The migratory jumbo wild rockfish have been leaving the Chesapeake Bay at a torrid pace after spawning, headed for their summertime hangouts off the coast of Cape Cod. Our local fishermen in West Ocean City have been intercepting these fish as they head up the coast. Two factors are coming into play this week that will affect this market.
First, most of the schools of fish have passed by Ocean City and are now well north of there. Within the next week or so, all the migratory rock will have left the bay, and the fish our local fishermen have been catching for the last month will no longer be swimming in the surf off Assateague. The second factor is that most fishermen already used their tags.
So, the combination of these two will make the last couple weeks of May difficult for sourcing wild rockfish.
5/15/23
