Creatures Of The Chesapeake

By John Singleton
Over 100 million years ago, the dinosaur Astrodon roamed the swamps of Maryland. Fossil remains have been discovered in Arundel Clay, a sedimentary, rock formation only a few short miles from Annapolis. While most dinosaur bones are found in western states, Maryland appears to have been a region of notable dinosaur activity.
In 1982 Robert and Karen Few videotaped a 40-foot, snake-like creature near Kent Island. The sighting was the first recorded account of the legendary Maryland sea monster known as “Chessie.” Could there be a link between the disarticulated Astrodon remains buried in Maryland river beds and the present day sightings of mysterious sea monsters along the Chesapeake Bay? The first sighting of CHessie took place in 1943 by Francis Klarrman and Edward J. Ward of Baltimore. The last sighting of the serpent-like beast was in 1997, just off shore at Fort Smallwood State Park, in Pasadena.
“I’ve seen skates, dolphins and manatees in the bay,” said Captain Kevin Kuhne of Koondog Charters. “I have seen stingrays and porpoises in rivers, but I’ve never seen anything bigger.”
Captain Kuhne, a graduate of Severn School, is a Coast Guard Licensed Captain and one of the youngest commercial watermen in the Chesapeake Bay area. His Koondog Charters offers exploration and fishing excursions on a 42-foot Evans Baybuilt watercraft. His closest encounters generally come with striped bass during fishing season, which begins on April 15.
But reports of strange happenings on the bay and its tributaries persist to the present day. Last summer, two bull sharks, each more than eight feet long, were caught in the nearby Potomac River. In late August, Willy Dean of Scotland, MD, snared a 300-pounder in his fishing net near Point Lookout. A few days later, Thomas Crowder of St. Mary’s County confronted a 500-pound bull shark off Tall Timbers north of Cornfield Harbor.
With the ability to tolerate fresh water, the bull shark can unexpectedly travel up rivers and into contact with unsuspecting humans. Because of its irregular and aggressive behavior, many scientists identify the bull shark as the marine predator most responsible for attacks on humans.
Another strange Bay occurrence took place last April when a humpback whale was spotted just off Solomon’s Island. On April 30, the charter boat Margie D was trolling in 25 feet of water when a passenger noticed the splashing of a tail fin close to shore.
"It was a beautiful day. Things were kind of slow," said Margie Dove of Lusby, MD, skipper of the Margie D. "All of a sudden one of the guys saw a huge tail slapping the water… It was a whale intermittently diving and surfacing… spraying water from its blowhole. It had its head in the crab pots.”
A fully grown humpback whale weighs up to 80,000 pounds and measures up to 50 feet in length. Normally found in much deeper waters, this humpback was reported a quarter-mile east of the shipping channel near Hooper’s Island in 20 feet of water. Witnesses to the harrowing encounter noticed the humpback was propelling its mouth close to the sandy bottom of the bay. Some scientists believe modern day sea monsters are drawn to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries for the same reasons ancient dinosaurs lived here - the diverse and abundant food supply.
“The Bay is alive,” summarized Kuhne, who can be found at www.koondogcharters.com. “Nature is a powerful force. It’s to be respected. There are mysteries beneath its waters that will never be solved or understood.”