Greetings fellow Patriots!
A buddy of mine tells me fishing in Maryland is great, and I've agreed to join him on a few outings to learn the ropes and see how it goes.
Other than a little fishing with family when I was a kid, I'm a total novice.
So the main purpose of this thread is to ask you, the MDShooters member to provide me and other novice anglers like me some very basic advice.
I've read the DNR website, and found it to be very confusing, it assumed people already knew a lot of definitions and had a background in fishing. In all fairness, this FAQ page would have answered most of my questions right away, had I read it first. Instead, I fumbled through the DNR fishing site and links, and I found the term 'angler' used at points where they simply meant people who fish. But mostly were only referring to those 16 years old or younger, or to people who fish in salt water; which they also refer to as tidal fishing. This apparently is important because if you are 16 or younger, no license is required; and there are two different licenses for tidal (saltwater) fishing, and non-tidal (freshwater) fishing; which they don't simply call tidal fishing, they call it coastal fishing. Once you understand these basic definitions, its much easier to read the DNR website. I might still have some of this wrong, hence my asking the question.
There are quite a few fishing regulations to be concerned with.
Then there is the issue of contaminates. Maryland publishes guidelines on fish contaminates, and recommendations on how much to eat, as well as how to filet the fish to minimize contaminates. Here's an excellent video, and how I will be filleting Maryland fish:
I tried to use the DNR's COMPASS engine to purchase licenses, but it never sent me an email to confirm (yes I checked my junk email), so I called (at least they have people to answer questions, and issue licenses over the phone (have a credit card handy). I ended up buying both types of licenses (non-tidal and costal) and the 'extra' crabbing and trout additions. Total cost was around $50, but it's good for 365 days. Very nice people there selling licenses and answering questions.
I live in AACo, my buddy said the first place he was going to take us is behind a mil/gov fence called Possum Point? He also mentioned Annapolis, and another place I can't recall at the moment. I think he fishes all over, and most often takes his teen daughter, who will be joining my better half and I on these few first trips out. So I guess my first questions are:
- what kind of rod/reel, bait is recommended?
- where are some of the better places to go?
- can you fish year around?
- where do we gut the fish, and put the guts/scraps?
- just bring a cooler to keep the fish alive till ready to go?
- what other gear will I need?
- any cool gadgets/tools I can now justify buying?
- do we check in (like hunting in some places), or have limits, carry license displayed?
- are there specific 'too small' sizes to catch and release only fish? I've read some anglers use small fish as bait to catch bigger fish, any rules on this?
I have too many novice questions, I don't even know where to start.
- can you fish at night?
- can we just go to any public (park) pond/lake, river, stream and fish now?
- any private property with permission from the land owner? Hunting required written permission, fishing easier?
- any hazards to be watchful for?
A buddy of mine tells me fishing in Maryland is great, and I've agreed to join him on a few outings to learn the ropes and see how it goes.
Other than a little fishing with family when I was a kid, I'm a total novice.
So the main purpose of this thread is to ask you, the MDShooters member to provide me and other novice anglers like me some very basic advice.
I've read the DNR website, and found it to be very confusing, it assumed people already knew a lot of definitions and had a background in fishing. In all fairness, this FAQ page would have answered most of my questions right away, had I read it first. Instead, I fumbled through the DNR fishing site and links, and I found the term 'angler' used at points where they simply meant people who fish. But mostly were only referring to those 16 years old or younger, or to people who fish in salt water; which they also refer to as tidal fishing. This apparently is important because if you are 16 or younger, no license is required; and there are two different licenses for tidal (saltwater) fishing, and non-tidal (freshwater) fishing; which they don't simply call tidal fishing, they call it coastal fishing. Once you understand these basic definitions, its much easier to read the DNR website. I might still have some of this wrong, hence my asking the question.
There are quite a few fishing regulations to be concerned with.
Then there is the issue of contaminates. Maryland publishes guidelines on fish contaminates, and recommendations on how much to eat, as well as how to filet the fish to minimize contaminates. Here's an excellent video, and how I will be filleting Maryland fish:
I tried to use the DNR's COMPASS engine to purchase licenses, but it never sent me an email to confirm (yes I checked my junk email), so I called (at least they have people to answer questions, and issue licenses over the phone (have a credit card handy). I ended up buying both types of licenses (non-tidal and costal) and the 'extra' crabbing and trout additions. Total cost was around $50, but it's good for 365 days. Very nice people there selling licenses and answering questions.
I live in AACo, my buddy said the first place he was going to take us is behind a mil/gov fence called Possum Point? He also mentioned Annapolis, and another place I can't recall at the moment. I think he fishes all over, and most often takes his teen daughter, who will be joining my better half and I on these few first trips out. So I guess my first questions are:
- what kind of rod/reel, bait is recommended?
- where are some of the better places to go?
- can you fish year around?
- where do we gut the fish, and put the guts/scraps?
- just bring a cooler to keep the fish alive till ready to go?
- what other gear will I need?
- any cool gadgets/tools I can now justify buying?
- do we check in (like hunting in some places), or have limits, carry license displayed?
- are there specific 'too small' sizes to catch and release only fish? I've read some anglers use small fish as bait to catch bigger fish, any rules on this?
I have too many novice questions, I don't even know where to start.
- can you fish at night?
- can we just go to any public (park) pond/lake, river, stream and fish now?
- any private property with permission from the land owner? Hunting required written permission, fishing easier?
- any hazards to be watchful for?