392 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



On the landward side, many bass come within 

 easy casting range of the shore ; we have had a fair 

 sized one strike our plug not 4 feet from the rock 

 from which we were casting on the Cohasset 

 shore. Many (especially the smaller sizes, but 

 large ones also) rim up into estuaries and into 

 river mouths. In some rivers, good numbers 

 (large as well as small) are caught so far upstream 

 as to make it likely that they remain there the 

 year round. This is notably the case in the 

 Alabama River system where (we hear) 250 to 300 

 bass ranging from 5 to 40 pounds were caught near 

 Tallasseem some 30 miles above Montgomery, 

 which is at least 300 miles from salt water, follow- 

 ing the river. 36 They are also known to spawn 

 some 250 miles up the Sacramento River in Cali- 

 fornia. It would be interesting to know what 

 proportion of the bass that spawn at Weldon, 

 N. C, 100 miles or so up the Roanoke, and that 

 run 60 to 90 miles up the St. John, in New Bruns- 

 wick, 35 ever see salt water. Bass also run up the 

 Hudson for about 160 miles to Albany. 



The great majority of the total population of 

 bass frequent the coast line, except at breeding 

 season. Among these, the smaller sizes, up to 15 

 pounds or so, are found indifferently within en- 

 closed bays, in small marsh estuaries, in the 

 mouths of rivers and off the open coast. But we do 

 not often hear of fish heavier than 20 to 25 

 pounds caught in situations of these sorts. And 

 the great majority of the large bass, of 30 pounds 

 or more, hold to the open coast, except at spawning 

 time (p. 394), and perhaps in winter (p. 400). But 

 this is not an invariable rule ; we are familiar with 

 one narrow inlet where tides run strong, and where 

 some lucky angler catches a very large bass now 

 and then (p. 396). 



Bass off the open coast are most likely to be 

 found along sandy beaches, in shallow bays, along 

 rocky stretches, over and among submerged or 

 partially submerged rocks and boulders, and at the 

 mouths of estuaries, the precise situations that 

 they occupy being governed by the availability of 

 food. Off the outer beaches they may be any- 

 where right to the breakers. When they are 

 close in they frequent the troughs that are 



3 s Information from Henry Lyman, from an angling conospondent in 

 Alabama. They have long been known up the Alabama as far as Mont- 

 gomery (Pearson, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 49, 1938, p. 820). 



»' According to Adams (Field and Forest Rambles, 1873, Pt. 3, Fishes, pp. 

 248-249), who has given an interesting and readable account of the bass in the 

 river. 



hollowed out by the surf behind off-lying bars, also 

 the gullies through which the water rushes in and 

 out across the bars as the rollers break, for it is in 

 such situations that bait fish are easiest caught, 

 and that crabs, worms, and clams are most likely 

 to be tossed about in the wash of the breakers. 

 When the tide is high, bass often lie on a bar, or 

 even in the white water along the beach if there is 

 a good surf running. When the tide falls they 

 drop down into the troughs or move farther out, 

 according to the precise topography. In either 

 case, every surf fisherman knows that his chances 

 are much better when the sea is breaking at least 

 moderately heavy so that he can cast into white 

 water, than when it is smooth. 



They also lie under rafts of floating rockweed 

 at times, probably to prey on the small animals 

 they find among the weeds. 



The best spots along rocky shores are in the 

 surf generally, and in the wash of breaking waves 

 behind offlying boulders and among them, or 

 where a tidal current flows most swiftly past some 

 jutting point. In the mouths of estuaries they 

 are apt to hold to the side where the current is the 

 strongest, and in the breakers out along the bar on 

 that side. In shallow bays, they often pursue small 

 fry among the submerged sedge grass when the 

 tide is high, dropping back into the deeper chan- 

 nels on the. ebb. And they frequent mussel beds, 

 both in enclosed waters and on shoal grounds out- 

 side, probably because these are likely to harbor 

 an abundance of sea worms (Nereis). 



When bass are schooling outside they are 

 likely to be moving along the coast in the one 

 direction or in the other. But they may remain 

 in the same general locality for weeks, or through 

 the summer. Thus a body of very large fish, of 

 25 to 50 pounds, stayed close in to the outer 

 beach near the tip of Cape Cod, through most of 

 July of 1951 and into that August, yielding 

 consistent catches to the more skillful surf- 

 fishermen. 



Bass are active over a temperature range from 

 perhaps 70° down to about 43°-46° F. Present 

 indications are that if the temperature falls lower 

 they either withdraw to somewhat warmer water 

 if off the outer coast, or lie on the bottom in a 

 more or less sluggish state if they are in some 

 estuary. On the other hand it is not likety that 

 they can long survive temperatures higher than 

 about 77°-80°, for many were found dead in 



