Outdoors Maryland; 10

I. Will. Drop down to this guy here. Put on your right coming up here my parka right there. Oh all right I'm going take your guys hang out. Any. Other fish. Potomac has just got energy and it's

old energy it's energy it's been around a long time and I get a lot from it. When I come out from the city you know driving up here I get close to the river man I'm going to give a hoot. You know I'm going to drive my car and let's go you know in a pass over the river and I'm always watching and looking at it and I just I get turned on about it. You know the Potomac is great. History and energy. Intertwined in one of America's greatest rivers. George Washington saw in it a passage to the west. Thomas Jefferson said it was worth the trip across the Atlantic. Oh. This one here is one of my favorites it's called the finesse fashion and that's on the late news around the water it's it's tops White's probably favorite color but they do good with black and chartreuse too Marco watches drawn by their river strength beauty.

The rivers and small mouth bass for over 10 years Kobayashi has guided float fishing expeditions on the upper Potomac. It's a trip as unique as its leader archers of wax with rows of Chartreuse largest. From. The starting point is just above Harpers Ferry West Virginia. And a narrow twisting section of the river called the needles. And shots in. The. Home. Couple good pockets on. Either side. Kicks from fission as a guide are from turning your sports on and watching them catch this. Because when you call the shot out and they can make the shot and you're holding them in the position so they can do it just like you do in fact it's better because you've transferred this information you transfer this knowledge and they're enjoying it too and I enjoy it. As it slices through the Blue Ridge Mountains the Potomac offers prime bass

habitat. White water rapids rocky ledges. And deep quiet. Who wants. To. Go. If you have experienced people in the bone I don't think I'm going I'm going to hit. But you know like you've got good people in about you it's really easy to push your honor when it comes to big. That's a big fish word for you. And. That one really brought me back to spend fishing last year. There had no scramble on their egos. Little guy. Hold. On Hold on. Probably what people learn the most about our trips is how to find fish until. They've done like fish and stuff. They don't have any idea where to go about it in a flowing water fish are always going to be where the most amount of food goes by and requires the least amount of effort for them to be there.

So they're in little ambush spots little eddies off to the side behind ledges in front of ledges and of places where the water breaks current split. You know we're slow modem each fast one and those are the targets. So a lot of that is hitting those targets. Come on man. Coming. From. A small mouth will fight as hard as any fish its size allows his clients to keep only two fish a day one of which must be over 18 inches. But he encourages the release of every fish. Fishing is the most genteel of the Bloods. I mean you can have all the pleasures of the hunt. You know you get your gear ready you can tackle together you know you got a you got to map out where you're going to go you know you go into the river and then you start hunting. You know you look for the spots where the fish are going to be you understand their environment. Right you set up a board. You make a toss into the area and then you have to trick them. You know it's not like pulling up a gun on you got a

trick and they've got to take the bait. Right. You got to set the hook. You got to fight where they always have a chance to get away. And then when you get into the boat you don't have to make the kill. In fact his efforts go well beyond what Maryland Department of Natural Resources official believe is critical to saving the rivers fished up. Vastly improved water quality combined with a state mandated five fish a day limit. Has the Potomac responding well. The bridge into Harpers Ferry once carried John Brown on a crusade to end slavery. That bridge is gone. But new ones carry commerce and commuters above the cold watch right. Today I'm trying to. Bridge here and there. To. Get Shots on the right to. Vote.

I'm. Very. Pretty. Right. There. I think it's. 14 inches. That's right it's not a very nice color and you know I got a thing I was get my get my clients out I'm real big about kissing your first fish you know you kiss your first fish and then you let him go and then they know you're friendly and they give me more cooperate and I think it brings good luck. I don't know I guess it's a sign of affection you lots times and someone brings you a lot of joy and you get with. Pleasure from it you know and even though you may I guess they get a little uncertainly bothers them some in the process. But you kind of like to. Pay your

respects you know kind of get a little bit shown a little affection to the cast and. I never hesitate because fish. That is a beautiful view. From the sea. The obvious question is. Why. Why did the wrong

