ‘double darks’ a lot promise!)
There’s also a $100 Gift Certificate for Crabs to Go they’ve donated – Schweeet!
And, finally, we’ll also pull two tickets for an OCRF sweatshirt, t-shirt & a shaker of Reef & Beef spice!
I’ve saved two nice coolers that were donated – one from Bahia Marina and one from John G – for next years May Reef Dinner. Lewes Harbor Marina too will be there for us…
If you’ve been to a dinner? You know we fill coolers with donations from Anthony’s Liquors (plus others!) and raffle them.. (Ahhh, the exuberance of youth.) (No, I don’t have a dinner date yet. Want to help on the committee?? FB messenger or [email protected] because my reef address is still down!)
And.. Sure would be awesome if folks went to work writing and asking for dinner and even annual raffle prizes – helps build reef! Adam H made an incredible difference in last year’s dinner! You don’t need to “know a guy” – just need to ask. Write Diawa? Shimano? A local player? Whoever! Jewelry manufacturers? Camping or boating supplies? Restaurants?? Go for it! Start soon – you might amaze yourself! We’re going to have a great selection of prizes and auction items at the 2024 Reef Dinner – YOU can make it better!!
With any luck at all OCRF will be flat broke by May — But Have A Lot Of Awesome New Reef! Sure could use your help!
Lassssst Call!!!
Particulars!
Tix on ocreefs.org ! Lasssst Chance!!
OCRF’s 2023 Park Place Jewlers/Benelli USA Annual Reef Raffle. One ticket for $10 – six for $50 – fourteen for $100 – plus an additional ticket for every additional hundred.
A buyer of $200.00, for instance, would be getting 15 tix per hundred; at $300 it would be 16 tix per one hundred so 48 tickets.. $500.00 would be 90 Tix & 1,000.00 would be 240 tickets.. Great Scott!
Buy tickets online at ocreefs.org at the ‘donation’ tab. Marisa will fill the name in on all your tickets, then send a pic via email. Our final drawing won’t take place until tix are all filled in. We’ll pull the ‘tickets’ part of the donation page and start pulling tickets!
This raffle is it for reef funding until our spring dinner. Don’t have a date or location yet – will!
Maryland does NOT have a state marine reef program. (Shocking for the Chesapeake Bay State, no?)
The Feds do NOT have a marine reef restoration program either (nor even recognize we ever had reef and especially not that any reef was ever lost owing fishing gears..)
One Day!
These things change and (I hope!) YOU are going to help!
Having read this far? You likely already have.
In the immediate line up for new reef building is a large tug donated by Murtech Marine (already named..) and now two tractor trailer loads of reef pyramids from Kinsley Construction in York! (Now they’re named too!) Those will be taken out by the Tiki XIV in coming weeks – as soon as they deploy the pyramids from Bear Concrete!! Those pyramids will soon be in the thousands – it’s a lot of reef!
Among those great projects; Boy, It sure looks like we will also fund the multi-pipe units reef at the Bass Grounds.
Reef building is already making a difference, promise. Now to make it better and better!
Let’s Make It A Great New Year!
Cheers!
Monty
