Posted on March 26th, 2018
In an era full of fishing regulations that constantly see size limit increases, closed seasons and reductions in creel limit, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced today that Maryland’s minimum size for summer flounder will be 16 1/2″ for the 2018 season. This is a 1/2″ reduction from last year’s size limit of 17″. This new size limit will be effective April 1, 2018…..no April Fools! The creel limit will remain four fish per person and the season will be open from April 1 through December 31. All other rules will remain the same.
Thanks to the fact that we did not reach our recreational quota in MD for the 2017 season we can take advantage of “liberalization” and lower our minimum size limit to 16 1/2″ for the 2018 season. I’ve been told by my DNR buddies that this should have little to no effect on the 2018 recreational harvest and I hope that ends up being the case….I would hate for this 1/2″ to jump up and bite us in the cooler for the 2019 season. I for one am looking forward to having a little bit better chance of putting some more fish in the box!
