BALTIMORE, MD—Last month, the U.S. Department of Commerce notified Maryland Governor Wes Moore that it had declined Maryland’s request for a federal commercial fisheries disaster declaration that was sought to help address the economic and ecological damage caused by the spread of invasive catfish and snakeheads in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Maryland made the unique request in March as a […]
OCEAN CITY, MD—Two new records for new species have been established in the Atlantic Division of the Maryland state fishing records program. Angler Chris Stafford of Cherry Hill, N.J. caught a pompano dolphinfish (Coryphaena equiselis) weighing 2.0 pounds on September 20, and Ellicott City resident Stephen Humphrey caught a great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) weighing 13.0 pounds on October 6. Both […]
BALTIMORE, MD—The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has officially recognized Bobby Graves of Salisbury as the third official state record holder for the Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) in the Chesapeake Division. Graves caught the record-breaking 6.44-pound fish in the Chesapeake Bay near Bloodsworth Island, Dorchester County, on September 17. He caught this impressive pompano while fishing for spotted sea trout […]
BALTIMORE, MD—A Somerset County resident has officially been recognized by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for a new state fishing record in the Chesapeake Bay Division for sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus). Brian Summerlin, of Princess Anne, caught the 16.6-pound fish September 17 in Tangier Sound off Crisfield in about 15 feet of water. Summerlin was targeting sheepshead using soft crab […]
CAMBRIDGE, MD—Damien Cook of Rhodesdale has been recognized by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a new state record holder for Northern snakehead – Channa argus — in the state’s Invasive Division. Cook caught the 21.0-pound fish on July 5 while fishing in a Dorchester County river. The impressive fish, which measured more than 36 inches long, was weighed […]
OAKLAND, MD—For the second time in a month, the state record for fallfish has been broken. Bryson Meyers of Oakland has been recognized by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a new state record holder for fallfish – Semotilus corporalis — in the state’s nontidal division. Meyers caught the 3.01-pound fish on June 16 while fishing in the North […]
UPDATE: Crosby Abe’s record has been broken. Original story below… CUMBERLAND, MD—An Allegany County youth has been recognized by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a new state record holder for fallfish – Semotilus corporalis — in the state’s nontidal division. Crosby Abe, 14, caught the 2.27-pound fish May 29 while fishing on the North Branch of the Potomac […]
ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Wes Moore on Thursday called on the federal government to declare the expanding population of invasive fish species—including blue catfish, flathead catfish, and snakehead—to be an ongoing commercial fishery disaster in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The governor sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo requesting the declaration under provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery […]