Striped Bass: 3.5 Pounds Shy of the State Record!

Type: Chesapeake
Region: Eastern
Location: Chesapeake Bay - Oxford

Paul and Deven Callahan were trolling a tandem bucktail rig with plastic shads on the Deven Marie II from Oxford when they caught this huge 55 inch striped bass (rockfish). The fish weighed 64 lbs on the certified scale at Kool Ice in Cambridge. The date of the catch was May 13, 2020. This striped bass was only 3.5 pounds short of the state record fish, which weighed 67.5 lbs., caught by Devin Nolan, 5/13/1995,off Bloody Point.

Maryland DNR biologists are making arrangements to collect the scales and otoliths from the fish for aging purposes. Striped bass have been known to live over 30 years based on otolith sections, and this fish is large enough to possibly be from the historic 1996 dominant year class.

Phil Callahan received a FishMaryland certificate for this catch. Congratulations!

To see if your catch might be eligible for a certificate and to find out how to submit it for consideration visit dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/FishMaryland.aspx