120 American Fisheries Society 



Before passing on to another stream it should be stated 

 that the striped bass of monster size avoid the trot line de- 

 vices. At Halifax, for example, as many as 6 fish of aver- 

 age weight of 50 pounds were taken jjy the netters in just 

 one morning in the year 1903, suggesting what great num- 

 bers escape the trot line fishermen and ascend the stream. 



Susquehanna River. — It is on the Susquehanna River 

 that enlightenment is afforded regarding the capture of 

 striped bass on hook and line in waters above tide. Those 

 grounds are but a few miles from the broad waters of Chesa- 

 peake Bay, but the water is perfectly fresh. The whole 

 stream above Port Deposit, Md., may be considered as 

 rapids, but at Octoraro Junction, as elsewhere all the way 

 along for many miles, there are many pools in which the flow 

 is quite slow at clear river stages or in the absence of fresh- 

 ets. Evidently these rapids are a natural spawning ground of 

 the striped bass and both the shad and herring (alewives) as- 

 cend them, both species being caught by Mr. F. W. Irwin, of 

 Octoraro Junction (P. O. Rowlandville), Md., and other 

 seiners. 



I visited this locality in August, 1904, and again in 

 June, 1905, was there and spent several weeks with the 

 angling activities under observation. Twenty New York and 

 other clubmen would be there at a time engaged in angling, 

 paying $2.00 a day for board and $3.00 for a boat and guide, 

 besides $1.50 per hundred for bloodworms which were used 

 on the hooks of the spoon troll. 



The season opened June 1 and continued some months, 

 to be interrupted only by periods of too clear or too muddy 

 water. Octoraro Junction is a Pennsylvania Railroad sta- 

 tion and telegraph office and the anglers were usually told 

 by wire when the conditions were favorable. Some of the 

 anglers were prodigal in the use of the bloodworms, impal- 

 ing all the hooks would hold. It is understood that while the 

 bloodworm bait was everything that could be desired as an 

 adjunct to the troll, the biting ceased immediately when the 

 common red or angleworm was substituted. These worms 



