If there's one thing everyone knows about Maryland, it's our love affair with crabs. The Maryland Blue Crab is a staple of the Chesapeake Bay's dining heritage, offering visitors and locals alike a classic Maryland food experience. From Crisfield, MD ( known as the Crab Capital of the world) to nearly every restaurant in the state, cracking into a crab is what Maryland is all about. If you're looking to catch some of your own[...]

As you can imagine, when a fish has a name like “northern snakehead,” there are going to be things about them that are good, bad, and ugly… but luckily, they’re also tasty. In Maryland, the love-hate relationship is so strong, there’s even a highly anticipated tournament series for them. About the Northern Snakehead First, the bad and ugly – what is a snakehead? As an invasive species in the Maryland area, the northern snakehead first[...]

Oh, how I love to turkey hunt! Now I love to guide as well. This is my first “paid” guided turkey hunt. I’d been asked in the past and was always too busy with my own hunting or scheduling other shooting and hunting events for my business. After thinking about it, I decided I’d try it; after all, nothing pleases most hunters – myself included – more than turning others on to hunting and enjoying[...]

Hunting on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is without question one of my favorite outdoor activities, but there’s one hunt I recall a few years ago that was far more memorable than most. One of the hunters in our party was a Marine who had been severely injured while serving in Iraq. I first met Lt. Andrew Kinard while visiting Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. I had no idea how that visit would change[...]

As a child growing up near Middle River on the upper Chesapeake Bay, my father would take us down to the marina docks and we would use our sturdy cane poles to catch a variety of panfish. Nothing was big, and seldom did we bring home enough for a legitimate meal. But it was the beginning of a life-long journey and love for fish and fishing. And for a father-and-child fishing expedition in Maryland waters[...]

There are few things that bring me as much joy as a squealing child as he or she hoists a gyrating sunfish up on the bank. The fish is flopping, and the child is giggling as they try to immediately pounce on this incredibly interesting form of life we know as a “fish.” By my own claim, I caught my first fish, a humble bluegill, at the age of five…and I haven’t been the same[...]

They’ll help you discover places like Crab Alley, the famous Wye River as well as the best spots to crab on the Chester and the Choptank Rivers.* Try your hand at dipping crabs as they come up on a line baited with chicken necks or razor clams. The action happens fast, so you have to be quick! It’s no wonder a lot of great lacrosse players come from Maryland. Young kids grow up learning how[...]

Autumn affords Marylanders the opportunity to appreciate the ever-changing weather and approaching harvest throughout the state. While farmers are harvesting crops in the fields, sportsmen and sportswomen on the Chesapeake Bay are capitalizing on one of Maryland’s most bountiful seasons. Fall fishing on the Chesapeake Bay provides great opportunity for anglers before the winter months. With warm and favorable conditions, early to mid-September will yield a wide variety of species in the mid-Chesapeake Bay Region[...]

I began my career with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a forest ranger in 1987; a year later I accepted a position with the Wildlife Division. Never a big advocate of hunting, I had learned about wildlife population management in college and understood the sports’ recreational and management values. Still, I had much to learn. Working in a division primarily funded through federal dollars and hunting license sales, I wanted to see what[...]