{"id":44008,"date":"2025-02-13T11:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=44008"},"modified":"2025-02-13T11:20:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:20:30","slug":"dorchester-county-angler-catches-maryland-state-record-longnose-gar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2025\/02\/13\/dorchester-county-angler-catches-maryland-state-record-longnose-gar\/","title":{"rendered":"Dorchester County Angler Catches Maryland State Record Longnose Gar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fish reeled in from Marshyhope Creek weighing 20.5 pounds<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Photo

State record longnose gar caught by David Confair on Feb. 8, 2025. Photo courtesy of David Confair, used with permission by Maryland DNR.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources recognizes David Confair of Secretary in Dorchester County as a new state record holder for longnose gar – Lepisosteus osseus – in the Chesapeake division.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Confair caught the 20.5-pound, 49.5-inch fish on February 8 while fishing in Marshyhope Creek. He was fishing the bottom of the creek in about 15 feet of water with a two-hook sabiki rig with No. 4 hooks and small cut pieces of gizzard shad.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fish’s weight was certified at Choptank River Crab and Oyster Co. in Cambridge, and the species was confirmed by DNR recreational fisheries coordinator Erik Zlokovitz.<\/span><\/p>\n

Confair targets longnose gar in February and March by fishing for them with bottom rigs and then again during the summer when they feed near the surface.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first hooked the fish, it didn\u2019t feel very big,\u201d Confair said. \u201cI got it to the boat in about a minute and a half. Then I saw it was a very large gar. It made one more dive to the bottom and then I was able to get it to the surface where my friend netted it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Confair actually reclaims the record he once held. His catch surpassed the previous record of 18.3 pounds, set by <\/span>Samson Matthews<\/span><\/a> in Marshyhope Creek on March 2, 2020. Confair had also held the record previously, with a <\/span>17.9-pound gar in 2019<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The longnose gar is known for its thick ganoid scales and elongated, needle-like snout, which contains numerous sharp, cone-shaped teeth. The gar’s jaw structure and feeding behavior make them challenging to hook and catch.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Department of Natural Resources maintains <\/span>state records<\/span><\/a> for sport fish in four divisions: Atlantic, Chesapeake, Nontidal, and Invasive. Anglers who think they have a potential record catch should download and complete a <\/span>state record application<\/span><\/a> and call 443-569-1398. The department recommends the fish be immersed in ice water to preserve its weight until it can be checked, confirmed, and certified.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fish reeled in from Marshyhope Creek weighing 20.5 pounds The Maryland Department of Natural Resources recognizes David Confair of Secretary in Dorchester County as a new state record holder for longnose gar – Lepisosteus osseus – in the Chesapeake division.\u00a0 Confair caught the 20.5-pound, 49.5-inch fish on February 8 while fishing in Marshyhope Creek. He  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,11],"tags":[2922,5174,4950,3069],"class_list":["post-44008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-fisheries","tag-dorchester-county","tag-longnose-gar","tag-marshyhope-creek","tag-state-fishing-record"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44008"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44013,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44008\/revisions\/44013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}