September 17, 2024
If we’ve said it once we’ve said it 1000 times: we need more science. It’s downright shocking how little we know about the populations of the fish that we chase, even the striped bass — despite its…
June 6, 2024
Attention anglers: you may remember from a previous alert, Angler Alert Another Rockfish Reg Shakeup, that back in January after the DNR announced an Emergency Action to close trophy season we were…
May 25, 2024
Will AI soon be playing a role in a fishery near you? Love it or hate it, as crazy as it sounds the answer is a definite yes, especially if you own a modern fishboat with modern electronics or plan…
May 3, 2024
People, prepare your pitchforks and torches — I propose a new extra tax on anglers. Now, some of you may think that you already pay enough in taxes but clearly this is not the case because some very…
January 24, 2024
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has voted for option B2, setting Chesapeake Bay 2024 striped bass regulations across all jurisdictions in Maryland, Virginia, and the Potomac River. We…
January 22, 2024
You may remember that as we recreational anglers were recently giving comment on 2024 striped bass reg changes, the Maryland DNR announced an “Emergency Regulation” ending trophy season and…
January 18, 2024
As anglers we collectively catch a heck of a lot of fish, and whether we are freshwater fishing, we're fishing the Chesapeake Bay, or we've headed off the coast, some of us will catch fish that are…
December 18, 2023
With the latest stock assessment showing falling numbers of striped bass and five years running of poor young-of-year index results, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is changing the…
November 26, 2023
Don’t let the temporary presence of those winter striped bass we were treated to last year fool you. Sometimes big numbers of big fish overwinter in the Bay, and sometimes they don’t. There’s just no…
November 18, 2023
Editor’s Note: We’ve covered catch and release best practices more than once, but in the past year have received numerous letters and emails from concerned anglers asking us to beat that drum again…
August 30, 2023
Greetings fellow FishTalkers, I hope you’ve been having an awesome summer of fishing and are as excited as I am at the prospect of fall Chesapeake Bay fishing, angling on the Atlantic Ocean, and…
May 22, 2023
We have proof: after years of bemoaning wildly impossible numbers presented by the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) to no avail, there’s now solid evidence that at least some of their…
April 26, 2023
The first of May marks the much-anticipated opening of Maryland’s trophy striped bass season on the Chesapeake Bay. In Virginia there is no longer any such season. And up and down the coast, state…
November 27, 2022
Dear Governors Moore and Youngkin: All of the tens of thousands of FishTalk readers and I have one thing in common - we love fishing and we love the Chesapeake Bay. And we all share a common problem…
September 4, 2022
Greetings FishTalkers, welcome to September. This is the month when we get a glimpse of the fall to come, the air and water first begin cooling, those fall feeding frenzies begin firing up, and this…
August 11, 2022
Those of you who love Chesapeake Bay Fishing, it’s RED ALERT time: Norwegian company AquaCon is proposing to build a 25-acre indoor salmon farm in Federalsburg, MD, produce about 35 million pounds of…
July 27, 2022
In early July an Omega Protein net broke, according to the company, spilling tens of thousands of dead menhaden across Virginia's Eastern Shore shoreline from Cherrystone to Cape Charles. Now we…
June 27, 2022
Trying to understand how fisheries science and management works is like trying to understand how the stock market works. We all have a general idea of the concepts at play, and we all certainly feel…