Angler feels ‘thump’ — then reels in fish he’s never seen before. It’s a state record
A Maryland angler pulled in the wrong catch while fishing — but it earned him a state record, wildlife officials said.
Thomas Over Jr. decided to set up along the lower Susquehanna River on Jan. 6 to go jigging for yellow perch, according to a Jan. 16 Maryland Department of Natural Resources news release. The Darlington resident waited patiently to hook something, and when he finally felt a “thump,” he got to work, he told the department.
He started pulling in the catch, thinking he snagged a “doubleheader of jumbo yellow perch” with his tandem perch rig, which has more than one fly, Over told officials.
Over yanked up with his light spinning rod and didn’t see a yellow perch hooked. Instead, it was a fish he didn’t recognize, he said in the news release.
Little did he know that his mysterious catch would make him a state record holder.
Grasping for answers on what the fish could be, Over told officials that he sent a picture to some of his friends and asked for help. Then, one of his buddies got back to him with his guess, he said in the release.
“Rock bass, and a pretty big one from the looks of it,” his friend told him.
The bass weighed in at 1 pound and was 10.5 inches long, officials said.
Over’s catch was confirmed as a rock bass by a Maryland Department of Natural Resources official and certified as a state record at Anglers Sport Center in Annapolis. It tied with the previous rock bass record, which was set by Timothy A. Adams on the Susquehanna River in 1997, the department said.
Rock bass are spiny fish that are part of the sunfish family, the department said. They can appear striped with green, gold or brassy coloring.
The species lives in freshwater environments with a preference for “clear, rocky habitats,” according to the Maryland Biodiversity Project. They are a predatory fish that eats bugs, small fish and crustaceans.
Rock bass are not be confused with “rockfish,” also known as striped bass, the department said.
The Susquehanna River is one of the longest rivers along the East Coast, ranging from upstate New York to the Chesapeake Bay.
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