man leave nice warm houses hundreds of yards over frozen lakes. Through heavy ice. Just to dangle dead in front of some cold fish. A lot of the times you you sit there and you. Think. What am I doing here. You know you always have the good days then you know you're going to have good days and it had more than makes up for that for the times when you know. When it isn't enjoyable when you know you know you look out and see people sitting out there on the ice that they have to be crazy to do that. And sometimes I think you have to be crazy to do it too sometimes sometimes it is cold and boring. But a lot of. You get a lot of action. You know you you catch fish very quickly and you really stay busy. And a lot of times it's very social ice fishing can be a very social activity on the days when you know that the weather is fairly nice there's a lot of people I don't know out on the ice and you know people visit back and

forth and. You know it's just it's a pretty enjoyable activity way to get out in the winter. The why of ice fishing. At least part of the answer lies in how the ice dramatically alters the relationship between man and water. A once familiar waters of Western Maryland's Deep Creek Lake lie hidden beneath the frozen surface a dark sealed off mystery a mystery posing a tantalizing and compelling challenge to anyone who has even the vaguest claim to calling himself a fisherman. If there is a trick or a. Some sort of edge that that you have it's basically just knowing where you're fishing that that it's a likely spot. And I think most people that ice fish generally fish or try to find an area. Where they have a base slope. You know it's like a gradual slope coming up out of the out of the way. It's you try to find a good Rocky Point. And

the fish tend to come up out of the deeper water along at a point during the day especially if you're fishing for you know a perch they tend to come up out of the deep water during the day and and then go back later later in the afternoon and go back down that point and. They. Tend to be right along the bottom. Almost everyone that I know of that ice fishes fishes with whatever method whether they're fishing with some sort of jigs or some sort of or live bait they fish it foot or 18 inches from the bottom. We're pretty good with. This is what most western Maryland ice fishermen are after. Yellow perch the main fishery in Garrett County for for ice fishing is yellow perch.

The population has changed. I mean Deep Creek like especially dramatically in the last five or six years. Before we're before that time. It wasn't uncommon to come out on the lake and fish for a morning and catch 40 or 50 perch and they would be very small. In the last five or six years with the and I think it's due to the increasing wild population feeding you know they feed on the Ella perch. You're not going to catch the number of perch here that you're used to but the ones that you do catch are much larger nicer fish. The payoff. Whether it's fishing through several inches of ice or from the banks of a flowing trout stream. The excitement of a fish on the line. Is the same. It is as temperamental and as changing as the city which made it world renowned.

The Potomac River if ever there was a moving liquid reflection of our nation's history. This is it. For photographers she works nicely as a reflective foreground Washington on the Potomac and Washington by the Potomac. But this is a body of water with its own story to tell a story separate from the monuments and souvenir shops on the shores. Of the Potomac starts here. A humble beginning for our nation's capital river. And yet even in this frugal start. There is a rich history to tell. The source of the chemic river is a Fairfax. Who lived at home there years ago when he was growing up I ruled water from land between the Rappahannock and quote a sort of thermic river. So naturally he wanted to have a survey among those who were clearly good. Personally. Father Thomas Jefferson so in 1751

around the time he made the meth is considered one of the first maps of Virginia. And also here is an example of the battle which this body of water has had to fight for its very life. This is what remains of a long forgotten industrial site a heap of slag lying a few hundred feet from where the river eeks out its humble beginnings. But it's only a few miles downstream where there are hopeful signs of life. Here the Potomac is a flooded directionless stream where beavers have busily created a series of dams. And it's not far from here where one of the river's most faithful watchers Charles Matthews may be found on any agreeable day. I've been fishing on the Palin thing for a good 50 years or better. Let's have a while. Travel Wow I don't remember very very few people we haven't seen on the river.

We would face from daylight to dark for days at a time that are a sea of soul. But lifelong fisherman Charles Matthews says his favorite sport has only gotten better in the past few years. I find patient of the time a driver better today than at their vet and faith improves 50 or 60 percent. Every vet today the river has a steady flow to it. I don't think there's near the pollution in the river. That was when I was younger. A lot more fish in the river today than there was 50 years ago. There's fishing the Potomac. And then there's fishing in the Potomac. These fellows cost twenty five hundred pounds out of the same nets just the day before this scene took place. The commercial fisherman obbligato these catfish will wind up

on farms across the south. It's the smaller ones which are the most marketable. They're good feeding outsize. These waters are also attracting a different breed of fisherman. It is dawn on the Potomac. Rumbling is an aggressive fleet of boats their powerful engines could rip through the center of our nation's capital within minutes. But these boats are no cause for alarm. They're operated by members of the bass anglers sportsman society the Bassmasters top 100 program professionals and amateurs are here in a three day competition to see who can pull the biggest bass from the waters of the Potomac River in the allotted amount of time.

