State
Maryland
32 public access points across 10 water bodies.
Maryland's geography gives it an unusually complete fishing profile: Western Maryland's mountain lakes and tailwater trout streams in the Allegany highlands, the Chesapeake Bay's 200 miles of coast and tributaries, the tidal Potomac from DC to the Bay, and a narrow Atlantic coast at Assateague and Ocean City. Rockfish (striped bass) is the state fish and the headline species; regulations are among the strictest in the mid-Atlantic.
Water bodies
- Chesapeake BayThe defining estuary of the mid-Atlantic — striper country.
- Upper ChesapeakeSusquehanna inflow, Bay Bridge, shallow flats.
- Mid ChesapeakeKent Island, Eastern Shore, Choptank country.
- Lower Maryland ChesapeakePatuxent confluence, Solomons, Point Lookout.
- Upper PotomacAbove Great Falls — smallmouth water.
- Patuxent RiverJug Bay through Solomons.
- Deep Creek LakeWestern Maryland's premier freshwater.
- Maryland AtlanticAssateague, Ocean City inlet.
- Maryland ReservoirsBaltimore/DC watershed lakes — bass and crappie.
- Maryland Trout StreamsGunpowder, Savage, Patapsco — cold water.
All Maryland fishing locations
- Sandy Point State Park — Anne Arundel
- Deep Creek Lake — Garrett
- Savage River Reservoir — Garrett
- Jennings Randolph Lake — Garrett
- Youghiogheny River — Friendsville — Garrett
- Rocky Gap State Park — Lake Habeeb — Allegany
- North Branch Potomac River — Luke — Allegany
- Prettyboy Reservoir — Baltimore
- Loch Raven Reservoir — Baltimore
- Liberty Reservoir — Carroll
- Triadelphia Reservoir — Howard
- Gunpowder Falls — Big Falls — Baltimore
- Patapsco Valley State Park — Daniels Area — Baltimore
- Monocacy River — Buckeystown — Frederick
- Seneca Creek State Park — Clopper Lake — Montgomery
- Conowingo Dam Tailrace — Harford
- Susquehanna Flats — Cecil
- Havre de Grace Fishing Pier — Harford
- Rocky Point Park — Essex — Baltimore
- North Point State Park — Baltimore
- Kent Narrows — Public Fishing Pier — Queen Anne's
- Romancoke Pier — Queen Anne's
- Matapeake Pier — Queen Anne's
- Choptank River — Cambridge — Dorchester
- Blackwater NWR — Fishing Area — Dorchester
- Jug Bay — Patuxent River — Anne Arundel
- Solomon's Island Fishing Pier — Calvert
- Point Lookout State Park — St. Mary's
- Flag Ponds Nature Park — Calvert
- Chesapeake Beach — Rod N' Reel Pier — Calvert
- Assateague Island — MD Surf — Worcester
- Ocean City Inlet — North Jetty — Worcester
Regulations & licensing
Maryland tidal waters (the Bay, tidal Potomac below DC, tidal tributaries, and Atlantic coast) are managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Non-tidal waters (inland lakes, reservoirs, non-tidal rivers including the upper Potomac) have separate freshwater regulations; the trout program is further layered on top of those.