After years of striped bass regulations ratcheting tighter and tighter, the Maryland DNR is considering a “baseline season adjustment” for rockfish for 2026. The proposed changes boil down to this: recreational anglers would have more opportunity to fish moving forward into 2026 and beyond—while improving the outlook for our striped bass stocks. This change isn’t a sure thing because some special interest groups are pushing against the proposed new baseline, and we anglers have a short time period to weigh in.
The current regulations have 61 days entirely closed to fishing for rockfish, including April 1 through May 15 and July 16 through July 31. That leaves 304 days you can catch rockfish including both catch and release (111) and harvest (193) days. If the new regs go through the days that are closed to fishing will shift to August, and that entire month will be shut down. As a result we would gain back the first two weeks of May for harvest, and the month of April for catch and release. That would leave us almost as many days open for harvest as in 2025 (188) and 30 more days of catch and release fishing opportunity (334 open days in total).
There are several reasons why this works out not only in our favor as recreational anglers, but also for the fish.
- August is the time of highest mortality for Chesapeake Bay Rockfish, and studies have shown that this is when the highest percentage of the fish we catch and release die. This shift would eliminate targeting rockfish in all of August.
- Spring is a time of very, very low release mortality—a DNR study showed the mortality of released fish caught in waters of 59-degrees and below was a shockingly small 1.6 percent (Lukacovic). So, by shifting the timing of the closed season from spring to August we stand to see a major reduction in the number of released fish that die.
- The number of large spawning females is still relatively strong (estimated at about 80,000 metric tons in 2024 versus less than 20,000 in the 1980s and 120,000 at its peak in 2003), but poor reproduction has caused a crash in the population of young resident fish. Shifting the closure to cover the time of highest mortality for young resident fish can help protect that specific segment of the population.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to allow this change because the science shows we won’t be doing additional harm to the population and may well improve the stock of young resident fish. But responsible anglers will still ask themselves if it makes sense to allow any fishing at all early in the spring season. I’ve questioned this in the past myself. But considering what science is available on spring catch and release fishing, it’s clear that this would be a net positive for both the fish and the fishermen. Note that through spring the rivers would remain closed, and no fishing would take place within 20 or more miles of the nearest spawning grounds. This was the case through the moratorium and up to 2020, a period when the fish enjoyed many exceptionally successful spawns. But from 2020 on—since spring catch and release fishing has been curtailed—the spawn has been dismal. Clearly, eliminating preseason fishing hasn’t helped the stocks one iota.
Unfortunately, groups opposed to expanding recreational fishing opportunities have seized upon “harassing fish” in the spring as a reason not to allow the proposed changes. And those interest groups have stated on the record that when caught and released, rockfish “spill millions of eggs all over the boat when you catch them.” If you're an experienced Chesapeake angler you already know that this is an utter absurdity; have you ever seen a rockfish caught in the open Bay drop eggs in a boat? I certainly haven’t, nor has any recreational angler I’ve ever spoken with. This concocted assertion makes one wonder if certain parties are willing to mislead regulators and politicians who might not know any better.
So—what can we recreational anglers do to help get this change through? Now through November 29 the DNR has a very short, simple e-poll for us to fill out. The question: do you support moving forward with the Baseline Season Adjustment? I clicked YES, and I sure hope you will, too.
Click here to TAKE ACTION NOW and fill out the form.
