Southern Region Biologist Weekly Update

Type: Chesapeake
Region: Southern
Location: Southern Region

The southern regional freshwater fisheries crew has been busy collecting largemouth bass, striped bass and black crappie brood stock for Cedarville and Manning Fish Hatcheries. Several days have been spent on Mattawoman Creek and the Patuxent River collecting several hundred specimens for propagation at the hatcheries. The fish are in good shape and the high temperatures last week triggered an earlier than normal largemouth bass spawn in the tidal Potomac. Water temperatures spiked up to the 72� F on April 7 which is several degrees above the average at that time of year. By April 13, we observed several large females had already deposited their eggs. Some of the fish collected exceeded 7 pounds.

Many large black crappies can be caught in Mattawoman Creek. Most are found on trees that contain a lot of submerged branches, but some are also found in the milfoil beds near drop offs. For those anglers looking to find northern snakeheads, look for them in the grass beds especially where there is a tree submerged in the grass. Some exceed 10 pounds. Just a reminder, all snakeheads are required by law to be killed at the time of capture. They are also excellent table fare.

Striped bass spawning is also well underway and many of the large fish have already finished spawning. Here a few photos we took during our last few trips. The first one is of Ranger Jim of Smallwood State Park holding a nice size brood largemouth bass. The second photo is of Victoria Groves who helped us a couple of days last week. She is shown with a 47� striped bass from the Patuxent River. I will send you updates as we collect them.