There are tens of thousands of dollars at stake here but perhaps more important to the baton. Is the fact that this competition is held here at all. A river which when shown in television news spots of a very few years ago looked like. The biggest change is the reason we're here it's just become such good pictures. You know lots of fish lots of fish in the in the spring in the fall you know the peak time so we fully

expect to get 50 or 60 bass a day but we don't we're just old enough. You're. Ken Penrod is a professional sports fishing guide on the Potomac River. The fact that a man can make a comfortable living as a professional sport fishing guide in Washington D.C. is a real surprise to many who visit the nation's capital why they get calls from people that come in from out of town. Well you don't just stand here's dad bring him home and all the kids to the city where he doesn't want to be anywhere because it's the actions cap and he's leafing through Yellow Pages and see it as a fishing guide in the city. You know we've saved his life. This is the drawing card for many to the Potomac River the large mouth bass is very smart that you know it's his custom made for this kind of thing. Beautiful color and good fading of the day and the challenge to the fishermen is to outsmart the fish.

But the large mouth bass is not the only dollar of these waters. The long lean well-I has found a home here. And in the most sheltered waters where the Potomac has its beginnings thrives the small mouth bass bluegill and pumpkin seeds help round out the fishing population. And if you are a fishing guide on the Potomac River chances are some of your clientele will have faces which often grace the leading news magazines Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor recently took time off from her busy schedule to sample the offerings of the river which runs less than a half mile from the Supreme Court building. What if we. Don't. Live. Well it was a big surprise to me to discover that there is good fishing in the Potomac River. It's such a beautiful spot and a place that we'd like to

think. Could be. Clean and full of fish and available for recreation and it was quite exciting today to discover that it really is. That ship come back and that the place is available for recreational use to people who've been working for years on cleaning up the river the fact that sport fishing has been able to return in these waters is no big surprise. A lot of effort and a lot of money went into sewage treatment plants and into carefully laid plans plans which never seem to have an ending. The people in my area especially are much more aware now than they were before they took the river for granted and I think that we're. With everybody all the agencies are working together the Department of Natural Resources and the commissions and they're all making a concerted effort to make public awareness as far as projects on the Potomac.

We're constantly asking local people if there's things that we can do to upgrade the water the Wallaby the fishing so close to the powerful city of Washington D.C. Will disturbances but they only disturb until you get used to them. This boat full of fishermen totally ignore a giant airliner swooping down over their fishing spot destruction. The sea. For centuries it has captivated those who ventured into these I was. With its in chanting and sheer vastness. It has challenged fishermen with its rough waters and unpredictable. Winds. With its magnetic force and it draws in heaven angles out even in the blackness of night. Long before dawn. Joe Jack I'm asking the captain of a solitaire and his mates

prepare for a day of fishing on the high seas in a matter of minutes the solitaries heading out casting liquid light reflections on the still waters of the ocean city. The sense of total quiet and oneness with the sea is one part of the lure of ocean fishing. The anglers catch some sleep as the solitaire makes its way out. With Joe Island. Will be headed to the bottom of the canyon and that's 62 miles he's been here. Then and saw the water will be officially old New between like 50 Batum which is three hundred feet two hundred fifty fathoms. What's this. Oh fourteen fifteen hundred feet if you get a picture of the Grand Canyon. Precisely how it has a steep drop offs right. And it's flooded with water while the ocean there's the same thing along the continental shelf and those big deep I just bait like to congregate along the edges because the pod comes off in the big fish like all sides of a canyon and they collect they collect the fish as they

