126 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



period therefore is an extended one, although the peak of spawning activity 

 occurs in May and June. No adults containing roe in a "ripe" condition have 

 been found in inshore waters. 



Many young fish move into the shallow inside waters as soon as they are 

 able to swim, although young are also taken during the summer in shallow 

 offshore water. They remain in the sounds and estuaries all summer and fall, 

 and apparently stay during the winter as well except for short periods of 

 severe cold. The young may therefore move in and out several times during 

 the winter. The adults, however, move out to sea with the first cold weather 

 and do not return until spring. 



The food of the very young trout has not been studied, but from the time 

 they reach one and one-half to two inches, Welsh and Breder (1923) state 

 that the young feed largely on small Crustacea such as copepods, isopods, 

 amphipods, shrimp, and crabs. Worms and smaller fish are taken. Smith 

 (1907) and Nichols and Breder (1926) list menhaden as the principal food 

 of the gray trout, although other fish and shrimp are also important food 

 items. The young trout grow rapidly; they reach an average size of about 

 seven inches by the end of the first year. They spawn for the first time when 

 three years old, according to Higgins and Pearson (1927). 



The gray trout is a migratory species; adult fish spend the summer in the 

 north and the winters in the south. This seems particularly true in the Chesa- 

 peake Bay to Cape Cod section of the coast. But as in the case of the striped 

 bass, the extent of migrations in waters south of Chesapeake Bay is not 

 known. 



The chief North Carolina fishery is in Pamlico Sound and tributary wat- 

 ers; Carteret, Dare, and Pamlico counties account for nearly the entire catch. 

 Trout are taken from inside waters throughout the year, except for periods 

 of cold weather when they move "outside." They are taken by offshore trawl- 

 ers during these winter periods. 



Smith (1907) lists the gray trout as much less abundant than the spotted 

 trout, but data obtained by the Federal Government since 1930 show the an- 

 nual catch of gray trout in North Carolina to be nearly five times that of the 

 spotted trout — (five million pounds annually as compared with a little over 

 one million. See this Survey, Part III, Table 91, Appendix). 



Some concern has been expressed in years past regarding the destruction 

 of young gray trout by the summer pound-net and haul-seine operations in 

 North Carolina. Higgins and Pearson (1927) made a thorough investigation, 

 reported on the tremendous destruction of small trout, and recommended a 

 closed season on pound netting in Pamlico Sound from the end of the shad 

 season until August i in order to preserve the gray trout fishery. This rec- 

 ommendation was never carried out, but the gray trout fishery did not de- 

 crease. What the effect of a closed summer season would have been is' of 



