So this is it. The last Outdoors Girl post.

I'm heading off for the family's annual striped bass and bluefish fishing vacation on Chappaquiddick Island and when I return after Labor Day it will be to a desk on the Metro staff, where my Sun career started 23 years ago.

What a great 11 1/2-year romp through the outdoors. What an honor to follow in the footsteps of Rachel Carson, who had this job in the 1930s, fly fishing guru Lefty Kreh and Maryland outdoors editor emeritus Bill Burton. What a pleasure to meet and talk with you on the trails and on the water.

Thanks one and all. And thanks to my editors, who didn't always get where I was going, but had the courage and sense of fun to say, "OK."

I hope everyone realizes how lucky we in Maryland are to have so many great outdoors opportunities, from Garrett County's rugged hiking trails and the fabulous rail trails that criss-cross the region to fishing the Chesapeake Bay and paddling our coastal bays and tributaries.

Nothing is more than three hours from your front door. So let's make it a pact, you and I, to expand our horizons:

1) Pick one of the 66 state parks you haven't visited and make a day of it. Better yet, reserve a campsite or a cabin and make a weekend of it.

2) Be sure to put a Civil War battlefield site on your to-do list: Antietam, Monocacy and Gettysburg are great places to start. The experience is humbling.

3) Hike part of the Maryland section of the Appalachian Trail. The whole thing runs about 41 miles, but you can bite off a piece along South Mountain to gain an appreciation of what a magnificent path it is. If you do it the weekend of Oct. 15 and 16, stop at South Mountain Creamery to see a real dairy farm at work.

4) Climb Backbone Mountain in Garrett County, the state's highest point. Reaching the 3,360-foot summit, called Hoye-Crest, can be done in less than an hour at a leisurely pace.

5) Go crabbing. Need I say more?

6) Renew that fishing passion. Buy a seven-day freshwater license ($7.50) or tidal license ($6), borrow some tackle or visit Tochterman's Fishing Tackle in Baltimore or Anglers Sport Center in Annapolis and let the knowledgeable folks help set you up. Tochterman's has been in business for 95 years and Anglers has been around for a half century. You don't need to spend a fortune to catch a fish.

7) Keep an eye on the General Assembly. Watch your County Council. Write a letter or send an email to support an outdoors activity or a bill to protect our natural resources. All this good stuff belongs to you.

8) Prime the pump and create the next generation of outdoors enthusiasts by taking a kid along. Rent one if you have to. I do.

9) Start now getting a group together to participate in next year's Park Quest adventure. It's fun, it's challenging and you might learn a new outdoors skill. 

That's it. You're on your own. Happy trails and tight lines.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (33)
        

If I had a wish for the weekend it would be to switch Thursday's and Friday's glorious weather forecast with the Saturday and Sunday damp prognostication.

To borrow from the Beach Boys, wouldn't it be nice? But, to borrow from countless athletes, it is what it is. And to further borrow from a famous president, it depends on what your definition of is is. So here you go, gang, weather or not, five things to do outdoors this weekend:

1) On Saturday or Sunday, go tubing down the Little Gunpowder River with the staff of the Oregon Ridge Nature Center. This is for folks 8 and older, and kids must be accompanied by an adult. The leisurely trip will last from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., so be sure to pack a lunch and wear appropriate clothes and shoes. The cost is $10, with a $2 discount for center members. Tubers will meet along the river in North Baltimore County. To reserve a spot and get directions to the starting point, call 410-887-1815.

2) On Saturday, follow Wanda MacLachlan of the University of Maryland Extension Service for a walk in the woods to learn to identify native trees. The free program, being offered by the Howard County Conservancy, begins at 10 a.m. MacLachlan will teach participants how to use a decoder key (which they get to take home) to assist them. If it's raining, the entire thing will be held under cover. The program will be at the Conservancy's Mount Pleasant Farm on Old Frederick Road between Bethany Lane and Woodstock Road. Questions? Call 410-465-8877.

