If you want to get good at something, talk to the experts" -- Lefty Kreh

Thanks for visiting 52 Week Season!

52 Week Season is a project to explore a hunting or fishing opportunity each week of the year in the mid-Atlantic. When I started, my intention was to interview various hunting and fishing guides on their approaches throughout the seasons, but I increasingly became more interested in the seasonal patterns of the species themselves and the yearly rituals we build around them. 

Some of these traditions are based on seasonal cues such as migrations or reproduction, while others are purely institutionalized by the DNR. 

For example, we don’t know exactly when the conditions will be perfect for the green drake hatch, whitetail rut, or canvasback migrations, but we have a pretty good idea from years of trial and error and perhaps some data (Memorial Day, mid-November, and “Canuary,” respectively). We itch for a warming trend for yellow perch in the spring and a northwest cold front for Canada geese at the fall but are at the mercy of mother nature. 

Yet we do know that the best opportunity for dove is high noon on September 1, that White Marlin Open is the first full week of August, and that schools are closed the Monday after Thanksgiving for whitetail opener in Pennsylvania. 

Many of these yearly traditions revolve around food -- springtime means shad plankings and fall means oyster roasts -- while others are strictly for sport. Some rituals aren’t based on science or calendar at all but just feel right. Mid-summer is the not the best time for largemouth bass, but there’s something about throwing poppers on a glassy lake before a July thunderstorm.

 Could you possibly hit each of these experiences in 52 weeks? Of course not. It’s absurd to you think you would have the time, but it’s also crazy to assume that a shark fisherman cares to throw flies at brook trout or that a duck hunter has any interest in coyotes. Plus, a jack of all trades is usually a master of none. 

But if you’re lucky, you can start to make connections. A hunter of diving ducks will know to return to the “hard bottom” during rockfish season, and a pheasant hunter can always use those tail feathers for a steelhead fly. And what is more satisfying than a cast-and-blast day targeting speckled trout and blue-wing teal in a September marsh? 

Some of the critters on this list are native and some are non-native, and many times it’s not clear. Largemouth bass are a familiar non-native species while snakehead are a non-native monster in many people’s eyes. Brown trout are non-native but long-established; sika deer are imported but at the same time unique to Maryland; and elk are native but reestablished. Tarpon and coyotes seem way out of place but are adapting to changing environments. 

So what is the "Mid-Atlantic"?  

One of my favorite descriptions is the boundaries of the Chesapeake Bay watershed featured in William Warner's Beautiful Swimmers: 

"The Bay’s entire watershed extends north through Pennsylvania to the Finger Lakes and Mohawk Valley country of New York, by virtue of the Susquehanna, the mother river that created the Bay. To the west it traces far back into the furrowed heartland of Appalachia, but one mountain ridge short of the Ohio-Mississippi drainage, by agency of the Potomac. To the east the flatland rivers of the Eastern Shore rise from gum and oak thickets almost within hearing distance of the pounding surf of the Atlantic barrier islands. To the south, Bay waters seep through wooded swamps to the North Carolina sounds, where palmettos, alligators and great stands of bald cypress first appear." 

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-- Patrick Ottenhoff, Washington, DC

 

Chris Dollar: Chesapeake Four-Season Sportsman

Chris Dollar: Chesapeake Four-Season Sportsman

Patrick Ottenhoff
Hunting, Saltwater, Big Game, Wingshooting

Chris Dollar lives by the “sportsman’s calendar.” It’s the mindset that there is always a hunting or fishing season around the corner and some kind to critter to chase every week of the year. 

Chris wears many hats in the outdoors industry, including fishing guide and instructor, kayak and tackle shop proprietor, outdoors writer, and general go-to for the latest hunting and fishing report. “If it’s got fins or feathers,” says Chris, “I write about it and chase after it.”

He’s based out of Centreville, MD on the banks of the Corsica River, conveniently located within a morning’s ride of the Chester River, Susquehanna Flats, the Lower Shore marshes, and other top spots in the region. 

I caught up with Chris on a recent weekend during the spring rockfish and shad runs to hear more about some of his fishing tactics, his favorite hunting traditions, and why it pays to be a “generalist” sportsman. Below are my questions in bold, followed by his answers. 

You seem to have your hand in all kinds of outdoor businesses in our region. What are the various businesses you run? 

Captain-Chris-Dollar-350-250.jpg

I make my living through combination of outdoor writing and my outfitter businesses.

I've been writing for about 25 years on mostly the Chesapeake and also the mid-Atlantic more broadly. I write a weekly column for the Capital Gazette and a monthly column called “Wild Chesapeake” for the Chesapeake Bay Magazine.

I run my fishing outfitter business called CD Outdoors, which offers guiding and instruction. I also have a kayak fishing & tackle store in Centerville, MD, as well as online Tacklecove.com. 

