A limited January hunting season for migratory Canada geese came closer to approval yesterday after being endorsed by waterfowl biologists and the state's Wildlife Advisory Commission.
Michael Slattery, director of DNR's Wildife and Heritage Division, said the advisory commission voted 7-2 in favor of opening the season, which has been closed since 1995.
The proposal to lift Maryland's ban on shooting migratory Canada geese was forwarded to the secretary of the Department of Natural Resorces yesterday.
The moratorium was initiated to allow the number of breeding pairs in the Atlantic Flyway to reach a sustained population of more than 60,000. Breeding pairs dropped to a low of 29,000 in 1995, but have increased each year since, reaching 77,400 this year.
The season would run six days (Jan. 6-8 and Jan. 14-17, excluding Sundays) and would be limited to 12,200 birds. Hunters would have to apply for and receive special permits to participate, and the season bag limit would be one bird per permit.
At a public meeting attended by about 140 people in Easton on Monday night, many spoke against reopening the season. Approximately 65 percent of those present were opposed, Slattery said.
"But those comments we have received [at the meeting and through the Internet] represent less than 1 percent of Maryland waterfowl hunters, and I'm not sure that's a real good barometer," Slattery said. "There was a lot of opposition that was not appropriate."
In group discussions Monday, opposition focused on a probable lottery system to distribute permits and the fact that Virginia and states north of Delaware have larger bag limits and longer seasons.
Several hunters said that a lottery system would be unfair because not many people would go to the trouble of applying for a permit to hunt one bird a season.
Under U.S. Fish and Wildlife guidelines, Virginia will be allowed a six-day season and a limit of one bird per day, while flyway states from New Jersey north will be allowed 15-day seasons and one bird per day.
Larry Allbright, president of the Maryland Sportsmen's Association, said the balance of the seasons is wrong because Maryland's Eastern Shore holds about 75 percent of the flyway's wintering population of migratory Canada geese.
"We will have the most birds and get the least," he said. "How can that make sense?"
Waterfowl biologists believe that, because so many birds winter in Maryland, hunters in Virginia and states north of Delaware will kill far more non-migratory Canada geese than migrants.
"It does make sense," Slattery said. "If Virginia and New Jersey hunters are killing 99 resident geese to 1 migrant, and we are shooting 99 migrants to 1 resident, then we do have that responsibility [of limiting the harvest].
"This should be about sustaining interest in a cultural tradition, introducing new hunters to rural heritage and conservation of the resource. It should not be about who gets to shoot how much and how many."
DNR secretary Sarah Taylor-Rogers is expected to reach a decision in time for DNR to submit its dates and bag limits to the USFWS for approval by Sept. 1.
Fishing updates
Upper Chesapeake -- White perch and jumbo spot over hard bottom areas from Sandy Point to 7-Foot Knoll, with some croakers and sea trout mixed in. Chummers have been doing well for rockfish in the Swan and Love point areas. Drifted eels also have turned up big stripers in the cuts from Sparty's Lump to Worton Point. Bluefish are spread out as far north as Turkey Point.
Middle Chesapeake -- Spanish mackerel mixed with 2- to 5-pound bluefish have moved into the area and fast trollers using gold or silver spoons will do well for them. Troll the edges of schools on top, rather than through the middle of them. Casters also will do well on breaking schools. Spot and white perch at the mouth of the Choptank, Holland Point Bar, Tolley Point, Hacketts and the Diamonds. Evening bites for croaker still are strong in many areas, including James Island, Eastern Bay and the Summer Gooses. Summer flounder catches are increasing at False Channel, the eastern edge from Buoy 84 to Scarps Island Light, Gum Thicketts and Poplar Island Narrows. Trolling has been the best method for stripers, some of which range more than 30 inches.
Lower Chesapeake -- The plane wreck near Buoy 72A continues to produce limits of rockfish for chummers. Throughout the region, anglers could encounter breaking schools of blues, rockfish and spanish mackerel. Croaker action on the Middle Grounds in the evenings. Spot, sea trout, croaker at the Mud Leads and Cornfield Harbor and Kedges Straits and Loon Hill and the Puppy Hole in Tangier Sound.
Ocean City -- Flounder fishing has been improving, although many of those being caught still are undersized. However, some of the legal catches have ranged to 7 pounds and have been taken between the U.S. 50 bridge and the Inlet, where night action has been good for sea trout. Plenty of croaker in the back bays. Large spot along the bulkheads from 13th street to the U.S. 50 bridge. The inlet piers are producing bluefish and sea bass during the day and sea trout at night, while the jetties are turning up tautog on green crab and some sea trout on live-lined spot. Offshore, the billfish bite has been very good, especially along the north edge of Washington Canyon. Yellowfin tuna at the Chicken Bone and just inside Baltimore Canyon, with chunking the best method. Tuna, dolphin, wahoo and king mackerel spread from Massey's Canyon to Norfolk Canyon.
Gunpowder Falls -- Despite drought conditions, the Gunpowder is running high and full on the strength of water releases from Prettyboy Dam. Brown trout and rainbows are spread out by the conditions, and chest waders will help you cover more water.
North Branch of the Potomac -- West Virginia has stocked the area near Big Pool with 3- to 5-pound brood rainbow trout and anglers are taking them on corn. But rainbows and brown also are hitting elkhair caddis.
Savage River -- River is low overall, but tailrace fishery below the reservoir dam has been very good, with trout hitting sulfurs, light cahills, blue-winged olives and midges.
Youghiogheny River -- Trout are concentrated in deeper pools and faster runs because of low water, but trout will take light cahills, cream variants and caddis. Evening hours seem best.
Upper Potomac -- River is low and warm, but smallmouth bass hitting topwater baits, grubs and tube lures. Trollers have been taking walleye from deeper pools. Submerged aquatic vegetation, which has been abundant in the White's and Edwards ferry areas, is moving above Harper's Ferry and spreading in the Dargan's Bend area.
Patapsco -- Smallmouth bass are numerous, but fishing has been slow in warm, low water. Live baits fished early or late in the day should bring the best results. Fish barbless for easy release.
Liberty Reservoir -- Water levels are 27 feet below normal, and largemouth bass and walleye have moved to the flats area, which normally would be the deeper sections of the impoundment. Panfish around the beaver huts and the Route 32 bridge pilings. Stripers on cut bait in the Oakland Point area.
Loch Raven Reservoir -- Reservoir is down 3.5 feet, and trollers have been doing well for white perch, using spinners tipped with pieces of nightcrawler. Largemouth bass in the grass beds or along the edges in deeper water, where plastic worms fished slowly are the best method. Bluegills abundant along the shorelines.
Prettyboy Reservoir -- Water levels are down 29 feet, and launch ramps are almost impassable except for car-toppers. White perch are suspended, and bass have been changing orientation to structure often.
Pub Date: 8/26/99