Maryland's New Striped Bass Season Structure

Where things stand right now

Maryland's Chesapeake Bay striped bass fishery is in its annual August closure — all targeting of striped bass in the Bay and its tidal tributaries has been off-limits since August 1 and stays that way through August 31. That's not new by itself; Maryland has closed some stretch of summer to striped bass for years. What's new is the season structure around it, adopted for the first time this year.

The new 2026 season structure

Maryland's Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review approved DNR's redesigned striped bass season on March 11, 2026, publishing in the Maryland Register on March 20 and taking effect ten days later. The new structure, per Maryland DNR:

January 1 – April 30: Catch and release May 1 – July 31: Harvest August 1 – 31: Closed September 1 – December 5: Harvest December 6 – 31: Catch and release The headline change is the return of April catch-and-release fishing for the first time since 2019, paired with a full-month closure that shifted from July to all of August. In the two years prior, Maryland's closures ran April 1–May 15 and July 16–31, plus additional tributary-specific closures. DNR frames the new structure as simplification — one clean August closure instead of two split windows — that opens more fishing time in spring without adding mortality.

Why the closure moved to August

The rationale is water temperature, not fish population size. DNR's reasoning: hot late-summer water and air temperatures make striped bass, especially the Bay's younger resident fish, more likely to die after being caught and released even when handled properly — so-called recreational dead discards. Per the most recent stock assessment data (published 2022), dead discards accounted for 21% of total fishing-related striped bass mortality in the Bay, alongside 44% recreational harvest, 31% commercial harvest, and 4% commercial dead discards.

This change was enabled by Addendum III to Amendment 7 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass, which the ASMFC Striped Bass Board approved in 2025 and which allowed Maryland to shift its Chesapeake Bay recreational season baseline.

Worth flagging for context: Maryland's own juvenile striped bass survey has documented seven consecutive years of poor recruitment (weak young-of-year classes) in Maryland waters as of the 2025 survey. DNR fisheries scientists designed this season shift to avoid adding mortality on top of that — not to fix the recruitment problem, which they attribute more to environmental conditions than harvest pressure.

What reopens September 1

The Bay harvest season resumes September 1 and runs through December 5. When harvest is open, the limit is one striped bass per person per day, 19–24 inches. That's a week from this post — worth planning around if you fish the Bay.

For context, Maryland's Atlantic coastal recreational striped bass fishery is a separate fishery, open year-round, with a 28–31 inch slot and a coastwide daily bag limit of one fish.

Spawning tributaries remain closed to striped bass targeting from March 1 through May 31 regardless of the main-stem schedule — check DNR's regulation maps for the specific closure boundaries before you fish a spawning river.

While you wait out the closure

DNR is steering anglers toward invasive species during the August closure: blue catfish and northern snakehead (Chesapeake Channa) have no bag or size limits in Maryland, and harvesting them is considered a net positive for the Bay's ecosystem.

Sources:

Maryland DNR — Maryland Set to Adopt Changes to Chesapeake Bay Recreational Striped Bass Season (March 12, 2026) Maryland DNR — Maryland's Summer Closure of Chesapeake Bay Striped Bass Fishing Begins August 1 (July 27, 2026) Maryland DNR — Striped Bass Regulation Maps ASMFC — Atlantic Striped Bass Stock Assessment Update Overview (2024, referencing 2022 assessment data)