LIFE HISTORY OF THE STRIPED BASS 
829 
SPAWNING GROUNDS 
The first mention of the spawning grounds of the striped bass was probably by 
Josselyn (1672), who stated: “The Basse is a salt-water fish too but most an end 
taken in Rivers where they spawn.” 6 A more definite spawning habitat was sug- 
gested by Schoepf (1788), who, describing the vast number of fishes that came up to 
the falls on the upper Roanoke River, N. C., every spring, stated that the rockfish 
(striped bass) especially came up the river in millions to spawn and that being checked 
at the falls “sprang” and “tumbled” so that the water foamed with the fish. 
This spawning area in the Roanoke River, 100 miles above tidewater, was so 
well defined that it was possible for Holton (1874) to artificially fertilize and hatch 
the eggs of the striped bass at Weldon, N. C. It appears probable that the most 
important spawning ground for the species, at least along the Atlantic coast, is in the 
upper Roanoke River where there occurs a fall of 50 feet in about 6 miles and that in 
the rapids, where the current is exceedingly strong and rendered erratic by islands, 
boulders, and rocks, the striped bass prefers to spawn. Collections of eggs from ripe 
fish for artificial propagation have occurred at irregular intervals during the past 64 
years at Weldon. 
It has also been noted by observers that ripe striped bass are found during May 
at the head of Chesapeake Bay. Past efforts made by fish culturists at Havre de 
Grace, Md., to obtain eggs suitable for artificial fertilization and hatching proved 
unsuccessful because of the difficulty experienced in obtaining ripe male and female 
fish simultaneously. The most important spawning grounds were believed to be 
located along a rocky swift-running stretch of the Susquehanna River extending from 
Port Deposit to Octoraro, Md. 
Eggs of the striped bass were secured by the author in river plankton at night 
during various times in May and June 1932, in the Susquehanna River at Garrett 
Island. The occurrence of these eggs, brought down the river by the strong current, 
definitely establishes a spawning ground for the fish at a point between the locality 
of capture and the impassable Conowingo Dam, 12 miles upstream. The eggs 
taken in 1932 would normally have been carried into the head of Chesapeake Bay 
near the Susquehanna flats. 
There occurs only one record of a spawning striped bass from the Gulf coast of 
the United States. A female with eggs was taken on April 7, 1883, in the Alabama 
River, near Montgomery. 
The deltas of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers are believed to be the 
principal spawning grounds of the striped bass in California. The fish appear to 
spawn, according to Scofield (1931), in fresh -water sloughs and creeks. Free eggs have 
not been taken in California. 
The definite records of striped bass eggs in the lower Susquehanna River, and of 
spawning adults in the upper Roanoke River, indicate that spawning occurs in rock- 
strewn coastal rivers characterized by rapids and strong currents. Rivers, such as 
the James, Potomac, and Hudson, offer a similar environment for the spawning fish, 
and are known to contain either young or ripe adult striped bass. 
While some writers have stated that the striped bass spawns in brackish water, 
there is no conclusive evidence to justify this belief. Ripe striped bass, presumably 
taken at the entrance to the Hudson River off Governors Island, were noted by 
Rice (1883). A ripe female fish was caught by Corson (1926) near Bamegat Inlet, 
» Other early notes on the spawning grounds are in the works of Belknap (1792), Mease (1815), and Mitchell (1815), 
