LIFE HISTORY OF THE STRIPED BASS 
841 
its tributaries, and in Coos Bay, Oreg., about 400 miles north of San Francisco. 
Marking experiments in California waters have indicated, however, that no regular 
or definite coastal movement of striped bass occurs, and that the fish appear to diffuse 
at random to all points from the locality of release. In a marking experiment in San 
Francisco Bay, Clark (1936) found that the time elapsing between release and recap- 
ture ranged from 4 to 477 days with an average of 111 days of freedom. Yet the 
distances traveled by the marked fish varied from 0 to 46 miles. Such a restricted 
dispersion indicates limited coastal movement. 
Along the Atlantic seaboard Merriman (1937) has recently shown that seasonal 
coastal movements of striped bass occur in southern New England with an apparent 
incursion of fish from southern waters in early summer and a return movement to the 
south in late fall. 
Local seasonal movements of striped bass are quite pronounced. In November 
and December, as noted by Mease (1815), the fish leave the sea and run into the rivers 
along the New Jersey coast to pass the winter, where they remain, unless disturbed, 
until the following spring. 
In colonial times a winter fishery for striped bass along the North Atlantic coast 
was possible because the fish moved into the deep river channels during cold weather and 
lay semidormant near the bottom, from whence they could be easily captured by large 
dip nets operated under the river ice. In the tidal Parker River, Mass., the fishery 
now depends entirely on the formation of firm river ice. It is believed by fishermen 
that the ebb-tide movement of the river water also tends to force the striped bass off 
the shallow tidal flats into the deeper channel holes where dip nets can be operated 
to best advantage. In Chesapeake Bay the striped bass are known to winter in the 
deeper channels of the bay and river mouths. A concentration of fish is known to 
occur in a deep channel near Kent Island where fishermen find it profitable to si nk 
gill nets for the sluggish fish. A movement of bass takes place in the fall of the year 
in California. The fish come out of the bays, run into sloughs, and for some distances 
up the rivers. When cold weather sets in the fish leave the flats and seek the depths 
of the channels and sloughs. 
In the summer, following spawning, the striped bass leave the rivers and creek 
and move out into more open areas in the sea or estuaries. This summer movemen 
of fish appears to be induced by food requirements. As observed by Wood (1634): 
These (striped bass) are at one time when the Alewives passe up the Rivers to be catched in 
Rivers, in Lobster time at the Rocks, in Macrill time in the Bayes, at Michelmas in the Seas. 
In southern waters the species prefers to dwell in fresh or brackish water at all 
times and relatively few fish are found near ocean inlets or in the open sea. North 
of Chesapeake Bay a more pronounced movement of bass occurs along the open sea- 
coast during the summer months The annual summer appearance of large striped 
bass along the sandy beaches of New Jersey and off the rocky headlands of southern 
New England has provided angling sport for many years. 
In California during the summer striped bass from the region of San Francisco 
Bay move down along the coast of southern California and from upper Suisan Bay 
down into San Francisco Bay after spawning. These movements, according to 
Scofield (1931), appear induced by the more abundant food supply in the salt water 
than in the fresh water of the delta country. 
Spawning movements of the species consist essentially of the migration of adult 
fish from salt, brackish, or fresh waters, up suitable rivers where spawning occurs. 
