Today is the big day as Maryland's spring trophy striped bass season opens in the main stem of the Chesapeake. The outlook couldn't be much better for the big day what with some big female fish exiting the spawning grounds notably the Potomac, Patuxent, Nanticoke and Choptank Rivers following a successful spawn - and others still en route to spawn.

How long the peak of the run lasts depends on the weather, the cooler the waters the longer the big fish traffic. And some real big stripers have turned up in the past week or two, among them one that appears to have challenged the 14-year-old Maryland record of Devin Nolan whose existing...