Chesapeake Bay

The rule for this water, with the receipt.

Special regulations for Chesapeake Bay, as the state words them

MD County · Lake · MD

Has its own special rules

How to read this page:Official text quoted regulationParsed fields from the ruleDerived calculated from rulesContext conditions, not a ruleAdvice our suggestion

The rules for this water, verbatimOfficial text

Straight from MD's official regulations. Rules in force today lead; out-of-season rows are dimmed. Nothing is paraphrased. Not legal advice: verify the posted rules at the water.

The reach you are on

Chesapeake Bay downstream from a line between Abbey Point and Worton Point to the Virginia line including Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds

All fishMAR. 1–APR. 30, 2026 (dates as written)
Daily limit No harvest.Gear Stinger (trailing) hooks are prohibited. Barbless hooks are required when trolling. No more than 6 lines may be employed while trolling.Bait Eels may not be used as bait.
Catch and release only. Circle hook rules remain the same. Spawning rivers and the Upper Bay spawning area are off limits. See Regulations Maps

Other reaches in this official entry

Chesapeake Bay from the Brewerton Channel to the Virginia line, excluding all bays, sounds, tributaries, creeks and rivers, except Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds and all Potomac River tributaries downstream of the Nice Memorial Bridge

All fishMAY 1–MAY 15, 2026 (dates as written)
Daily limit 1 fish per person per day. cannot exceed 24".Size at least 19"Gear Stinger (trailing) hooks are prohibited. Barbless hooks are required when trolling. No more than 6 lines may be employed while trolling.Bait Eels may not be used as bait.
Circle hook rules remain the same. Spawning rivers and the Upper Bay spawning area are off limits. See Regulations Maps

Chesapeake Bay downstream from a line drawn from the south corner of Hart-Miller Island Dike to the end of MD Route 21 at Tolchester and south to the MD/VA line, excluding all bays, sounds, tributaries, creeks and rivers. EXCEPT: Tangier Sound and Pocomoke Sound; Chester River and its tributaries downstream of a line drawn from Hail Point to Long Point to Ferry Point; Patuxent River and its tributaries downstream of a line drawn from Point Patience to the west point of land at the entrance of Little Kingston Creek; Choptank River and its tributaries downstream of a line drawn from Holland Point to a point of land at the west entrance of Chapel Creek; and all Potomac River tributaries downstream of the Nice Memorial Bridge (U.S. 301) are open

All fishMAY 16–MAY 31, 2026 (dates as written)
Daily limit 1 fish per person per day. cannot exceed 24".Size at least 19"
Circle hook rules remain the same. Spawning rivers and the Upper Bay spawning area are off limits. See Regulation Maps

Statewide base layerParsed

These defaults apply where the rules above do not modify them.

Season: Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
Gear: These are the only types of gear you may use in nontidal watersStatewide
Bait: Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
Poles: May use up to 3 active lines at a timeStatewide

Where the verbatim rules above name a species, season, or limit, they replace the rows below. Each row is tagged with the layer it comes from.

Species	Daily limit	Size
brook trout	0 Daily/0 Possession	-	Statewide
all other species of trout	combined 5 Daily/10 Possession	-	Statewide

How this answer was assembled

StatewideStatewide lake rules are the base layer: default season, gear, bait, and limits.
This waterSpecial rules written for this exact water replace the statewide defaults where they speak.
Emergency orderEmergency orders in effect today override everything else. They sync quietly when the phone has coverage and never lock you out of the app.

Where this rule applies

This water is not yet drawn on the map. Its rules are captured and receipted; the geometry ledger records exactly why it is not drawn (an ambiguous name match or a gap in the source data), and it will never ship as a guess. Each rule above describes in the state's own words where it applies, and those written descriptions are the authoritative boundaries.

What are you fishing for here?Advice

Pick from the species named in Chesapeake Bay's rules. Setups are checked against the gear rules in force today, and your picks are remembered on this device only. These are rule-aware suggestions, not a claim about what is biting; advice, not law, and the rules above govern.

Receipts

Statewide rules

Statewide

MD official fishing regulations

Checked against this official source on July 12, 2026.

Special rules - Chesapeake Bay

This water

MD official fishing regulations

Checked against this official source on July 12, 2026.

Local services near Chesapeake Bay

Tackle shops, guides, and boat launches that serve this water will appear here - a separate lane below the rules, so a local business can reach you without ever getting between you and the regulation.

Run a shop or guide service on Chesapeake Bay? Get listed.