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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Subsequent reports of the California commission contain a number of references 
to tlie presence and capture of striped bass. The following extracts may be given as 
bearing on the growth, distribution, and multiplication of the fish: 
Striped bass Lave been taken in tbe Bay of San Francisco weighing 4 pounds, and one taken 
in the Bay of Monterey in September, 1883, weighed nearly 17 pounds. It will be some time before 
striped bass will be very plentiful, as the immense area in which they travel will have to be well 
stocked before any one place would have any considerable numbers for the fishermen to work upon . In 
October, 1883, one was caught in the Sacramento River weighing 16 pounds. This and other catches 
are strong evidence that the striped bass will propagate in our waters. March 3, 1884, a striped bass 
weighing 4 pounds was for sale in a San Francisco market. March 11 there was one olfered for sale 
that weighed 184 pounds. (Report for 1883-84.) 
Quite a number have been caught from year to year, increasing in weight every year. Last year 
several were caught weighing over 20 pounds, and during the past winter one was caught weighing 
35 pounds. I have been watching for the young fish, the progeny of those brought out in 1882, and 
during the past spring I heard that they were being caught by the thousands and offered for sale in the 
market. I hurriedly went up to the market to see if it were true. I found there a lot still unsold, aver- 
aging from a half to three-quarters of a pound in weight. I was delighted to see them, knowing that 
those brought out from New Jersey must have kept together in the muddy waters of our bay till they 
matured and spawned and their young had been successfully reared. But, knowing that the young 
striped bass run in schools, I became alarmed lest the many Chinese nets in our bay and the lower 
Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers would soon destroy the greater part of them. I immediately 
visited the newspapers and they kindly published a notice of the arrival of the numerous strangers, of 
their great importance, and the danger of their destruction if they were not protected. Your honor- 
able board petitioned the board of supervisors to pass an ordinance to prohibit catching them under 
8 pounds in weight. This they quickly did. A similar petition would be advisable to the boards of 
supervisors of Marin, Sonoma, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Joaquin, and Sacramento counties. 
The young bass will most certainly visit the waters of all these counties, and their protection for a 
few years is of vital importance. 
I have since learned from the marketmen that from three to four thousand of these fish were sold 
in the market before the ordinance was passed, and that it has since been in the newspapers that these 
fish have been caught and sold in other counties around our bay. The arrival of so many young of 
this fish at one time in our markets shows conclusively that the striped bass have successfully repro- 
duced themselves in our waters. (Report of superintendent of hatcheries, in report for 1888-90.) 
DISTRIBUTION OF STRIPED BASS. 
The known range of this fish in tlie Pacific States includes only California. It 
has distributed itself so widely on the California coast, however, that its occurrence in 
Oregon and even Washington waters is probably only a question of time, supposing 
that it does not already occur there. 
The center of the fish’s abundance is San Francisco Bay and its tributaries. It 
is found all over San Francisco Bay, Suisun Bay, San Pablo Bay, and the lower course 
of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The bass regularly ascends the San 
Joaquin River for a distance of 20 miles above Bouldin Island. During a visit to the 
upper San Joaquin, in November, 1895, Mr. Babcock learned that a catfish fisherman 
at Grayson, about 100 miles above the mouth of the river, had for two years been 
taking a number of 1-pound and 2-pound striped bass in a slough near that place. 
They go up the Sacramento River as far as Sacramento, but were not common at that 
point at last reports. In 1893 Mr. Alexander learned of their capture near Fremont, 
about 7 miles above Sacramento. 
On May 30, 1894, in Suisun Bay Slough, a number of bass weighing 4 pounds and 
upward were taken with minnow bait on a regular angling rod. Several examined 
contained anchovies and file worms. This is a new locality for the fish, although 
several years ago they were reported to occur there. 
