Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Record Spanish Mackerel Caught In Lower Bay

CRISFIELD, MD — Dean Mitchell of Dagsboro, DE was fishing aboard the charter boat Karen Ray II out of Crisfield, Maryland with a group of friends chumming for striped bass at the Middle Grounds in the lower Chesapeake Bay on October 6 when he got the surprise of his life. All fishermen know that when you cast your line out you just never know what you might catch. Dean had no idea he was about to catch the fish of a life time.

Dean lowered a live spot towards the bottom of the bay in hopes of catching a striped bass. The line started to smoke off the light tackle spinning reel before the live bait ever got to the bottom and after a long fight an extremely large Spanish mackerel was netted by captain and crew. Once taken to L.E. Hitch &Sons Citation Center, the fish weighed in at an astonishing 12.4 lbs and measured 37" long.

Dean's Spanish mackerel upsets another large Spanish mackerel state record caught by Kevin Bautisa in the same location only two weeks earlier that weighed 11.47 lbs and broke a 10 lb state record that has stood since 2002. This new Chesapeake Bay state record for Spanish mackerel is only slightly smaller than the long standing world record of 13 lbs caught in North Carolina.

“Fishermen have enjoyed outstanding fishing this year for a variety of fish this summer in the Chesapeake and this record catch is certainly a great exclamation point to a memorable season,” said Howard King, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service Director. “All fishermen know fish of like size school together and it is very possible there is even a larger Spanish mackerel waiting out there right now for some lucky angler,” encouraged King.