come off yet the bait fish as the parents push him off the edge of the canyon. Just after sunrise the solitaire reaches the Baltimore Canyon. Here the waters are crystal blue and Word has it the whites are biting the maids rake the lines with mullets and ballyhoo. After the lines are set the boat troll is moving slowly through the water. Now the anglers had a family and her friend Susanne wait patiently for a tug on the line. Then the excitement began to see. How the sun shone takes the first rock that hooks a white marble. Well now you know. After several minutes of battling the big one with strength and finesse. The fish

manages to escape. Patty explains what happened. They went out with a great. Many Does that make you blind like that. We've already gone back with that. I think you're right about that. Soon after another time. This time he will try to maneuver the line so the marlin can be tanked. The excitement of a fish on the line is just another lure of ocean fishing. You. Don't want to hang up. It was. After a 10 minute struggle with the 70 pound. The Marlin was close enough to tank. The mate then grabs the fish by the bill to release the hook and free. Anglers aboard the solitary always released their fish.

To help improve the marlin population of Ocean City. White marlin aren't the only fish to have at the Baltimore Canyon. Tuna Wahoo and dolphins can also be fished from these blue waters just as Marlin aren't the only fish in the sea. There are many anglers with different styles of fishing. Dave Fortner and his fellow anglers are fishing for tuna in the same canyon where Paddy hooked a model instead of trolling. They are chunky to hook their catch. You find Ternan marlin in the same waters but not specifically in the same area all the time. You can find a concentration of tuna where you won't find any Marlin. But your average hookup ratio 110 Earth are very nominal compared to Chungking because you're setting up a basic Bay Trail. When you chunk for 10 a day or two no fall of a trailer with the current the water currents will carry the bait and the fish will follow the trail right to your boat by chunking the Sun Bird drifts with the current.

Totally at the whim of the wind and water. Within minutes. Datebook satori and the tug of war begins. Unlike a marlin tuna tend to stay well below water so reeling one in is like pulling a rock up from the depths of the sea. After a day of fishing the Sun Bird heads into the sunset. With five matches. With a day that begins well before the sun is up and ends just as it is set. One wonders what it is that keeps these anglers coming back. The challenges. Did you have much more of a challenge at the ocean. It's your own little world out there. You get out there when you go out 60 70 miles. Intro all then sometimes you don't see anybody else and it's your own little piece of mind. I'll. Just go on this and. The other. Is quality. Miles. On

the residue from the first. Along. Catching something not hoarding it and letting it go. A money. Back. Then. And with the mystical lure of the sea. Anglers like Paddy and Dave unlikely to keep returning as long as the fish are biting. Thing that makes this stream special is that it is near a metropolitan area in the Eastern what we call the eastern megalopolis. I don't know of another place that has this much water this good water quality water on public property in a pristine environment like this. This close to a major metropolitan area. It's a. Textbook example of what can happen with stocking

and natural reproduction and special management in good water. It's working I think because all the conditions are there and they just talk. You know somebody to realise that it just needed a little fine tuning. 20 miles north of the Inner Harbor gun powder falls emerges from pretty boy down once nearly sterile the gun powder is now one of the best trout streams in America a comprehensive management plan is resurrecting the gunpowder. And changing the nature of trout fishing. To me this is probably the finest trout stream either. Best fish last ones out west. A trout stream of national prominence 40 minutes from a major

metropolitan area is really good up. I think that it's necessary to release fish in a stream like this in Orange keep the population healthy. I'm not squeezing it I'm just holding him so that he doesn't get away. And he just.

Flies out. Very long ago. Backer makes a baby. There's a lot to it. It's not just being able to find fish locate them. It's not just casting. It's knowing it. It's. Learning. What the fish are eating. Knowing Being aware of all the possibilities of what they're eating what they're taking and putting it all together into that one spot of of. Casting. Understanding the water reading the water understand the insects in the water. Understanding the terrestrial insects understanding how the weather affects the fishing understanding all all of the little things that go into that one moment when you set the hook that's what it's all about is setting the hook just fooling that one little fish one time to come up and take that flies is pretty tremendous.

Managing a trump population begins by taking a headcount and the gunpowder. The county is taken by electro fission long electrodes discharge an electrical current strong enough to attract and stun fish but not to harm them. I guess the goal is to make as many. Trout available to recreational angler as we hear in this stretch that we're on now. Change in management. The catch and release. And previous to that you fishermen were allowed to come in here using bait. Flies and wars and catch and keep two fish per day. We're really pleased to see that there's been a very significant increase in the number of fish available to the Anglers. Now again they can't take them home but you can see here they've got some. Really. Beautiful fish to fish for and can really.

