What do the London Bridge and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge have in common?
Morone Saxatilis!
Stripped bass that is, better known as rockfish, and the spring “trophy” season for anglers begins Saturday, April 19.
The season runs until May 13. Fish can only be caught and released on May 14 and 15, but the spring catch-and-keep season resumes Friday, May 16, and runs to Saturday, May 31.
The summer season opens Sunday, June 1, and runs until Dec. 15.
Now that you have all this information – Let’s get back to the London Bridge.
It might come as a surprise to learn that the ancient bridge now resides in Lake Havasu, Ariz. What does this have to do with Chesapeake Bay rockfish?
As it turns out, Lake Havasu is one of many U.S. lakes that contain ample breeding stocks of Morona Saxatilis . Because rockfish are anadromous — they live primarily in the sea but migrate and breed in fresh water — the species is pretty much at home wherever it ends up.
Atlantic-based rockfish breed in the Massachusetts Bay, along Cape Cod and in the Hudson and Delaware rivers, but the most important breeding stocks are found in the Chesapeake Bay. That’s good news, but remember anglers, there are very strict rules to be followed.
Dianne Samuels, of Maryland’s Fisheries Service, says that during the initial spring season, there is a one-fish-per-day limit for rockfish 28 inches long or more. The rule holds for the Chesapeake Bay from Brewerton Channel to the Maryland-Virginia line. However, fishing is not allowed in bays, sounds, tributaries, creeks and rivers except for the Tangier and Pocomoke sounds.
Samuels said the season is closed on May 14 and 15, but anglers may practice catch and release during that time.
From Friday, May 16, to Saturday, May 31, there is a two-fish-per-day limit per person for rockfish from 18 to 28 inches long, or a one-fish-per-day limit per person for fish between 18 and 28 inches and one fish per day per person for rockfish longer than 28 inches. The rule applies for the downstream area of the Chesapeake Bay from the south corner of the Hart-Miller Island Dike to the end of state Route 21 at Tuckahoe and south to the Maryland-Virginia line. All bays, sounds, tributaries, creeks and rivers are excluded.
During the full season, beginning, Sunday, June 1, and running to Dec. 15, all areas of the bay and its tributaries are open for rockfish anglers. There is a two-fish-per-day limit per person during this stage of the season. All fish have to be longer than 18 inches, but only one catch per day can be over 28 inches.