striped bass regulations for the second half of december?

[thedutchtouch]

chesapeake bay specific- not exactly the best time of year for kayak fishing per say, but when looking here: http://www.eregulations.com/maryland.../striped-bass/ i see that you can't use live eel, but there's no actual regulations listed for December 16-31. am i missing it? or should i infer that that it's closed/ catch and release/no rockfish targeting during those two weeks? (i've got an outside chance at a boat trip on sunday depending on weather and we're trying to decide where to go/what to try for etc)

[yakscientist]

Striped bass season closes on the Bay on December 16 and moves to a catch and release season for the remainder of the year. So Saturday the 15th is the last day of 2018 you can harvest striped bass, and you won't be able to keep any until at least April of 2019. However the regulations are different for the Potomac River, their season runs longer but I'm not sure about the specifics.

[whenican]

You can catch stripers in the Potomac River until dec 31. There’s a 2 fish/angler limit...20” minimum size &
Only 1 can be 28”+.

[thedutchtouch]

thanks to both of you. ive always heard the season ends on the 15th, but the eregulations website seems to have a bit of a hole there. i guess its because there's no open season lol

[ronaultmtd]

Doesn’t change a thing for me...C&R is what I mostly do with Striped Bass anyway...I only kept nine fish the entire season...not a big fan of eating Stripers...like catching them, but big white perch and medium size blue catfish taste better in my opinion...what I find interesting is the day we set a weather record as the wettest year in history was the last day of the Striped Bass season...cold, windy, rainy day...where have we seen this before?

[thedutchtouch]

Doesn’t change a thing for me...C&R is what I mostly do with Striped Bass anyway...I only kept nine fish the entire season...not a big fan of eating Stripers...like catching them, but big white perch and medium size blue catfish taste better in my opinion...what I find interesting is the day we set a weather record as the wettest year in history was the last day of the Striped Bass season...cold, windy, rainy day...where have we seen this before?

what about the fine print of "targeting" striped bass... ie if you're following the circle hook rules or throwing typical striper lures etc... i suppose you can just say you're targeting bluefish if anyone questions? or perhaps the DNR has "bigger fish to fry" and this is unnecessary paranoia based out of inexperience...

[ronaultmtd]

I typically don’t fish salt water after the season closes...no blackfish (togs) up here and the weather usually sucks...if I wet the Lady Luck it is usually in fresh or brackish water catfishing or rainbow trout fishing...and the catfish bite year round, even in February...