WASHINGTON — Drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this weekend and you’ll see hundreds of boats with fishing lines in the water.
Saturday is the first day of rockfish season.
Rockfish, also known as striped bass, are a popular game fish for lots of reasons. They fight well, and they taste good.
“They have mild, white flaky meat — very popular with restaurants,” says Erik Zlokovitz, recreational fishing and public access outreach coordinator with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service. “They’re a universally popular game fish here and all over the Mid-Atlantic.”
The 2016 season opens with new regulations for Maryland anglers.
“You can keep one fish 35 inches or larger,” Zlokovitz said. “That’s different from last year, when we had a slot limit, where you were only able to keep a certain-sized fish between two different lengths.”
Zlokovitz said the new rules are based on feedback from fisherman in order to make the rules less confusing to follow and easier to enforce. They also reflect an effort to protect the fish.
“We’re just proceeding with caution,” Zlokovitz said. “The striped bass stock is healthy, but we have to do occasional adjustments to protect these big spawning fish that are in the bay.”
Natural Resources Police officers will be out in force this weekend to enforce rockfish rules.
“Maryland’s state fish are a dynamic part of the Chesapeake Bay’s identity,” said Maryland Natural Resources Police spokeswoman Candy Thomson.
“It’s been three decades since Maryland banned all striped bass fishing for five years to avoid wiping out the species,” Thomson said. “We never want to see those days again and will do what is necessary to protect the fish for future generations of anglers.”
Fines for catch limit violations can be as high as $1,000. Getting caught with undersized fish will cost you $250 a fish. The fine for having more than one properly sized fish is $125 per fish.
The Maryland record for a striped bass caught in the Chesapeake Bay is 67 pounds, 8 ounces. During the spring months, Zlokovitz said many of the fish pulled in are more than 40 inches long and weigh up to 50 pounds.
Still, opportunities to catch the big trophy fish are limited.
“When the water temperatures start getting up into the mid- or high-60’s and approaching 70, these bigger fish don’t like that warmer water and they’ll start migrating out of the bay,” Zlokovitz observed.
Catching a whopper might only be possible for about a month. A cold spring might keep rockfish in Chesapeake Bay into mid-June.
Zlokovitz says a warm spring might signal the fish’s departure as early as May 20.
Virginia’s Chesapeake Area striped bass season is May 16 to June 15.
