FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
215 
The butterfish is one of the most valuable and abundant food fishes caught in Chesapeake 
Bay. During 1920 it ranked sixth in quantity and ninth in value, the catch being 1,278,628 pounds, 
worth $42,603. 
In Maryland it ranked fourteenth in quantity and fifteenth in value, the catch for 1920 being 
15,062 pounds, worth $603. The entire catch was taken in pound nets. Somerset County records 
the largest catch, having taken 6,550 pounds, followed by Kent with 6,440 pounds, Dorchester with 
1,532 pounds, and Calvert with 540 pounds. 
In Virginia it ranked fifth in quantity and seventh in value, the catch for 1920 being 1,263,566 
pounds, worth $42,000. Virtually the entire catch was taken with pound nets. The remainder, 
amounting to less than 1 per cent, was taken with haul seines and fyke nets. The counties taking 
the largest quantities of fish were Elizabeth City with 555,550 pounds, Mathews with 289,596 
pounds, and Warwick with 155,520 pounds. 
The butterfish is caught in the Chesapeake from April until November. The first catches of 
the season, amounting to 10 pounds or more, were made by a set of two pound nets in Lynnhaven 
Roads, Va., on the following dates: April 19, 1916, April 24, 1917, April 3, 1918, April 15, 1919, 
March 30, 1920, April 15, 1921, April 15, 1922, and April 21, 1923. Generally no butterfish are 
taken above the Rappahannock River before May. Stray fish are taken in the lower part of the 
Chesapeake as early as the last week in March. Sometimes a set of two pound nets catches small 
quantities (from about 10 to 50 pounds) daily throughout the last half of April, but usually the first 
large catches are not made until May. The fish is caught throughout the summer and fall and often 
well into November. During the seven-year period, 1916 to 1922, the largest catch of butterfish, 
made by a set of two pound nets at Lynnhaven Roads, Va., on any one day of each month from 
April to November, was as follows: April 21, 1919, 1,700 pounds; May 14, 1918, 5,225 pounds; 
June 12, 1918, 4,600 pounds; July 30, 1917, 8,100 pounds; August 8, 1919, 5,200 pounds; September 
21, 1919, 3,000 pounds; October 6, 1919, 850 pounds; and November 14, 1918, 900 pounds. A run 
of fish occurring about the middle of November is not unusual, and pound nets in the lower sections 
of the bay make small catches until the nets are taken up for the winter at the end of November. 
The greater part of the catch of butterfish in the Chesapeake is taken below the Potomac 
River, particularly from Mobjack Bay to the capes. A large part of the catch is shipped to markets 
principally between Washington and Boston, and good prices, especially early and late in the 
season, often are obtained. During a part of May, 1921, and in 1922 the wholesale price of butter- 
fish in New York was around 20 cents a pound. Later in the season, however, the price, especially 
for the small sizes, dropped to 3 and 4 cents a pound. 
Many small, unsalable butterfish, 3 to 5 inches in length, are caught in pound nets. As a rule 
these small fish are not culled from the catch until the pound-net boats are en route to or have 
reached shore, with the result that many thousands of fish are wasted annually in Chesapeake 
Bay. Most of the marketable butterfish are from 7 to 9 inches long, but fish of 10 or 11 inches are 
not uncommon. A butterfish 6 inches long weighs about 1 z /i ounces; one 7 inches long, 2% ounces; 
and one 8 inches long, from 4 to 4}/£ ounces. A fish 11 inches long and in prime condition weighs 
about 1 pound. The maximum length is 12 inches and the maximum weight is 1J4 pounds. 