3) Join the Sierra Club Saturday on a 7-mile hike in the Hilton area of Patapsco Valley State Park. It's a moderate jaunt that will take you through some pretty scenery at the state's oldest park. Meet at 9:15 a.m. in the parking lot behind the nature center, just on the right inside the Hilton Avenue entrance. Bring water and lunch. If you need to flesh this one out, call hike leader James Perschy, 410-964-1902 or shoot him an email, jameshike@verizon.net.

4) If the skies cooperate on Saturday evening, watch the Perseids meteor shower at Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area with members of the Westminster Astronomy Club, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. If cloud cover obscures the light show, the club will talk about the rocks that fall from space. The program is free, but donations are welcomed. Need more? Call 877-794-0606.

5) On Sunday, which is expected to be on the damp side, take a walk the way a raindrop would travel at Harford County's Anita C. Leight Estuary Center. You'll take a walk in the woods as well as spalsh through Otter Creek on this 90-minute detective exercise, which begins at 3 p.m. This is suitable for anyone older than 5. The cost is $2 per person. Give the center a shout at 410-612-1688 to let the staff know you're coming.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

There are two reasons why I like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: she likes to fish for striped bass and she’s an infrastructure geek.

Yet, she has not put the two together on her popular weeknight show despite the obvious connection.

Now’s the time, Rach.

Within the next few weeks, East Coast states will begin outlining the public comment process for a proposal to protect menhaden from commercial overfishing. For decades, humans have treated the bony, oily fish badly, overharvesting them in 34 of the last 52 years to the point where the population is at a historic low.

That’s bad news for stripers, which are having problems of their own and really don’t need a depleted food source on top of filthy water and a nasty fatal disease that has attacked half of the adult population in the Chesapeake Bay.

Forty percent of the East Coast’s menhaden begin their lives in the Chesapeake as do more than 75 percent of striped bass, the kind Maddow likes to catch when they migrate up to Massachusetts in summer.

Menhaden are a vital part of the infrastructure for a sustainable striped bass stock, just as building bridges and roads and replacing old water pipes are necessary parts of a functioning America.

Yet, attempts to protect menhaden, and by extension striped bass, have been thwarted for almost a decade by Omega Protein Corp., which is the only entity still fishing for menhaden in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake. Maryland prohibited the practice years ago.

Old Dominion politicians protect Omega and the 300 jobs at the fish processing plant on Virginia’s Northern Neck in extraordinary ways. In return, they have received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.

But after years of stalling, members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission finally showed some gumption, voting last week to let the public discuss five options to reduce the menhaden harvest, the first step in updating a decade-old policy. Regular folks from Maine to Florida will get a chance to speak up for a small fish that nourishes a bigger fish that nourishes the spirit of many an angler--like Maddow, you and me.

Omega, like any successful company, has money and lawyers to protect its interests. In a brilliant tactical move, it has switched the focus from itself to the economic future of small bait companies up and down the coast that supply menhaden to lobstermen and blue crab harvesters.

That is likely to give some ASMFC representatives pause in November when they vote in Boston on a harvest reduction plan.

If a bridge is falling down, you replace it. If a road is clogged beyond capacity, you widen it. If a water main bursts, you lay some new pipe. And if the primary food of striped bass is at historically low levels, you restock the pantry.

Infrastructure isn’t sexy. But, as Maddow likes to say, it is vital.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

You have until Wednesday to offer comments on a series of proposals designed to make it harder for poachers to use gill nets in the Chesapeake Bay.

In February, miles of illegal nets filled with 12.6 tons of striped bass were discovered in the waters off Kent Island, touching off a public furor and acting as a catalyst for the enactment of tougher poaching penalties by the General Assembly. An online petition calling for the end of all commercial netting in the bay gathered thousands of signatures.

