FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



399 



from equally far away; others perhaps from 

 intermediate spawning areas. 



Since the mature bass that visit the coasts of 

 Cape Cod and northern Massachusetts in such 

 plenty in good years almost certainly do not 

 spawn in any numbers in any of the Gulf of Maine 

 rivers, we caD only suppose that they repair to 

 more southerly rivers to spawn, perhaps to the 

 Hudson, in particular. But many of them reach 

 northern Massachusetts so early in the season, 

 and so little information is available as to the 

 condition of their sexual organs when they arrive, 

 that we still face something of a mystery, here. 



In the salt estuaries and open waters of our 

 Gulf bass are taken only from late spring, through 

 the summer, and until late in the autumn. In 

 years when they are plentiful enough to attract 

 attention, they are likely to be reported about 

 equally early in the season all along from Cape 

 Cod to the Merrimac River. In 1950, 89 for 

 example, bass had been reported from the outer 

 shore of the Cape (Pleasant Bay and Orleans) by 

 mid-May, from the North and South Rivers, at 

 Marshneld on the southern side of Massachusetts 

 Bay, and from the Merrimac at Amesbury by 

 mid-May; we heard of one caught in Duxbury 

 Bay as early as May 1 that same year; and in 

 normally early years they are generally distributed 

 along the Massachusetts Coast of the Gulf in 

 May or by the first days of June. The first bass 

 were reported in and off Hampton Harbor and in 

 the Piscataqua River about the beginning of the 

 second week in June (1950), and in Casco Bay 

 about the middle of the month. 



Bass are said to appear as early as the end of 

 May in Bangor Pool at the head of the estuary of 

 the Penobscot in some years. 90 In 1950 they were 

 scattered all along Penobscot Bay before the end 

 of June. And it is probable that the seasonal 

 schedule is about the same for the bass at the 

 head of the Bay of Fundy, but information is 

 scant. 81 



Once the bass have appeared, they continue in 

 evidence until well into the autumn (p. 399). 

 During this part of the year, the bass of the coasts 

 of Massachusetts and most of those in Maine are 

 in salt water and in brackish, except for such as 

 enter fresh water to spawn (p. 398). But they are 



89 This is the only year for which we have detailed information. 

 •° Weston, Field and Stream, March 1932, p. 69. 



« Moore (Boston Herald, Aug. 28, 1950) reports that bass are taken in 

 traps from July on, in the Cobequid Bay region. 



caught all summer in fresh water far above the 

 head of tide in the Shubenacadie in Nova Scotia 

 (p. 397), 92 also in the Annapolis, and part of the 

 stock may have here a similar habit in various of 

 the rivers of Maine, as in the Kennebec, where 

 they ran up as far as Waterville until they were 

 prevented by the construction of the dam at 

 Augusta. 93 



In rivers where bass winter, they may, of 

 course, be taken in any month from late autumn 

 into the spring (p. 400). As autumn approaches the 

 bass vanish however from the open coast. What 

 little information we have suggests that most of 

 them have disappeared along the outer coasts of 

 Maine by mid-October or the end of that month 

 in most years. But they may be in evidence in 

 Maine rivers until later in the autumn, as they 

 were of old in the Kennebec, where Atkins 94 

 described them as continuing "feeding in weedy 

 coves until November"; and in the Mousam River 

 in southern Maine, where fishing is said to have 

 been good until November during the period 

 1938-1940, when our Gulf had a spectacular run 

 of young fish (p. 402). 



Farther southward in our Gulf, they may linger 

 equally late off the open beaches. In 1949, for 

 example, a set of traps 95 located near Province- 

 town Harbor in 35-45 feet of water, took 3,705 

 pounds (the only large catch of the year) on 

 November 3. 



In 1950, a late season, Cape Cod Bay eastward 

 from the Cape Cod Canal was described to us as 

 "loaded" with bass until the third week in Octo- 

 ber, fair numbers were still being caught along the 

 outer shore of Cape Cod at the end of the month, 

 schools of small fish were reported on November 

 9, and half a dozen were landed from the surf on 

 November 18, and one, on December 3. 96 Surf 

 casting is likely to be much more productive along 

 the outer Cape Cod beaches during 2 weeks or 

 even 3 weeks of November than it is in July or 

 August, especially for the smaller fish, and during 

 the hours of daylight (p. 391). 



And the bass in salt water may be in evidence 

 until equally late in the season in the Minas- 



'2 Huntsman, Ann. Kept. Fisheries Res. Board Canada, (1949) 1950, App. 

 2, pp. 41-42. 



•» Atkins, Fish. Ind. TJ. S., Sect. 5, vol. 1, 1887, p. 693. 



>< Fish. Ind. U. S., Sect. 5, vol. 1, 1887, p. 693. 



•• Property of the Pond Village Cold Storage Co., of North Truro, to whom 

 we are indebted for much information. 



M Reported by Henry Moore, Boston Herald for Dec. 7, 1950. 



