Before the sun even hinted that it will come over the horizon in Deale, Capt. Jim Brincefield eased the Jil Carrie out of Rockhold Creek for the most anticipated fishing day of the year: the opening of rockfish trophy season.

Aboard his boat were a bunch of old pals nicknamed "the legends" who go out every year on opening day with Capt. Brincefield. Shaking off the early-morning sleepiness with cups of coffee, they've came from as far as Pennsylvania and Virginia to ply the waters of the Chesapeake Bay in search of the breathtaking, shimmery striped bass.

Over the course of the day, hundreds of boats joined the legends in the quest. In Deale, the Happy Harbor Marina was hopping with boats coming and going. At the Boatyard Bar & Grill's fourth annual charity tournament in Eastport, more than 750 "fisherpeople" boarded 152 boats seeking rockfish, said organizer Dick Franyo.

Brought back from the brink of collapse two decades ago, the rockfish has thrived, fueling a booming recreational and charter boat industry.

But even as bay lovers and fishery regulators celebrate the bay's most famous fish this weekend, the rockfish isn't out of murky waters yet.

"Stripers" are showing up with nasty lesions, caused by a disease called mycobacteriosis. And many experts and fishermen fret that the rockfish's main food, menhaden, is being overfished in the bay - something a multi-state panel that regulates fishing is investigating.

Add to that the nutrients and sediment that flow into the bay and pollute the waters, and rockfish are facing a tough battle for survival.

Peter Abbott, president of the Annapolis chapter of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association, worries that eventually rockfish will stop coming back to the bay's rivers and streams to spawn, driven out by pollution and a lack of food.

"Overall, when you keep destroying the habitat ... eventually they'll leave. Fish are survivors, just like humans," he said.

But those who manage the fishery say rockfish are surviving and fending off threats just fine.

"With all the bad press, they're actually doing well," said Harry T. Hornick, a fisheries ecologist for the state Department of Natural Resources.

The two men's divergent views represent the larger tug-of-war over how to improve the health of the bay - a tussle where rockfish are caught squarely in the middle. Though rockfish are far from being on the brink, their health is something almost everyone who cares about the bay worries about.

Avoiding a repeat

The story of the rockfish's woes goes all the way back to the early 1970s, when reproduction dropped while fishing boomed. By 1984 the situation got so bad that a moratorium on catching stripers was instituted for five years and nine months, said Bill Goldsborough, a senior scientist with the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The moratorium worked, though Mr. Goldsborough points out that it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

"The fact we had to close the fishery for close to six years isn't the preferred fishery management," he said.

Mr. Goldsborough is part of a coalition trying to get state and federal regulators to realize the importance of rockfish's main prey, menhaden, before it gets too late.

Calling themselves "Menhaden Matter," the group wants a multi-state fishery commission to enact a cap on the commercial harvest of menhaden, a small, oily fish that is inedible to humans. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has taken preliminary steps towards a temporary cap while studying the matter further - a move supported by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Some say the possible lack of menhaden, combined with persistent pollution, is contributing to mycobacteriosis, which leaves nasty, red sores on some fish. The theory goes that the pollution and food problems are leaving the rockfish stressed and underweight and therefore more susceptible to getting sick.

"People can relate to it because when we get stressed, we get sick," said Mr. Goldsborough of the bay foundation. "It's a rule of nature."

Mycobacteriosis is a top concern at the DNR. Mr. Hornick's team monitors all sorts of fish that travel in and out of the bay's waters and they see the sores pretty often.

Some scientists have estimated that up to 70 percent of the bay's rockfish are infected with mycobacteriosis, a number that Mr. Hornick disputes.

"We're definitely aware of it. A lot of people are monitoring it," he said during a field trip last week with reporters about the Tilghman Island-based Capt. Buddy charter boat.

The regulars on the Jil Carrie have seen mycobacteriosis pop up several times, too.

"It breaks your heart to catch a 32-inch fish and it's falling apart," said Jim Boland Sr. of Stuarts Draft, Va.

The disease doesn't appear to affect humans for the most part, but fishermen who handle them should be sure to wash up well. There have been several widely-publicized cases where fishermen have been pricked by the fish, only to find their hands swell up later and become infected - a phenomenon known as "fish handler's disease."

But Mr. Hornick said it's not all that common. His team handles thousands of fish a year, and only one member has ever had a problem, he said.

The group aboard DNR's trip on the Capt. Buddy hauled in two fat and healthy 36-inch rockfish, before sending them overboard and back into the bay.

A cycle turns

This time of year, adult rockfish are swimming from the Atlantic Ocean back into the bay and its tributaries to spawn.

Rockfish come back to spawn their young in the same place where they were born. Some 80 percent of all rockfish on the East Coast were spawned in the Chesapeake Bay, making the bay's health a key factor in the success of the species as a whole.

With all the big fish swimming up the bay, the state runs a trophy season in the bay that started yesterday and goes through May 15. Fishermen are allowed to take one fish per day, as long as the fish is at least 28 inches long.

After May 15, the size minimum drops to 18 inches and fishermen are allowed to keep two per day following certain rules. Rockfish can be caught all the way through mid-December.

Last year, 31,400 rockfish, about 1,000 a day, were caught during trophy season.

Marty Gary, a fisheries biologist with the DNR, said this trophy season should be strong, too. The water temperature is "good to excellent" for spawning, and strong reproduction from past years means there are lots of mature fish.

"We've had a consistent fueling of the stock," he said aboard the Capt. Buddy.

The only hitch is that much of the bay is cloudy because of floodwaters from the Susquehanna River released from the Conowingo Dam in recent weeks.

Rockfish are sight-feeders, Mr. Gary explained, so they'll have difficulty spotting the white and lime green lures dancing in the water.

Almost every boat going out for opening day yesterday seemed to turn south, where the water was clearer. Almost all the top winners at the Boatyard's tournament took their fish well south of Annapolis. Both the first-place winner, Rob Folstein of the boat Bohica, and the catch-and-release winner, Gregg Behling of Behling Out, caught their rockfish near the Calvert Cliffs power plant in Calvert County.

Mr. Folstein's fish measured in at 41 3/8 inches, and Mr. Behling's fish was 38 1/2 inches.

The Boatyard was crammed with folks celebrating the rockfish return last night, with partiers spilling onto the streets of Eastport. Fishermen hauled in cooler after cooler of fat fish.

"The weather was nice, it was great," said Carrie Duffy of Annapolis, who joined five other young ladies wearing pink visors to take on the big boys for the tournament.

The charity event's organizer, Mr. Franyo, said opening day just gets better and better.

"It's a wonderful celebration of spring and of the bay," he said.

While spirits were high for a day of celebrating the bay's beloved rockfish, those who care about the fish acknowledge that they need to make sure not to repeat the pitfalls of the past.

Mr. Goldsborough of the bay foundation hopes to keep awareness of the rockfish's struggles strong among Marylanders.

"I think the message is, 'Don't take them for granted.' We tend to do that when fish are abundant ... We need to realize what it takes to keep them," he said.

pwood@capitalgazette.com

- No Jumps-

Published April 17, 2005, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2005 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.