Collect. 1 2 7. 9 8 2. The fan on these hatchery raised around probably distinguishes them from native tribes which spawn naturally in the strain. The proportion of stock trout to natives is one gauge of how well fishing regulations are working. One. Brown trout. No hook injury. It's real critical that the fish that could otherwise be kept are released because in order to get a quality size fish one that's 12 inches to 14 inches away. It takes a good three four five years to grow a fish that day.

The Savage River side of a world class white water and home to the only species of trout. Maybe tomorrow. In late fall the flash of red in the shadows is a sign that brook trout have returned to spawn. As an example of a of a sexually mature bookshop male. Relatively large one. Has a very bright bright fiery Arns coloration which is characteristic of this time of year. While brook trout are also the most colorful trout in Maryland it's actually a mature fish seek out an area the river like this and they. Females actually fanout a nest. Lay their eggs in the company of the male sometimes more than one male. And. When the female is expanded her

eggs might be over a period of several hours or even a day or two. She'll seek deeper water and rest whereas the males may remain there and actually seek to follow more females in this area the river we have implemented regulations aimed at maximising the number of wild bird trout here. Their trophy regulations we call them a high minimum size limits would we permit the use of artificial lures and flies with I'll bait which causes significant mortality when fish are caught. So. What what we've. What we've done is essentially protected the largest proportion of population that's increasing and we're seeing high standing crops of a verb here. Probably the highest anywhere. Quite possibly in the state of Maryland. The scenery along the north branch of the Potomac looks pristine but the picture is deceptive. For decades the river supported no life. But like the gunpowder. The North Branch is coming back to life.

Kayakers now ride the rapids of the north branch so they can get out and fish. The north branch of the Potomac River represents a real challenge to restore a once good river. It was because of acid mine drainage that the river virtually supported no life at all. The building of Jennings Randolph reservoir on the north branch dramatically improved the water quality of the dam downstream from the rather downstream of the dam. The mixing of the good and the bad water in the reservoir has now improved the water quality to the point where it will support fish life and plant life.

Right here. Is a May fly. In the mirrors an isopod sometimes known as kill bugs. These little creatures here at the food supply. For the trout. These things are coming on beautifully in a river as a result of the. Plant life which growing on the. Rocks. A lot of people like to catch trout. They're beautiful creatures and they're fun to catch. On. People who are going to spend literally thousands of dollars to fly all over. The world to catch trout. And we are seeing that we're able to do that sort of thing right here in the. City. They don't. Know. You don't.

Run. And you go on. The healing of the North Branch begins at the head of the river in hands used to raise truck. Biologist Mike being calculates the average weight of trout destined for eventually release in the river. Warning. No. The neck pain facility.

Is improving the quality of the rider further by adding a limited amount of nutrients that are needed in order to support the plant life in the river. The plant life then is the basis for the food chain for other macro invertebrates mayflies caddis flies stone flies which then are the major food supply for the trout in the river by raising fish in the net hands. We are more or less bootstrapping the river. In a natural way and improving the productivity of the stream. And as a result the stream is virtually coming alive before our very eyes. Brown trout prepared to lay and fertilize their eggs. A common occurrence in many streams. But here in the once dead north branch spawning trout are a sign that an entire river is being reborn.

I think that the future of trafficking in Maryland is very bright indeed. There's no question in my mind that fishing for trout now is much better than it was 10 years ago and it's improving rapidly. I like to. Fish for trout. Cause. It's full of surprises. There are some beautiful surroundings. And come to the big loser Mang riffles. And there's always the possibility that in the next cast he's going to catch. That nice big fish. And sometimes it happens. It's a hot summer morning on Solomons Island time for Devon days of rod and reel. At Captain Bucky Connors Bait and Tackle Shop head boat standby to take on their daily allotment of the hopeful Solomons as a magnet for sport anglers

