Get out your fishing rod, head to the bay and as of this morning, you?ve got a chance to win $25,000 instantly by catching a rockfish.
Not just any oldrockfish, but one with a neon green fin tag that says “Diamond Jim.” Other striped bass, as the Chesapeake Bay fish is also called, have green tags that make the lucky fisherman eligible for a drawing to win $1 million in cash, along with two trucks or two boats.
The goal is to increase tourism, said Dennis Castleman, state tourism director. “A lot of people will spend a lot of money” here and “obviously the private sector realizes the value of this.” All the prizes and prize money have been donated marine centers and fish and tackle vendors, along with National Boh beer.
From now until September, five tagged rockfish a week will be placed in the bay. “I released Diamond Jim. ? I know where he was released,” said former Oriole great Boog Powell at an Annapolis kick-off event Friday, who professed his love for the rod and reel. “I?ve been seen in the shower stalls at Baltimore stadium filleting rockfish.”
“Everyone loves to fish,” declared Gov. Robert Ehrlich. He said the tournament was part of state efforts to get “more aggressive” about protecting “the most famous estuary in the world.”
More than 15 biologists with the Department of Natural Resources have “tagged well over a thousand fish” to be placed in the bay and freshwater lakes and streams as well, said Marty Gary, a recreational fisheries specialist. Besides the striped bass, nine other species have been tagged: Atlantic croakers, largemouth and smallmouth bas, white perch, crappie, sunfish, rainbow and brown trout, and channel catfish.
“You can catch a fish in every single county in this state,” Gary said. This includes the reservoirs at Loch Raven and Liberty. Last year?s tournament had been restricted to the bay.
“If you catch a rockfish, don?t remove the tag,” Gary said. Under insurance rules guaranteeing the $1 million prize drawing, a state biologist must be called to take off the tag. Tag numbers on other fish can be phoned in.
Full details of the tournament can be found at www.dnr.maryland.gov.
