March 29, 2024

Message From the Captain; Oyster Season Begins

oyster season

Message From the Cap’n is a compilation of fishing advice, waterman and weather insights, Chesapeake lore, and ordinary malarkey from the folks who keep their feet wet in the Potomac and St. Mary’s rivers.

“Oyster season  in the months with R” used to be the norm, but conservation efforts and disease have dictated some changes to that meme. September was dropped decades ago.

The oyster season now begins each year on Oct. 1. But in 2017, with the water temperature in the 70s, the oysters are not as plump as they will be when the water temperature falls.

From the Interpretive Buoy System: The lower Potomac water temperature was 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the salinity right at 14 parts per unit in the opening week of October. This impacts the market as well. For the start of the season the price is somewhat low, starting at $40 per bushel.

There is nothing simple about the “oyster business.” Our rivers and bays do not produce like they have done in the past. Recently, new strategies have emerged to try to maximize the industry. This year some oyster areas  have been planted with seed (baby oysters) and then closed until they reach market size of three inches. This takes one to two years for seed oysters to achieve.

It would be in the waterman’s best interest to open the oyster season in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas orders after the water has cooled down, the oysters fatten up, and a higher price paid for them.

October, with the water warm, is a bad time to open the season. It lets the watermen catch the “skim” oysters (which means “take those that are legal size”) and sell at a low price. 

Remember:

Warm water in October  = oysters are not fat, there is a low yield for shucking (4 to 5 pints per bushel), and a lower price, as low as $40 off the boat.

Cooler water in November = fatter oysters, giving a higher yield (6 to 7 pints per bushel), and bring a higher price of $50 and higher a bushel off the boat.

Recreational Oyster Season: Maryland does not require a license for residents. A catch limit of 1 bushel per day “for your own use” is allowed.

Commercial Oyster Season: The season comes in for shaft tonging, patent tonging, and diving Oct. 1. “Drudging” starts in November. The season ends for everyone April 1.

Shaft tonging is backbreaking work. Claws (called the “heads” of the tongs) are attached to the ends of long scissor-like poles. Watermen stand on the washboard of their boats, hold the top of the tongs closed and and lower the heads to the bottom and “feel out the oysters”. They are then scraped from the bottom by opening the heads  and working them closed. Once the claws are closed around a catch the tongs are held together and raised into the boat to empty and cull (sort the legal sized from the rest).

Patent tonging applies hydraulics to the tonging process and operates more along the lines of the arcade game that allows players to lower a bucket on a small crane to pluck a prize from the bottom of the game floor.

Drudging (dredging) used to be only allowed on skipjacks but now other boats as well can throw a “drudge” overboard (a wire cage with teeth), drag it along the bottom, and bring it up, hopefully full of oysters.

Chesapeake watermen also dive for oysters using a wetsuit to ply their trade. They have warm water running through the suit to keep them from freezing while they work. This technique can net the prettiest oysters, hand picked.

The male hard crab catch will soon pick up as they start their southern migration when water temperature heads downward toward 50 degrees (their burying temperature).

Bottom fishing has slowed with the fall season. Most charter boats have turned their attention to trolling and live lining for rockfish.

Maryland rockfish (striped bass) regulations are here for Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Potomac River regulations are here. They are different from the Chesapeake Bay. The Potomac River is governed by the Potomac River Fisheries Commission and have a different end date for rockfish.

Till next time,

Remember “It’s Our Bay, Let’s Pass It On”

Cap’n Jack

[email protected]

240-434-1385

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