Flier Fish on St. Mary's Lake

Type: Nontidal
Region: Southern
Location: St. Mary's Lake

I went fishing for crappie today, 10/8 for two hours on St Mary�s Lake. I caught over 15 fish before I needed to leave. I caught a pickerel too. The crappie were in 13�-15� of water. They were caught while vertical jigging a small chartreuse jig when I saw the fish on the meter, and also casting a beetle spin too.

But, the big surprise was my catch of a flier fish. It is a threatened fish species here in Maryland. What is even stranger is that while on the lake fishing yesterday I spoke to an angler and his son. He showed me a photo of a flier fish that he had just caught while crappie fishing. He asked as to what it might be, I misidentified it as a hybrid bluegill of some sort. (Sorry bro.)

I was unaware of flier fish, let alone that they live in St Mary�s Lake.

DNR COMMENT: Very cool catch! The Flier (Centrarchus macropterus) is a fish which is native to the southern U.S. and is rare and threatened in Maryland. This southern species reaches its East Coast northern limit line in the Potomac Drainage of southern Maryland, including St. Mary's County and St. Mary's Lake. There are only 15 records of this fish in the Maryland Biodiversity Project database.