A friend of mine has been out fishing twice this week. On both trips he caught several Rock, a couple of Blues, two or three Mackerel and a Lizardfish. In fact, he caught two Lizardfish on each of the trips. They were caught while trolling small spoons for the above mentioned fish. They were all near clumps of floating grass in the mouth of the Little Choptank. Two of them were in the 8" range and the other two were about 12".
I have never even heard of them let alone seen one and neither has my friend. After a quick Google, we were able to identify the strange fish as a Lizardfish.
Has anyone else ever seen or caught one in the bay? Here's a few pictures.
I have never caught one but have seen several posts on Facebook of these catches. It seems the entire fishery is moving North. The low salinity in the Spring has brought many new species to the Bay also....... Gary
I have caught a couple of them years ago trolling the Chesapeake Beach area with spoons. I was surprised at catching with a lure just about as big as they were...Joe.
Years ago we would drift minnows off Mattapeake for Flounder. Often got 1-2 Lizard fish each trip. They have huge mouth compared to body - 6 incher would eat a 3 inch minnow.
caught one two years ago behind oregon inlet fishing center dragging a gulp swimming mullet behind my kayak. Caught one last year from a boat casting gotcha plugs near the surf off cape look out NC. Folks on this board helped me I.D. the first one. The only two I've ever seen.
New state record category was created for Pompano in MD this year.
There is abundant science demonstrating that many species are expanding their ranges northward with changing environmental conditions.
Lots of southern and pelagic species in the Bay this year, its the new normal--triple tail in a crabpot in South River, lots of Spanish, some cobia, cutlass fish, lizardfish, etc. Even tarpon and bonefish may become more regular visitors. Bring it on!
Good stuff! I'd like to check that box sometime. reminds me of the needlefish that we catch in the bay during the summer. What's kind of cool is, I caught a couple needlefish light tackle jigging a 5" opening night BKD with a 1/2 oz red head on Tobacco Caye in belize this past spring. Needlefish are nasty critters, and I would imagine that the lizardfish are as well.
I caught two of them this morning near the mouth of Tampa Bay. The first one was about 15" (my personal best needlefish). The second one was a more typical 8" fish. But as I wound the fish in, a bluefish came up and bite the rear half off of the needlefish. For a few seconds, the poor needlefish was hanging in the air with blood dripping from its half body.
They make good bait for snook in FL. This picture probably won't show up, but i will try. It is a picture of me with a snook and the lizard fish. We called them lizard fish.
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