By Maryland law, fishermen can't keep hickory or American shad, but they can catch and release them.
Travis Habecker, 29, a cabinetmaker, cast his line near the Conowingo Dam's roaring, frothing outfalls Friday morning. Not far away, cormorants bobbed in the powerful brownish current.
Standing on a pile of boulders, Habecker got a bite, then reeled in a footlong shad.
The morning sun flashed off its silvery flanks as he wrestled with the fish, removed the hook and tossed it back into the swirling current.
He said he caught and released about 50 American shad (which local fishermen call "white shad") during the migration this spring, compared with about 100 last year.
He thinks it's true that striped bass - "stripers" - are devouring shad because he's seen it happen.
"A lot of times, you're catching a shad and trying to reel it in - and a striper will just come up and eat it before you can even land it," Habecker said. "The bass are so large, they take the shad with them and go. The line goes 'buzz!' and runs out and then snaps. And they're gone."
tom.pelton@baltsun.com
