Fishino

Tyler MorelandHonors English 12

3AMay 12, 2015

Dear Reader, I am writing this piece, not only to share my love for fishing, but also to learn

more about it. I plan on moving to Florida to pursue a career in commercial fishing and this piece has taught me so much about how to improve my fishing in general.

Throughout this piece, you will see different genres of writing to show you all that I have learned. My chosen specific topics concerning fishing were weather patterns, Florida commercial fish species, artificial lures, and fish conservation.

I truly hope you enjoy what I have researched and the creative ways of displaying them. Most of all I hope my passion for fishing and learning more about it comes out. Thank you for your time and, again, enioy!

Sincerely, Tyler Moreland

Table of Contents

Lure Chart Weather Report Notes

Commercial Fish WebsiteConservation Letter Bibliography

Lures Chart

Lure Picture Description How to fish

Jig Jigs have a weighted lead head and are sometimes ‘dressed’ in feathers, hair, soft plastic, or even live bait. Simulates a dying bait fish

Cast it out, wait until it hits the bottom, pop it up, let it sink, etc.

Spinner bait Spinner baits are essentially just a metal shaft with a spinning blade. Creates vibration in the water.

Simply cast and retrieve.

Spoon Curved metal lure. Simulates an injured baitfish.

Cast and retrieve with an occasional vary in speed.

Soft plastics Come in a variety of styles including worm, lizard, crayfish, and frogs. Simulates ‘critter’ bait.

Cast it out, let it sink, give the rod a few twitches, and if no bite, retrieve.

Plugs Constructed from hollow plastic or wood. Typically have a bill to sink on a retrieve. Used to resemble baitfish.

Crankbait (fat and short): Cast and retrieve, letting it drag along the bottom.Jerkbait (long and skinny): Cast and ‘jerk’ it back to you on the retrieve.

Weather Report

Conservation LetterDear Virginia Delegate Ronald Villanueva,

My name is Tyler Moreland and I am writing to you today concerning the Elizabeth River overfishing incident that occurred during February 2015. As I’d hope you are aware, two men were caught illegally harvesting 3,000 pounds of redfish and trout from the ‘hot ditch’ located in the Elizabeth River. My goal in writing to you is to try and help someone who, to my knowledge, doesn’t fish understand the severe consequences overfishing can have on the environment. Hopefully, by explaining to you that, I can convince you to help keep the fishing community pure and free from illegal activity.

In nature, there is a delicate balance between predators and prey. If one of those relationships is thrown off balance, in most cases, the entire ecosystem will fail sooner or later. To help explain this, I will use the Elizabeth River scenario as an example. Let’s say, for argument purposes, that the two men continued to harvest that amount of fish without being reprimanded. What happens next is the complete die off of redfish and trout. When discussing inshore species of fish, these are two of the top predators. If these two predators got removed, there are fewer predator species to keep the baitfish ‘in check’. The baitfish then feed heavily on the phytoplankton and submerged aquatic vegetation, being their main sources of food. Phytoplankton and ‘SAVs’ are responsible for producing the dissolved oxygen in the water. If the baitfish consume all of the oxygen-producing organisms, then there is now nothing to produce oxygen. All aquatic life, over time, will die off and that can cause a crash in the fish market industry, a loss of jobs for commercial fishermen, and ultimately an unhappy community.

I’m not writing to you in hopes that the two illegal harvesters will be punished more severely, although I wouldn’t mind it if that were to come of this, but I am writing to you to help you understand the impact that fishermen not following the fishing regulations have on the environment. I hope this letter helps you look at overfishing in a new perspective. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, Tyler Moreland

Notes Page• Lures

• Kinds• Jigs, Spinerbait, Spoon, Plugs, and Soft Plastics

• Weather• Fish are sensitive to sudden changes in weather (pressure)• Wind and tides cause baitfish to school up, bringing predators to that area• Warm water helps metabolism, cold water provides oxygen• Fish feed in the morning and night

• Commercial Fish• Mainly fish for mackerel in Florida• Billfish, grouper, and jack are also sold quite often for profit

• Conservation• Elizabeth River• 3,000 pounds of redfish and trout• Predators gone results in baitfish getting rid of oxygen producers

Bibliography• Cermele, Joe, and Field & Stream. The Total Fishing Manual. N.p.: Weldon Owen, 2013. Print.

• Girdwood, David. "Fishing Theories - Effect of Water Temperature on Fishing Success." Fishing Theories - Effect of Water Temperature on Fishing Success. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2015. <http://www.thefishingnut.com/articles/watertemp.html>.

• Merwin, John. "Does the Moon Affect Hunting and Fishing?" Field & Stream. N.p., 7 Aug. 2012. Web. 11 May 2015. <http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/honest-angler/2012/08/does-moon-affect-hunting-and-fishing>.

• Roy, Ken. "Tides and Currents: Their Effect on Fishing." Tides and Currents: Their Effect on Fishing. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2015. <http://www.bigbendsportsman.com/stories/ken_tides_currents.htm>.

• Tuthill, Samantha-Rae. "How Does Weather Affect Fish?" AccuWeather. N.p., 6 June 2014. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.accuweather.com/en/features/trend/a-change-in-atmospheric-pressu/63489>.

WHY THE REDFISH TAIL? continue to next page

Redfish

Prior to the summer of 2014, I hadn’t fish all that much. If I ever went out, it was always with my friends dad just to get outside and active. Once the summer of 2014 hit however, I started to get into freshwater fishing again and simply fell in love with it. Little did I know that 2 months later I would be ‘hooked’ on fishing.

My friend Eric asked me if I wanted to go out on his boat into the Chesapeake Bay to try and catch some redfish along the bridge-tunnel islands. I said yes and so began the best day of fishing I have ever experienced. Saltwater fishing is a lot different than freshwater fishing in a lot of aspects. First of all, I was on a boat which I wasn’t used to. Secondly, with saltwater fishing, typically the rods get rigged up, a live bait or cut bait gets put on the hook, and once the line is in the water, it’s just a waiting game. Let me just say that this wasn’t the case for my first saltwater fishing experience.

After catching some bluefish for cut bait, we moved in to the island and threw some lines out. About ten minutes passed and we had the first fish. Me being the rookie, I was handed the pole and taught how to reel up a fish fast and safe. Although that fish was actually a skate, which is very similar to a stingray, and not a redfish, I still got the adrenaline that catching a fish gives the typical fisherman. The hours passed and believe me when I say that there was no time to sit and relax. Between the four rods that were put out, every second one of them was screaming as line was being taken off the spool by an angry redfish. In total, we caught 54 redfish, one flounder, one skate, and one cobia all in a matter of 6 hours. That is an insane amount of fish and as you can imagine, since it was my first time, I was excited and craving another day out on the water similar to that.

Ever since that day, my favorite fish to catch, and I’ve caught a lot of different fish through the past year, is a redfish. The fight they put up is crazy and intense. The adrenaline rush I get from catching one is indescribable. I think I can honestly say that the redfish is what got me ‘hooked’ on fishing.