I've just finished my undergrad at the University of Illinois and I'm looking at grad school at Maryland, any good fishing around there? I've never traveled past Ohio for fishing, tell me some more. 

Definitely some good fishing in the area, there is a post in this section called "Maryland Who's Who" with a lot of good information. I assume you will be in the College Park area, is this correct or a different school in Maryland?

If you will be living in the central MD area...

 

The Potomac and Upper Chesapeake draw most of the attention and are great fisheries...The Potomac has been on a downswing the past couple years but many of us believe it is showing signs of turning around...Even still, it's a great fishery.  There are some great reservoirs in central MD, the only downside is that they are electric-only...One of these lakes kicks out 18-20lb+ limits for tournaments pretty frequently so many of us are willing to live without running our outboard for the day .  The upper Potomac is also a decent Smallmouth river and has numerous access points for wading, kayak/canoe, and aluminum boats (it's shallow/rocky).  

 

Within a 2-hour drive there are many other tidal rivers (both in VA and on the Eastern Shore), the Susquehanna River (which includes a great reservoir called Conowingo), Lake Anna, and a few smaller reservoirs.  

 

A little further out, but still close enough to be on our tournament schedule are some really great fisheries.  Deep Creek Lake and Youghiogheny Lake in western MD, Lake Gaston and Kerr Lake at the VA/NC border, Smith Mountain Lake in central VA, along with a few others that get a little less traffic.   

 

All in all, its a good area for bass fishing...While not the best, I think it's often underrated.