The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently confirmed two new white perch state fishing records. James Stiars of Bel Air broke his own nontidal record in Loch Raven Reservoir in Baltimore County, and ten-year-old Ryan Timmons of Berlin broke the Atlantic record in Ayers Creek in Worcester County.
Timmons’ fish was weighed as a potential record, and the certified scale at the Martin Fish Market in Ocean City proved the weight to be 1.65 pounds. Maryland fisheries biologist Steve Doctor subsequently inspected and confirmed the species.
The 14.25 inch perch exceeded the previous Atlantic record of 1.2 pounds set in 2015 by Finn McCabe, who also caught his fish in Ayers Creek.
On Aug. 2, James Stiars broke his own nontidal white perch record with a 1.74-pound, 14.25 inch fish. His previous record was a 1.70-pound fish caught in 2014.
“We were trolling Shad Rap crank baits and catching them pretty well when this one came over the rail, and I thought it looked bigger than the one from a couple of years ago,” explained Stiars.
Maryland DNR maintains state records for sport fish in four divisions – Atlantic, Chesapeake, Nontidal and Invasive.
source: Maryland Department of Natural Resources