especially those serene and unhurried practitioners of the gentle art of fishing. Bait fishing. At its simplest. And perhaps finest. With 25 years of experience at Solomons dedicate himself to delivering to his customers an exciting day of fishing on his head bowed. My show. The object is to catch bottom feeding fish with a baited hook and then lower it usually on to the shallow shelves and bars of the Chesapeake and its rivers. Crowd. Hard here. Probably got a couple of. People around. What you find when you're out on the left. That ground on. What you find. Dynamite. By each fisherman has his or her own favorite solution to the problem of dressing the rig for

optimum results. The preferred bait for bottom fishing is the lowly bloodworm. Prized for its irresistible underwater aroma. This morning the marshmallow heads for a place on the docks and river called green alley. Local reports say that spot also known as the white perch are congregating nearby. The small but feisty fish is a favorite in these waters and their Connor's bread and butter. It's not a real fight. You'll. Even invent it like that. Next. To your people. Here they come down here they get about a guy I don't know you can get a good steak you are right. It just might prove to be fifty. Five pounds of paper. You would. See what you mean about. That's how much you're on fire here but it's not you know but it's I think. That was my goal con man will be hard to.

Take on. As winds dropped over the side of my show. It's with the current. You know rightly is a yellow here in the mornings rhythm something's the engines mime or the lapping of the water the whirring click of spinning released with homing delays only with snatches of conversation. You have to have a lot of patience. To bat a fish that badly hit minutes maybe an hour so you know but you got to be patient and am patient individual can do better in. The waters off Solomons Island off our prime fishing giving anglers the choice of the broad deep river or the nearby bay. Oh you've got a lot of nice drawers of North Carolina area you've got before you got shallow

or. You've got the ranch. The wind blows. To the rough in the bay. Of Bengal. You really hear Ronnie White's break. Down here spot. Routt County or the bar. You can still make a name for you know right here. In this area. The march show moves from place to place trying to find the best spot. Ship to ship radios crackle as the captains confer with each other. You know that I cried. As the patterns of the day's fishing in marriage votes converge on the spot most likely to yield success. We didn't know that night.

That. May make you look at the feet. I mean that. Bottom fishing and all its quiet simplicity has the added in lieu of being part of the fabric of family life. Techniques are passed from father to son from grandmother to granddaughter. I'm from nothing but I know my father taught me how to I mean it was about me and I'm still not here that I know I did imagine this thing he would have he had a war that the elder had up for girls of the earth and that when he did he thought I would get out of. Passing on the love for fishing is an integral part of life on Solomon's Island.

Captain Bill Adams is taking the morning off to treat a neighbor's son to a few hours of serious fishing. Got away with it but with a little bit of an enemy you know take it take it take it with us so you can get well you didn't feel the bottom not too much and I just a little bit that way with the bait around for the fish. Practice face to it. Because I going is learning what it means to grow up on the water. Bill Adams a lifetime of experience makes every nuance of dropping a line. Second nature to you know your last instruction as wise informed and patient. You know. Gotta get it down. When you can feel. When you're feeling giving your.

The day goes by but they're scarcely on the ball. I mean it's no cause for concern and Bill Adams knows that sudden triumph may lie just beneath the surface. We're. Going to give me one good man and get me one. No no I don't. Want my girl ships to screw around and try to spot not far from the Governor Johnson bridge. It works. That the wily craft of a veteran angler that has won again. Of course a rank beginner just as much luck and so could little Colby. The true measure of the day is not taken by the size of the catch but by the quality of the time spent out on the water to be a bike your bike your fingering.

You see we were to look at the fishing the bay may lack heart pounding drama but it excels as one of the most satisfying and relaxing forms of recreation yet devised. And it's simple qualities I would dearly love to comfort for those who cherish the water and its mysterious ability to restore our souls. Hearing a legend is returning to these waters. For centuries a source of life. An indispensable link in the food chain. For the Indians and later for the first colonists to these shores. They were so plentiful that they were even used as fertilizer as well as food. But centuries of harvesting from these waters and returning only poisons was killing the legend. Now after much work. They have returned. Not just as memories of yesteryear but inspirited flash

swift and powerful once again master of its birthright. The Striped Bass a Maryland tradition and a way of life for many Waterman is making a comeback. Have Maddox's worked these waters all his life. But recently he's had to make his living from Ealing rather than rock fish. He remembers how it used to be when I was a little boy we could cats all we could possibly bring still I mean you know it was but they they let you kids 12 inch faced at that time. And that's when you know if you catch more than we could sell. And then when we finally got a good market on then that's when they put a moratorium on. And they have no right now I think to get him back almost over they used to be when I was a little boy. Through the efforts of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources the Fish and Wildlife

