ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND — Targeting striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries reopens Tuesday, Sept. 1. The Department of Natural Resources’ rule is one fish per person per day, 19 to 24 inches, through Dec. 5.

The August targeting closure, in force Aug. 1 through Aug. 31, is still on as of this Saturday. DNR’s July 27 notice says all targeting is off-limits in the Bay and tidal tributaries during that month, not harvest only. The department shifted the 2026 summer closure to August to protect younger, resident striped bass when hot water and air temperatures in mid-summer make fish more vulnerable to dying after being caught and released. The closure was first used in 2020.

DNR’s most recent cited stock-assessment split (published 2022) put recreational dead discards at 21 percent of fishing-related striped bass deaths in the Bay. Recreational harvest was 44 percent, commercial harvest 31 percent, commercial dead discards 4 percent. Circle hooks are required when targeting striped bass. DNR also points anglers to its Striped Bass Summer Fishing Advisory Forecast for “red flag” days.

The Aug. 26 Maryland Fishing Report, compiled by DNR fisheries biologist Keith Lockwood, says anglers in the middle Bay will look to the Bay Bridge piers, the channel edge from Buoy 83 south past Sharps Island Light, Thomas Point, Eastern Bay, and the lower Choptank. Live-lining spot is named as a common method. Spot, the report says, have been in shallower water in Whitehall Bay, Chesapeake Beach, Eastern Bay, the lower Choptank, and other tidal rivers. Maryland’s portion of the Bay and Maryland-side Potomac tributaries stay closed until Sept. 1. The main stem of the Potomac and Virginia-side tributaries opened to striped bass fishing Aug. 21.

DNR’s forecast summary in that same report (Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment Director Tom Parham) puts main-Bay surface and river-mouth water in the low 80s for the week of Aug. 26–Sept. 1, with a full moon Aug. 28 and above-average tidal currents.

The reopen is a slot-limit harvest, not an open cooler. One fish. Nineteen to 24 inches. Through Dec. 5.

Boat crabbers are already under the July 1 recreational male hard-crab limits. DNR’s public notice, effective 12:01 a.m. July 1, 2026, through June 2027, applies to vessels in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries, including Maryland tributaries of the Potomac. It does not change shore crabbing in those waters, or recreational crabbing in the Atlantic, coastal bays, or their tributaries.

Unlicensed boat, one unlicensed person: 2 dozen male hard crabs a day. Unlicensed boat, two or more unlicensed: 4 dozen. Any boat with one or more licensed individuals, and any licensed boat: 1 bushel if the crabs are in a bushel basket, or 6 dozen if they are in any other container. Authority: COMAR 08.02.03.14G. Secretary of Natural Resources Josh Kurtz. The notice says the numbers follow the Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey, run by DNR and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Lockwood’s Aug. 26 report calls recreational crabbing “excellent” in the middle and lower Bay and “good” in the upper Bay, with the largest crabs from 15 to 20 feet of water. That is a weekly fishing note, not a new limit.