What critters do you generally focus on in your writing and guiding? 

I fish every season depending on what is around, and mostly do light tackle and fly fishing. I like to fish low light and fish out of my 19-foot skiff and kayak. I fish almost all artificial lures or flies, though occasionally do a bit of live-lining.   

Like most Chesapeake guides, my bread and butter is rockfish, and also some speckled trout and puppy drum. 

I follow the sportsman’s calendar. If it’s got fins or feathers, I write about it and chase after it. Some guys are experts in specific disciplines, and that’s cool. I’m more wired as an outdoors generalist. 

We have such a great region: you can catch trout [in the mountains] in morning and be surf fishing in the evening. And of course the Chesapeake and its rivers offers all kinds of other opportunities, from fishing to crabbing to boating. 

What are your home waters?

The lower Chester, Eastern Bay, and the Choptank. I’d say those are #1a, #1b, and #2. Also I love to fish and hunt Tangier Sound. I guide for rockfish in all of those waters, and occasionally puppy drum and speckled trout, which in some years come up into the Eastern Bay. 

What’s the “sportman’s calendar” for you? What is a year in the life of Chris Dollar? 

Spring

In the early spring, it starts with the yellow perch of course. I also love the first shad trip of the year. I don’t guide for shad, but I love throwing out a 5-weight and fishing for hickories or white shad on the Potomac, Gunpowder and Susquehanna. 

My rockfish season usually starts in April on the [Susquehanna] Flats and then May in the Eastern Bay. 

Spring can be very weather-dependent. The Flats are a typical example. Last Saturday, it got up to 47-49, and everybody caught nice fish. But then it dropped again to the low 40s and everyone got scrabbled. 

This spring, the water has been so cold lately, and you can’t force it to warm up. Its been the coldest the longest that I can remember. It was opening day yesterday, and most people got skunked. Shad is another perfect example. There’s been low water in Gunpower and should be have been on them but they didn’t show up. So you’ve got to keep busy and follow the fish. 

Hunting-wise, turkey season opened and I’ll try and spend some time in the woods tomorrow. Turkeys are so smart and so addictive — man it’s addictive! — a friend introduce me a few years ago and and I love it. 

Chris was a nice black drum

Chris was a nice black drum

Summer

In the summer, I’ll start targeting the travelers: croaker, bull drum, puppy drum, bluefish, cobia, Spanish mackerel. There’s always white perch around too. Whatever is around, really. I try to follow the fish. 

The last three to four years, in Maryland’s part of the Bay we’ve had really big red drum. For years, cobia was on the down-low, just across the state line. But that’s not really a secret anymore.  

Also in summer for eight weeks in mid June through mid August, I run three sessions of fishing camps for kids ages 8-14. We’ll bring the kids to the rivers and teach them about gear, hooks and tackle, as well as crabbing with pots. These days, competing the smart phones and tablets, you’ve got to keep them engaged. 

I’ll also do some offshore stuff, but just for fun. 

Fall

I do most of my crabbing in September; that’s when you get the fattest crabs. 

Early to mid fall, the waterfowl start to show up, and duck and goose hunting is really my passion. Ducks start in September with teal season, and I’ll go to the lower Eastern Shore marshes in Somerset and Dorchester counties. 

Winter

Thanksgiving, and the Wednesday or Saturday of that week I always try to hunt. I’ve been pretty close to doing it the last 25 years.

Through the season, I’ll do a lot of public land hunting, and love going up different creeks and exploring new places. 

Do you guide for waterfowl too?

I have years ago but I frankly I didn’t enjoy it as much as gunning for fun. I prefer just be out there for the enjoyment, because there’s something about wild ducks pitching into your decoy spread. 

A canvasback, widgeon or mallard with wings cupped, screaming into the wind is awesome. Will they come? Is the rig outfitted right? There’s something about a wild duck that is very wily and attuned to something that is not right. If it thinks something is not right, it might give two to three passes, or land 40-50 years out of range, or simply keep on trucking down the river. 

I don’t get that some vibe in most Bay fishing. I guess you can see that with breaking fish, but it’s not the same. Perhaps the only thing you could compare it to a tuna, red drum or rockfish blowing up on topwater plug.

Any favorite spots?

Diving ducks off of Thomas Point can be great. I love Deale Island hunting out of kayaks and impoundments. Cedar Marsh WMA on Pocomoke Sound on the Virginia-Maryland border is wildly remote but surprisingly it still gets pressure. Hunt Cedar marsh bis a commitment; the weather can turn shitty real quick, so you gotta have the right boat and gear, and know what you’re doing! I just really love exploring the Chesapeake and coastal areas. 

 
Jeff Coats: Pitboss Waterfowl

Jeff Coats: Pitboss Waterfowl
Marcia Pradines: Chesapeake Marshlands NWR

Marcia Pradines: Chesapeake Marshlands NWR