16 FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Mason (1882), Throckmorton (1882), Norny (1882), and Bigelow and Welsh (1925) 

 present interesting accounts of baby bass being taken in various rivers along the 

 coast in the past (Navesink River, N. J.; Wilmington Creek, Del.; Kennebec River, 

 Maine). Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928) record them as being taken in Chesapeake 

 Bay during the summer months, and Dr. Vadim D. Vladykov, while working on the 

 survey of anadromous fishes for the State of Maryland, also took many juvenile striped 

 bass 5-10 cm. in length on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay during the summer 

 of 1936. More recently juvenile bass have been taken in the Hudson River by the 

 New York State Conservation Department, and in the Parker River, Mass., by the 

 author (p. 17). There is also some evidence, from the reported cap tine of baby bass, 

 that isolated spawning areas still exist as far north as Nova Scotia. 



There can be little doubt that striped bass in early times entered and spawned 

 in every river of any size, where the proper conditions existed, along the greater part 

 of the Atlantic coast, and that as cities were built and dams and pollution spoiled one 

 area after another, the number of rivers that were suitable for spawning became fewer 

 and fewer. At the present time there is every indication that by far the greater part 

 of the production of striped bass along the Atlantic coast takes place from New Jersey 

 to North Carolina, and that the addition to the stock from areas to the north is so 

 small as to be almost insignificant and of little consequence. Thus in Connecticut, 

 where there is much evidence— from the statements of old-time fishermen — that striped 

 bass used to spawn, there is now every reason to believe that spawning seldom if ever 

 occurs. During the entire course of this investigation the author has tried innumer- 

 able times in different localities to find juvenile striped bass in Connecticut waters, 

 for since the juveniles are found close to or in areas where the adults are known to 

 spawn, their presence in Connecticut waters would have indicated the probability of 

 spawning occurring nearby. These efforts never met with any success. Most atten- 

 tion was centered on the Niantic and Thames Rivers, especially the latter, because 

 accounts of baby bass having been caught there within the last 50 years are more 

 numerous than for other regions. Areas similar to those where small bass were taken 

 in the Hudson River in the summers of 1936 and 1937, as well as many other likely 

 localities, have been worked with minnow seines and small-meshed trawls that were 

 efficient enough to catch large numbers of young fish of many other species and occa- 

 sionally even adult striped bass. However, the smallest striped bass taken in Con- 

 necticut waters was a small 2-year-old which measured 23 cm. (9 inches). If spawning 

 occurred to any great extent, small fish 3-8 cm. long, comparable to those caught in 

 other areas in the summer, would most certainly have been found. Plankton and 

 bottom hauls taken at weekly intervals in the Niantic River in an area where bass 

 were known to be present from April through November 1936, have failed to reveal 

 the existence of anything that might be construed as evidence that striped bass spawn 

 there. Further than this, not a single ripe fish of this species has been taken by the 

 author in the course of this investigation in Connecticut waters, although many 

 thousands of bass have been handled at all times of year save the winter months. 

 Inquiries among commercial fishermen in New England and Long Island waters show 

 that ripe striped bass have been caught so rarely and at such irregular times in recent 

 years that their presence can be considered nothing more than abnormal. The fact 

 that large fish that showed no signs of even approaching ripeness were commonly 

 taken in the Niantic River during the spring and early summer months, when bass 

 are known to be spawning in other areas, suggests that this species is not necessarily 

 an annual spawner. The impression from the available information is that spawning 

 does not occur in the region investigated, although it is possible that other Con- 

 necticut waters provide proper breeding grounds. 



Despite the fact that there is no evidence that striped bass spawn in Connecticut 

 waters at the present time, studies in recent years have disclosed two probable spawn- 

 ing areas in other northern waters. In 1936 the New York State Conservation De- 

 partment took large numbers of juvenile striped bass in various localities on the 

 Hudson River from Beacon downstream. A length-frequency curve of these fish is 