The Department of Natural Resources responded with an array of proposed regulations to make it easier to track nets and the watermen who deploy them and to monitor check stations that certify and call in catches to DNR's Fisheries Service. 

The state hopes to have the regulations in place for the start of the 2011-2012 gill net season on Dec. 1.

Email comments to fisheriespubliccomment@dnr.state.md.us, by fax at 410-260-8310, or by mail to Striped Bass, Regulatory Staff, MDNR Fisheries Service, 580 Taylor Ave., B-2, Annapolis 21401.

Fisheries Service managers will prepare and submit a proposal on Aug. 17 to the General Assembly’s Administrative, Executive, Legislative Review Committee. A formal public comment period will follow.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

We don't have many summer weekends left, so let's make the most of them. Why not step outside and step outside the box?

Here's five things to get you started:

2) Make a kite and then go fly it on Saturday and Sunday at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center. The event will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $3 for members and $4 for nonmembers. For information and reservations call 410-887-1815.

3) Two Saturday evening programs are worth looking into. The Perseids Meteor Shower is here and the Westminster Astronomy Club will lead a star-gazing session at 8 p.m. at the Hilton area of Patapsco Valley State Park. The peak is actually next weekend, but there’s no harm in getting in a little practice with some seasoned hands. Come and see a meteorite and learn about rocks from space. Have questions? Call 877-794-0606. Meet in the Hilton area in the field by shelter 245. Meanwhile, at the Hammerman area at Gunpowder Falls State Park, bring lawn chairs or a blanket and enjoy a beach fire, complete with S’mores. Naturalists will talk about the area’s natural resources at this 6:30 get together. The free event starts at 6:30. Questions? Call 410-592-2897

4) On Sunday, compete in the Baltimore County Game and Fish Protective Association’s “turkey shoot,” from noon to 4 p.m. at the club’s ranges, 3400 Northwind Road, Carney. The marksmanship event is open to those with 12-gauge shotguns only (full choke max). The cost is $3 per shot. Prizes include turkey, ham or bacon. The contact guy is Greg at 410-598-4970.

5) It’s not as easy as it sounds, but I’m told disc golf can be fun once you get the hang of it. The McKeldin area of Patapsco Valley State Park is home to a dandy course and on Sunday there will be knowledgeable folks on hand to teach the basics from noon to 4 p.m. This activity is for golfers 12 and older. The cost is $2 each. To save a spot or get more details, call 410-461-5005.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 8:29 AM | Permalink
        

“Now, the hard work begins.”

That was the assessment of Lynn Fegley, a Maryland fisheries biologist just moments after the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted overwhelmingly last night to send a suite of options to protect menhaden and rebuild the population out for public comment.

Not to say it was a walk in the park to get from the tentative steps in 2005 to cap commercial menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay to admitting menhaden are in trouble to actually doing something to protect the resource.

The decisive action was greeted with grins and applause from audience members, many of whom had sat through years of hearings, hoping for the best but always going home empty handed.

“We got what we wanted. Now the public will have a chance to do something for menhaden,” said Ken Hinman of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation. “They’ve given us the opportunity to put a lot more menhaden back into the water.”

Menhaden, a small, oily fish, is a primary food for striped bass and other fish. About 40 percent of the East Coast population comes from the Chesapeake Bay and about 80 percent of the coast’s striped bass start their lives in the same waters.

But a company called Omega Protein Corp. targets the fish in the Virginia portion of the bay. They are ground up at a plant in Reedville, Va., and used to make diet supplements, pet food and cosmetics. A second commercial industry targets menhaden to use as bait for lobster and blue crabs.

Menhaden have been overfished in 32 of the last 54 years. The stock is at its lowest point in recorded history.

“Draft Addendum 5,” as the document is called, will be coming soon to a public hearing room in states from Maine to Florida. The vote to send it on its way was 15 in favor (including Maryland), one opposed (Virginia) and one abstention (the Potomac River Fisheries Commission).

