FishRook
Another state record dinosaur fish has been pulled from Marshyhope Creek on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, this one by Samson Matthews, 22, of Hurlock, Maryland. The 18.30-pound longnose gar has been certified as the new state record for that species in the Chesapeake Division, besting the 17.90 pounder set by David Confair of Secretary, MD in January of 2019. Confair was also fishing on Marshyhope Creek.
“I didn’t even know what it was at first,” Matthews told Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
On March 2, he was fishing with a friend above El Dorado Bridge, using cut gizzard (mud) shad for bait. After a 20-minute tussle, they hauled the fish on board, knowing it was a potential record fish. The gar was weighed at Kool Ice and Seafood in Cambridge, and after state biologists certified the species, Matthews released it back into the Marshyhope, just as Confair did last year with his prized fish.
Gars inhabit fresh and brackish tributaries throughout the Chesapeake watershed,…
