WATERFOWL FESTIVAL: Tired of chasing the elusive keeper rockfish and thinking more often about the upcoming waterfowl hunting seasons?
This weekend in Easton, the 24th annual Waterfowl Festival opens with a variety of auctions, displays and demonstrations that should interest any art enthusiast, conservationist or hunter.
The festival opens at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. It is spread through Easton, and free shuttle bus transportation is available from site to site. The event includes a special auction of antique and contemporary decoys, goose and duck calling contests, retriever demonstrations, plus seminars on decoy collecting, historic hunting wood carving, waterfowl conservation and wildlife photography.
For information, call (410) 822-4567.
ROCKFISH: Stripers finally seem to be congregating in schools throughout the Chesapeake Bay as water surface temperatures begin to drop into the upper 50s. In the middle bay, where chumming has been the best method for several weeks, trollers are now picking up large fish at the Stone Rock, Diamonds, Gooses and Chinese Muds, as well as between Poplar Island and Bloody Point, Thomas Point, Brickhouse Bar and Hacketts Bar. Bucktails dressed with twister tails or shad imitations have been working well.