Diamond Jim Tagging; A Tale of Two Jacobs

Type: Chesapeake
Region: Central
Location: Mid Bay

I�ve been involved on the sidelines with the Diamond Jim Maryland Fishing Challenge in one way or another during its modern revival. I�ve helped with sponsors, door prizes and promotion in various ways over the last five years. One of the highlights has always been to help catch some of the soon-to-be prize winning rockfish and watch as the DNR team of biologists tag and release them throughout the Chesapeake Bay. It�s also fun to watch the captain do his part to put us on the fish and to observe the other anglers, especially the kids, react to catching a nice striped bass.

This year, on May 27th during the first roundup of the potential Diamond Jim and all his imposters, I was invited by the Maryland Fishing Challenge point man, DNR Fisheries Assistant Director/Fisheries Ecologist Marty Gary and was permitted to bring along my grandson Jacob � no easy task since he would have to miss school for a day. His Mom and Dad are not real keen on Jacob being out of the classroom. But, his grandpa (me), �Pa� to him, never let a distraction like schoolwork interfere with his outdoor pursuits when he was a kid. Also on board among the ten of us, was the father and son team of Jonathan Newell and his son, also named Jacob. Both boys were wearing Orioles t-shirts. It was too funny!

We were fishing aboard Captain Michael Sadler�s charter boat �Southern Belle�. Capt. Mike normally departs from Kentmoor but today we departed from Sandy Point with our destination being in the vicinity of Thomas Point. Our chosen method of catching would be trolling with small tandem bucktails and umbrella rigs. We fished with seventeen rods, at least nine of which were on planer boards, bobbing along in the flat calm. The temperature was in the nineties and the tide was slack most of the day. A nearly full moon wasn�t helpful. Our goal; tag 20 legal striped bass.

The veteran Fisheries Biologist taking care of the tagging and recording duties on our boat would be renowned catch-and-release expert, Rudy Lukacovic. The tags the rockfish would be wearing are bright neon green in color. They look kind of like a piece of spaghetti hanging out of the fishes bellies. Biologist Jim Thompson ran the camera to accumulate footage for the Angler�s Log. Marty Gary tagged along for moral support and good luck.

It was evident early on that our success would be limited. No fault of anyone�s � just one of those days. But, we were undeterred. About an hour in, one of the rods went down and as if by telemetry, none of the adults moved. Someone yelled for Jacob and both boys stood up. Jacob, my grandson, was called to the stern and reeled in a fat rockfish. Rudy tagged, Jim taped and Jacob was in the limelight for a bit. A little later, the other Jacob had a fish on the line almost 24-inches � and the process was repeated. So it went. Sporadic bites, the boys took turns and at the end of the day, we fell short of our goal but managed to release a credible number of potential Diamond Jims.

The price on Diamond Jim�s head goes up each month of the contest. For June, the reward is $10,000. Each of the imposters (this year there will be 600 striped bass eligible to win a prize) is worth $500. All the details are on the DNR Fisheries website at www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/challenge/. Thanks DNR!