{"id":42172,"date":"2024-08-08T15:16:10","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T19:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=42172"},"modified":"2024-08-12T14:01:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T18:01:50","slug":"anglers-report-multiple-sightings-of-tarpon-in-maryland-waters-of-chesapeake-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2024\/08\/08\/anglers-report-multiple-sightings-of-tarpon-in-maryland-waters-of-chesapeake-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Anglers Report Multiple Sightings of Tarpon in Maryland Waters of Chesapeake Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Usually associated with warmer areas, the legendary sport fish is a rare sight in the state<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Indistinct<\/a>

Blurry shapes just below the surface of the Chesapeake Bay, multiple tarpon school together in waters near Hoopers Island Lighthouse on Aug. 1. Credit: Tom Weaver<\/p><\/div>\n

Scouting for red drum near the Hoopers Island Lighthouse on Aug. 1, Capt. Tom Weaver saw something roll in the flat, calm waters a couple hundred yards away.<\/span><\/p>\n

He looked for the wake and followed a disturbance in the distance. When he got close and shut the motor off, he saw huge shapes under the water. The fish looked familiar\u2014and Weaver soon realized he recognized them from his years fishing in the Florida Keys.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you run out of Annapolis, you don\u2019t expect an hour and a half later to be running across a tarpon,\u201d Weaver, who runs a charter business Fish With Weaver, said. \u201cMy brain took a few minutes to process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tarpon are large, athletic fish renowned for how they fight the line, with both incredible stamina and an ability to leap out of the water, their bodies thrashing in the air.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a video<\/a> Weaver recorded, hulking 6-foot-long fish lurk motionless under the surface. They were tanks, he said, each maybe 80 to 100 pounds. He went after the group of seven or eight tarpon for a while and got a bite, though he didn\u2019t have the right gear to pull one in. \u201cReally, we were not ready to see tarpon,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erik Zlokovitz, Maryland Department of Natural Resources\u2019 recreational fisheries outreach coordinator, said the department is getting more reports of tarpon, usually associated with warmer southern waters, in Maryland this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen tarpon in Maryland\u2019s section of the bay historically, but the number of fish spotted recently is unusual,\u201d Zlokovitz said. \u201cThis year is the first time we\u2019ve gotten multiple reports of schools of tarpon, and not just a stray fish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tarpon are known to come into the southern Chesapeake Bay in the summer, and anglers target tarpon in the coastal waters off the Eastern Shore of Virginia. But it\u2019s usually rare for anyone to encounter a tarpon in Maryland waters.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n