The debate in a hotel ballroom in Alexandria, Va., lasted a little over two hours and included attempts to limit the scope of what the public would be allowed to comment on. The five options ranged from maintaining the status quo—an action that would almost certainly continue overfishing—to reducing the harvest by as much as 45 percent from 2010 levels.

New Hampshire Commission Doug Grout attempted to narrow the options to two: status quo or a 23 percent reduction, saying he wanted to streamline the process to get a speedier outcome.

That proposal appeared to be gaining momentum until Maryland representative Bill Goldsborough, senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, began a careful recitation of the history of management and what has happened since the adoption of the first amendment of the management plan a decade ago.

“The stocks have done nothing but trend downward,” he said. “As stewards of this resource it behooves us to turn it around.”

New Jersey Commissioner Tom Fote proposed a new motion to approve all five options for comment, which was backed by New York Commissioner Pat Augustine.

“Enough skirting around,” said Augustine. “I’d like to move this forward to get out to the public without any other changes.”

During the public comment period before the vote, backers of more protection for the fish spoke.

“I’ve been watching this for seven years and you’ve gone nowhere,” said Charlie Hutchinson of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen’s Association. “This is the first time you’ve even approached doing something.”

Omega Protein representatives said nothing.

After the vote, Goldsborough looked relieved and happy.

“We did not get here quickly,” he said. “We built to this point. These kind of sea changes come in increments.”

Coastal Conservation Association Maryland thanked the state’s commissioners and promised to build public support for the strongest management measures possible.

“With menhaden currently at their lowest point in 54 years and barely sustaining 9 percent of an unfished stock, we are pleased to see movement in a positive direction,” said executive director Tony Friedrich. “I believe in time we will look back on today’s action by the commission and realize that this is the day that menhaden management finally began.”

Public comment, either at hearings or in writing, will be taking place between now and October. ASMFC will review those thoughts along with additional technical information before its annual meeting in Boston in November, where a final decision is expected.

“This is an entirely defensible result,” said Goldsborough. “There were lawyers here today from both sides. If we move forward we will have to defend this in another venue.”

Posted by Candus Thomson at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Can't help but marvel at the USA Today story about people willing to spend bundles for upscale hotel accomodations that feature outdoors sleeping arrangements.

Clearly the rich have too much money and too few brain cells clanging around the the brain pain.

According to the newspaper found on thousands of motel doorsteps, folks really dig pretending to "rough it" as long as they have turn-down service and mints on their pillows.

Some of the examples cited:

AKA Central Park in New York has a $3,000 a night deal that includes a penthouse suite and luxury outdoor beds and al fresco cocktails.

If that seems a little too rustic, Affinia Chicago's Inside Out Suite, includes a bed on the hotel roof for $10,000 a night. It's Manhattan location "offers tents and S'more-making kits to garden suite guests who want to camp out on their brick terraces," according to the newspaper.

"Imagine having your own backyard in Manhattan. That's a really special thing. And then taking it to the next level," John Moser, Affinia's chief brand and marketing officer told USA Today. "Think about when you were a kid and had a backyard and set up a tent and had S'mores and had fun with it. … People love the idea of camping out in the middle of New York City."

Let's see, for $21.75 a night, you can stay in Swallow Falls State Park and sleep under the same stars Henry Ford and Thomas Edison did. For less than $30 a night, you can listen to the Atlantic Ocean from your campsite at Assateague State Park.

And for a mere $200 a night, I'll let you camp in my "inside the Beltway" backyard in Silver Spring, which also serves as home to foxes, deer, red-tailed hawks and bunnies. I'll even throw in a shower and you can watch our TV through the window, as long as you don't mind watching Red Sox baseball and Stanley Cup finals re-runs.

No discounts and some blackout dates apply. Operators are standing by.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

A plan to reduce next year’s striped bass harvest by up to 40 percent along the Eastern Seaboard was shelved by regulators who worried that the move would be seen as premature without the science to back it up.

