Shawn Kimbro is an avid angler and environmentalist from Kent Island, Maryland, who has written three books about fishing in the Chesapeake region.
Shawn also maintains the Chesapeake Light Tackle website and blog. He uses CBIBS data to help prepare for a day on the water—focusing on information from the Gooses Reef CBIBS buoy in the winter when he fishes out of Taylor’s Island and the Annapolis CBIBS buoy in the summer for conditions around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
“CBIBS data makes it possible for me to fish smarter and make up-to-the-minute decisions about where and how I’m going to fish,” he said. “I check CBIBS data before every fishing trip, first to get a real-time assessment of conditions like water temperature and salinity. Then, I use the data graphing tool to look at how things are trending.”
“When I’m on the water or getting ready to launch my boat, I look first at wind speed and direction and compare that to the forecast predictions. It isn’t unusual for real-time conditions to be significantly different than what is predicted, and the trend data gives me a good idea of what I can expect,” Shawn noted. “I also like to compare current speed and directions to tide flow predictions because they can vary so much due to weather and other factors.”
While Shawn checks conditions via his phone while he’s on the water, he prefers using the graphing tools best on the website and generally uses his laptop computer to dive into that data.
Just as so many fishing tips are shared between friends, Shawn learned about CBIBS from his friend Tom Parham, who heads up the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment Program.
As we were fishing one day I noticed him checking real-time data. It really opened my eyes to how much science can make me a better Chesapeake Bay angler,” Shawn emphasized.
Whether you’re an expert angler like Shawn, or just starting to discover the joy of fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, we hope CBIBS data helps you stay safe on the water and enjoy your day to the fullest.