After last season, Gary said, anglers petitioned DNR to extend the season, preferably into May. Based on that data, Maryland set a no-kill season on the flats for the month of April. When the water temperature rose to about 60 degrees by mid-May, the mortality rate climbed to 17 percent. From this test, biologists learned several things, Gary said.įor starters, they recorded a mortality rate under 2 percent when water temperatures were low in April and early May. Thousands of stripers were caught on rod and reel and placed in holding pens for 72 hours to see how they fared. Groups of anglers petitioned Maryland to set some kind of season framework to legalize what was happening on the flats anyway.ĭuring April and May 1998, Maryland instituted a catch-and-release mortality study to try to quantify the effect of a no-kill fishing season. As long as they released the fish, technically it wasn’t illegal, Gary said. Prior to 1999, anglers would catch stripers on the flats during the spring and claim they were targeting other species. Two anglers on the Susquehanna Flats with a 20-pound striper. Most fish spawn in the Elk River and the C&D Canal, which are both south of the flats. Over much of the flats area, the water is less than 10 feet deep, and is less than three feet deep in many places far from any shoreline.Īccording to Martin Gary, a fisheries biologist with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the flats is a pre-spawn staging area for stripers returning from the ocean each spring. The flats area covers some 55 square miles from Havre de Grace, Md., where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay, south to Turkey Point. In 2002, Maryland extended the season by 20 days, so that it now begins March 15 and runs through May 3. Since then, the season’s popularity has grown immensely as more and more fishing addicts have found their way to the flats. It was back in 1999 that Maryland instituted a month-long spring catch-and-release season for striped bass on the Susquehanna Flats during April. We chase the line in our boat, and are soon slapping hands as the 20-pound striped bass is finally led into a waiting net. The reel is screaming as the dark line slices through the turbid water off Perryville Point and heads toward open water on the Susquehanna Flats section of the upper Chesapeake Bay. I see the stout, 7-foot rod double over in my hands and I feel the heavy weight of a big fish. If I close my eyes, I can still see the water boil violently off the right side of the boat on April 12, 2001. Bryan Oliver – Quick Hits, Videos, Memes.Babe Winkleman – Good Fishing / Outdoor Secrets.Eddie Claypool – Blue Collar Bowhunting.
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