Yesterday's decision means that in all likelihood there will be no major changes dictated by ASMFC for Maryland’s 2012 season.

By a vote of 14-2, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission delayed a decision about releasing a multi-option proposal for public comment until November’s annual meeting in Boston.

The original timetable had called for a 30-day window, ending in mid-September, during which citizens could offer their opinions on four commercial options and five recreational options to reduce striped bass fishing from 10 percent to 40 percent or keep the status quo.

But with the updated striped bass stock assessment due out in mid-September, the timing struck the majority of commissioners as “putting the cart before the horse,” as New York Commissioner James Gilmore said.

ASMFC biologists say that while striped bass are not being overfished, there has been a decline in catches and abundance, as well as low numbers of juvenile fish. Coast wide, the catch has declined 75 percent since 2006 and a fatal disease, mycobacteriosis, has struck at least 50 percent of adult fish in the Chesapeake Bay.

However, the problems have not become so severe as to trigger the mechanisms to dial back fishing effort. Instead, commissioners from the northern New England states proposed action at ASMFC’s spring meeting.

“You talk about putting the cart before the horse. I’m concerned about getting the barn door closed before all the horses are gone,” said New Hampshire Commissioner Ritchie White. “There are no small fish, none. Just keepers. I see the trend getting worse.”

The Maryland contingent, led by Fisheries Service Director Tom O’Connell and supported from the audience by Ed O’Brien of the Maryland Charter Boat Association, sided with the wait-and-see majority.

“There is a tremendous amount of concern, but we really need the details,” said O’Connell.

O’Brien agreed. “I understand the spirit behind the [proposal]. It’s a good concept, but I do think we’re a year too soon,” he said. “Without the numbers, there would be a credibility problem with the fishermen. You would have recreational fishermen against the commercial fishermen. That room would be packed.”

But Patrick Paquette, a recreational angler from Massachusetts, warned the commission, “the mainstream believes we already have enough information. If we hit the triggers, the hearings will be in Congress. The public is expecting something. People are reading about this on the Internet and reading about it in major newspapers in 11 major cities on the East Coast. Our most important fish is clearly showing something.”

Only New Hampshire and Maine voted to put the options out for public comment. The rest of the states are willing to take up the matter in November, with any changes coming in the 2013 fishing season.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 7:53 AM | Permalink
        

Guide Ken Penrod, owner of Life Outdoors Unlimited, files his weekly bass fishing report.

He says, "Fishing hasn’t been much fun during the day but the fish are biting at each of the locations that we report on. A 'good plan' is to be on the water by 5:30 a.m. and off the water when the fish shut down. That’s not necessarily true for tidal bass however so play the tides and try for the last two hours of outgoing and two hours of incoming."

UPPER POTOMAC RIVER: two and a half stars; 82 degrees; algae clumps on Virginia side; sick-looking grass; clear with algae stain; 1.0 feet at Point of Rocks.

Fishing has been quite good despite unfavorable ecological conditions, but if you chose to fish during the middle of the day, you may as well stay home. This is a good water level for drift fishing and I suggest Brunswick to Lander or Point of Rocks, and Whites Ferry to Edwards Ferry.

Whites Ferry and Edwards Ferry are fishing pretty much the same, where bass are feeding in deeper holes, submersed ledges and areas where the river bottom is strewn with chunk rocks. I prefer the upriver chances at both locations. We rely on Case Plastics, especially the 4-inch Magic Stik attached to a 2/0 VMC hook and 6-pound test Sufix ProMix monofilament. A medium-action rod will do the trick.

At Lander, either direction is good, but during very low water it’s best to motor upriver just in case your motor fails for some reason. I recommend the Campground Special (teaser) tubes in Penrod Purple; Roadkill; V-8; Troy’s Trigger and KP Candy. Use 1/8th-ounce RAB jigheads and 6-pound test Sufix ProMix or Deep Crankin’ monofilament. Stay low in your boat and make long casts.