Service and the five year ban on fishing for stripers the fish are returning to these waters. Biologists are working year round to help ensure a healthy adult rockfish population. Every year the rock fish migrate from the Atlantic up the Chesapeake Bay to the fresh waters of the chop tank to spawn here and in other tributaries of the Chesapeake. Biologists use electro shocking to collect adult females and males for spawning at the Manning hatchery in Waldorf. Ben Florence directs the aqua culture program and he determines which fish will make good candidates for both artificial and natural spawning. The candidate has to be within 12 hours this morning otherwise we just let them loose because if you try to keep the fish longer in that secondary. Stress factor set in and it's very difficult to spawn the fish so we just return them and look for another fish. One of the more interesting things that we found out is if we have fish that are within seven to nine hours of

spawning as we judge them on the river then we can put them in a tank with a couple males and they'll spawn by themselves. Immediately after the fish are brought to the hatchery and egg sample is taken to determine exactly when the female will be ready for spawning. Well I want to look at the eggs under the microscope and so forth. I checked for clarity of the different stages the eggs will appear to be more transparent the closer you get to the point of staging is very important it's very tricky and you've only got a 30 minute window to hit in the strips when the time comes to strip the eggs. The tension builds. The female be brought to the spawning table laid on her side. Slight pressure on the abdomen will produce an egg flow as they start to flow. Male fish will be gathered near the tub with the eggs will be spewing into the mill on the males will be allowed to go in to make contact with

someone or be added. This procedure will be kept up until dawn is completed which takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes and on the day the batch of eggs will then be placed in a special concrete race Roy allowed to remain here until he has. Over one million eggs are produced by one female alone so the number of fish which go through the hatch reprogram is phenomenal. We begin the process with approximately 40 female striped bass and will use three males for every female to make sure that we get good fertilization rates and to ensure some sort of diversity in the gene pool. From from those fish will produce approximately 50 million young larvae. First Hatch larvae. Millions of tiny fish are shipped out each year to grow over the summer in Hatch or he's as far away as Georgia. In the phone all the young fish show a return to the Manning hatchery for tagging.

The tags that are being applied are called micro tags. As you can see the tag is injected very easily. Just under the skin tissue of the cheek of the fish and there remains for the rest of the fish's life the shedding are dropping rate of this tag is very minimal and we hope to be able to check the tag when the fish matures at age 5 and 6 so it's a particularly valuable tag to us in order to keep track of these tags said the average person a recreational person or a commercial person couldn't say. We've applied some external tags also in there the streamer tags already we've had a thousand returns from these fish and it indicates that the fish are not only staying in the Chesapeake Bay to grow up but they're migrating as far northward as Canada and hopefully these fish will return and so to spawn successfully as adults. With all these returns and the work toward re-establishing an adult striper population the director of fisheries PETER JENSEN sees a marked improvement.

Well the future for the Study of US population is really bright. I think all of us are a little bit surprised at how fast it has recovered our intent when we impose a moratorium in 1085 was to rebuild the spawning population because we very obviously had been taking too many fish all through the 70s and up to the 80s compared with what was being reproduced. And it was clear that the spawning population was much lower than it ought to be. And so. During the past five years that population has recovered to the point where we have a larger number of spawning face in the spawning rivers than we have seen for almost 30 years. Each year one million striker's are returned to these waters. These fish will be released into the Patuxent the same river where their parents were caught in early spring. For these young faces this is their first taste of freedom. They are now once again part of the food chain. Seagulls hover anxiously as thousands of these striped rays try to escape their clutches.

Biologists hope that the striped bass released this year will migrate normally and in five to six years return to these Maryland waters to spawn successfully and a link in the food chain that was on the verge of vanishing may be restored through man's involvement in the cycle of nature. News. You're. Going through this going here. Right on Your right coming up here Mike Parker right there. All right. You're. With us. Outdoors Maryland is a production of Maryland Public Television which is soley responsible for its content.

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