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FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



of the smaller sizes, are caught in Pleasant Bay 

 too, within Nauset Marsh, and in Town Cove, 

 Orleans. 



Considerable catches are made by boats trolling 

 outside the surf, also, or by casting in toward the 

 breakers along the outer Cape Cod shore, when 

 the weather permits. But the most productive 

 and reliable trolling grounds are along the eastern 

 and southern sides of Cape Cod Bay in most 

 summers, especially off the Eastham shore a few 

 miles southward from Wellfleet, and off the mouth 

 of Scorton Creek, Barnstable and the Sandwich 

 shore. 62 The shores of Cape Cod and Cape Cod 

 Bay have, in fact, been the chief center of abund- 

 ance for bass within the Gulf from as far back as 

 the record runs. Few bass are reported along the 

 rocky stretch from the Cape Cod Canal to the 

 entrance to Plymouth Harbor, though this would 

 seem to be very good bass water, and schools 

 must pass by. But many are caught in Plymouth 

 Harbor, especially off Eel Creek, also up Duxbury 

 Bay to the salt marsh creeks that open into 

 its head. 



Surf casters account for some along Duxbury 

 Beach on the outside, for a few also in the boulder- 

 strewn area at the western end of Humarock 

 Beach. 63 The North and South Rivers in Marsh- 

 field yield considerable numbers in good years; 

 we have seen and taken good fish there. Anglers, 

 casting from the shore, take a few (never any 

 great number) on boulder-strewn stretches along 

 the Scituate shore, while Glades Point was famous 

 for large bass in earlier periods of abundance 

 (p. 390), when it was common practice to chum 

 the fish by throwing out chopped lobsters, a 

 method never likely to be revived because lobsters 

 are far too costly nowadays. The Cohasset 

 shoreline (with which we are familiar) yields a few 

 yearly (mostly caught between sunset and sun- 

 rise), occasionally a very large one. In seasons 

 when there is a good run of the smaller sizes, 

 considerable numbers are taken at various places 

 within the limits of Boston Harbor; Hull Gut, 

 Weir River in Hingham, and Wollaston Beach are 

 well known localities. And in years when there is 

 a run of little fish, many of them are caught from 



« Many are caught by anglers casting in the Cape Cod Canal, but this is 

 not properly a part of the Gulf of Maine. 



•3 The bouldery area at the eastern end at the North River inlet is now 

 within the limits of the military reservation; hence the only way to fish it is 

 from a boat by casting in, toward the rocks. 



the docks and from the bridges, to the head of 

 Boston Harbor. 



The north shore of Massachusetts Bay seems 

 not to be as attractive for bass as its succession 

 of inlets, beaches, and rocky headlands might 

 suggest, for catches reported are small and 

 scattering in most summers. But the beaches and 

 enclosed waters from a few miles north of Cape 

 Ann to and including the mouth of the Merrimac 

 River are productive enough to rank second to the 

 Cape Cod-Cape Cod Bay region . Bass are taken in 

 the surf from Ipswich Beach, Cranes Beach, and 

 along the entire length of Plum Island Beach; 

 many more are caught by boat fishermen over the 

 flats within the mouth of the Merrimac, as well as 

 about the jetties at its entrance. Schools are 

 often reported in Plum Island Sound. And the 

 Parker River, emptying into the latter, is not only 

 well known water for bass, especially small fish, 

 but it holds some bass over the winter (p. 400), and 

 it is one of the few streams along the New England 

 shores of our Gulf where very young bass have 

 been taken within recent years (p. 398). 



Some are caught in Hampton Harbor, N. H. 

 But the next important bass waters (moving 

 northward) are the lower reaches of the Piscataqua 

 River system, marking the boundary between 

 Maine and New Hampshire; a good number, large 

 and small, are now caught there yearly. In good 

 years bass are to be caught in several of the 

 streams that drain the southern part of the Maine 

 coast, especially in the York, the Mousam, and in 

 the Saco which is the most productive. Schools 

 are sighted and a few are caught along the inter- 

 vening beaches and some in the shallows of 

 Biddeford Pool. 



Information as to the status of bass for the 

 coastline and streams of northern and eastern 

 Maine, past or present, is scant, and we have come 

 to suspect that bass may never have been as 

 plentiful there as was supposed. A few are caught 

 here and there around Casco Bay in good years, 

 product perhaps of the Kennebec. But the esti- 

 mated catch in the Kennebec was only about 

 12,760 pounds as far back as 1880; 64 and there have 

 been far fewer bass there of late years. Our most 

 recent information is that schools of large fish 

 were seen in the lower Kennebec, off Popham and 

 Reed Beaches in early October 1950 with some 



« Atkins, Fish. Ind. U. S., Sect. 5, vol. 1, 1887, p. 675. 