TIDAL POTOMAC RIVER: three stars; 85 degrees; salt wedge creeping into DC; grasses dying in many areas; algae in creeks and areas of main stem.

Prime conditions exist for fish disease, so be alert. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, do not keep bass in your livewell. Remember, largemouth bass virus exists in this water and conditions are perfect for it to show its ugly head.

In Washington, this is a good time to fish the headwaters, from Three Sisters to Chain Bridge. Cast Rapala DT04 crankbaits (47, 49, 51 and 98); Mizmo tubes (green pumpkin, Penrod Purple and Juniata Treat) plus Big Mouth Lure Co. spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. Focus on smallmouth, but don’t be surprised if you catch a few walleye. Bridge foundations are a favorite hot-water habitat, so Key Bridge and Long Bridge are your best bet.

In the Washington Channel, troll Rapala Thug crankbaits in the 10- to 15-foot zone near (but not too near) the Fort McNair wall. In the Woodrow Wilson Bridge sector, we do best in coves near Belle Haven Marina; Penrod Cove; barges and wharf remains nearby; Smoot points; grass north of Broad Creek; grass south of Hog Island; Bulltown Cove; Pohick Bay and Pomonkey Bay and Creek. This is pretty much a grass pattern, except for the immediate vicinity of the bridge, so buzzbaits, Penrod Special spinner baits; Case Magic Stiks and dark-colored frogs are favored.

In and around Mattawoman Creek, we like to 6-MPH zone during high water and the grass beds between Smallwood State Park and the main stem (we see a loss of grass here that are of concern). Penrod Special spinnerbaits have been very good if you can keep the snakeheads off of them.

Nearby areas that are good visits include Occoquan Bay and Belmont Bay; Chickamuxen, south point to Tug Boat Cove; small areas along Arkindale Flats and Mallows Bay. In Aquia Creek, it’s time to investigate the loss of grass and the extensive algae bloom. This little creek seems to be under stress way too often. Anyone with information should contact authorities but I’d like to be kept in the loop, please.

DEEP CREEK LAKE: two and a half stars; mid 70-80 degrees; minus 1.5 feet; clear. LOU guides Bret Winegardner and Brent Nelson continue to escort vacationing families to memory-laden adventures—and that’s hard to do on a summertime lake. “The largemouth bite is back on,” say Bret Winegardner. “We are catching them from grass beds and boat docks in the middle to upper lake arms and coves. Wacky-rigged plastics seem best for the docks but don’t hesitate to cast them to grass along with frogs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and chatterbaits by Big Mouth Lure Co. For smallmouth, the best areas continue to be the Deep Creek Lake State Park shoreline; off shore humps and rocky shores and coves toward the dam. The kids can catch plenty of perch, pickerel and blue gills on live baits along grass beds and in stump fields.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 1:00 PM | Permalink
        

She did it.

North Carolina's Jennifer Pharr Davis has set the record for the fastest thru-hike of the 2,181-mile Appalachian Trail, male or female.

Her north-to-south hike, which began atop Maine's Mount Katahdin on June 15, ended Sunday afternoon, when Davis reached the summit of Springer Mountain in Georgia.

It took her 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes. The previous record, set by Andrew Thompson in 2005, was 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes.

Davis already held the women's record, which she set in 2008 on her second thru-hike of the AT: 57 days, 8 hours, 13 minutes.  Her first end-to-end adventure, was the subject of her 2010 memoir, "Becoming Odyssa.

Although short in time, her hike was filled with battles with bugs, blast-furnace heat and painful injuries that threatened to derail the attempt. She started around 5 a.m. each day and finished many days after dark and averaged 3 mph.

Photos and a blog about her record-setting hike are at her website. 

Posted by Candus Thomson at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)