STUDIES ON THE STRIPED BASS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST 



39 



the results of 1936. The rate at which striped bass may travel south in the fall is 

 shown by the recapture of several fish tagged at Montauk, 450-500 miles away from 

 the point of release, 35-40 days after the date of tagging — an average of 12 miles per 

 day. This distance was measured in a straight line along the coast, which the fish 

 undoubtedly did not travel. Moreover, there is no proof that the fish left the 

 moment they were tagged or were caught at the other end of their migration as soon 

 as they arrived. It seems likely, therefore, that they averaged far more than 12 

 miles per day. It is of interest that a considerable number of recaptures in the 

 winter and early spring months were from well up large coastal rivers, where spawning 

 occurs in May, thus indicating that some bass probably winter in or near the spawning 

 areas. It is probable that the majority of the spawning individuals in any year do 

 not move into these areas until the late spring, 12 particularly in southern rivers. 



A total of 770 striped bass were also tagged from April to October in 1937 in the 

 Niantic and Thames Rivers, Conn., and the returns from these further corroborated 

 the results obtained from other marking experiments in northern waters. (See table 

 20.) There were an insufficient number of fish tagged in April and May to expect 



Figure 28. — Migration route of striped bass tagged and released at Montauk, L. I., N. V., Oct. 25-27, 1937. The number of fish 

 tagged was 303, the number of returns 100 (33 percent of the total). Note that there were no returns of any significance to the 

 north of the point of release, and contrast with the results of tagging from the same area in the spring asshownin Figure 27 

 (see table 19). 



any returns showing the northern migration at that time of year. Consistent recap- 

 tures at or near the point of release during the summer and early fall months, however, 

 again demonstrated the stability of the population in Connecticut waters from June 

 to October. The returns from the south in the fall and winter months offered addi- 

 tional proof of the migration south from northern waters in late October and Novem- 

 ber, recaptures on the south side of Long Island, in New Jersey, Delaware, and 

 Chesapeake Bay being not infrequent. The total number of returns from the 770 

 striped bass that were tagged was 93, 12.1 percent, by July 1, 1938. By comparison 

 with other tagging experiments on striped bass carried on in these waters, this was a 

 strikingly low percentage of recapture. This may be accounted for by the fact that 

 excessively high temperatures in the latter part of August 1937, apparently drove the 

 bass out of the Niantic and Thames Rivers, where they are normally subject to a 

 highly intensive fishery, to the cooler coastal waters where they were not so easily 

 available, and because a large number of the fish tagged in 1937 were released in 

 areas that are not so well known to local fishermen. 



Thus the evidence accumulated from tagging experiments on striped bass in 

 Connecticut and Long Island waters in 1936 and 1937, and from the examination 

 of commercial catch records, leaves little room for doubt that there is a mass migra- 



'! In this connection, Mr. Robert A. Nesbit tagged 64 striped bass in Sandy Hook Bay, N. J., April 22-25, 1 938, and recaptures In 

 late April and May showed that many of these fish went up the Hudson River. Recaptures in the summer showed a movement 

 to the east and north. 



