Tarpon Sightings on the Rise in Maryland – On The Water

Above: A school of tarpon spotted in Maryland waters by Captain Tom Weaver. Photo courtesy of Tom Weaver/Maryland DNR. 

After hearing about a tarpon in Rhode Island earlier this summer, news of a strong showing of the silver king in Maryland isn’t as surprising as it would have otherwise been.

Still, tarpon are a rare sight in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The fish in the post below were spotted by an angler scouting for red drum who saw the tarpon’s characteristic roll on the surface.

Upon his approach, Captain Tom Weaver spotted several large shapes that he estimated at 80- to 100-pound tarpon. He followed the pack of fish, making several casts and even getting a strike, but the gear, he told the Maryland DNR, was undergunned for tarpon that size.

Erik Zlokovitz, Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ recreational fisheries outreach coordinator, said the department is getting more reports of tarpon, usually associated with warmer southern waters, in Maryland this summer.

“We have seen tarpon in Maryland’s section of the bay historically, but the number of fish spotted recently is unusual,” Zlokovitz said. “This year is the first time we’ve gotten multiple reports of schools of tarpon, and not just a stray fish.”

Warming waters in the bay have led to an increase in species like cutlassfish, cobia, and Florida pompano. Tarpon are somewhat regular visitors to Virginia waters and the southern part of the bay, with anglers successfully targeting them around the Eastern Shore, but they are much rarer in Maryland.

Read more about this summer’s tarpon sightings in Maryland here.