454 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
FOOD OF STRIPED BASS. 
The introduced carp appears to be the principal food of the striped bass in Cali- 
fornia, and in the fresh waters is the almost exclusive food. Mr. Babcock has opened 
hundreds of bass for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of their food, and has 
never seen any other fish than carp in their stomachs. He has heard, however, of 
small catfish being found in them. Mr. Alexander’s examinations of many bass in 
the San Francisco market showed that whenever food of any kind was present in the 
alimentary tract it was in nearly every instance carp. A 10-pound carp is said to 
have been found in the stomach of one bass. His conclusions are that, taking the 
season through, carp will be found in the stomachs of 7 ont of every 10 bass sold in 
San Francisco or caught in the rivers. 
At Capitola, on Monterey Bay, crabs have been taken from the stomachs of bass, 
and it is probable that in the salt water a great variety of fish food is ingested. 
ORIGIN OF THE STRIPED BASS FISHERY. 
It was just ten years after the planting of striped bass in California waters that 
a special fishery for them was inaugurated. While they had been taken in consider- 
able numbers during the five or six preceding years, it was not until 1889 that the 
fishermen directed any special effort toward their capture. Even at the present time 
comparatively few of the many fishermen in the San Francisco Bay region are provided 
with apparatus specially adapted to the taking of striped bass, but their increasing 
abundance is yearly resulting in drawing more attention from the fishermen, and it 
seems only a question of a few seasons when this fishery will have attained consider- 
able magnitude. 
THE FISHING-GROUNDS FOR STRIPED BASS. 
The striped bass is found in greatest abundance and is taken in largest quantities 
in the lower part of the San Joaquin River. It abounds in the ponds, marshes, and 
sloughs connecting with the river, and is there found at nearly all seasons. 
According to Mr. John P. Babcock, chief deputy of the California board of fish 
commissioners — and his opinion is borne out by the testimony of the fishermen — the 
striped bass appears to remain in the delta of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers 
throughout the year. When the run of salmon begins in the spring, and the waters 
of Suisun Bay below the mouths of the rivers are filled with salmon nets, only a few 
striped bass are taken, perhaps not more than one to three daily by the entire fishing 
force, while at the same time, in the San Joaquin River, at Jersey Landing, Antioch, 
Bouldin Island, and other places in the lower course of the stream, the salmon fisher- 
men take striped bass at every tide or at every haul of their nets. 
The San Joaquin fishermen have found that a northerly wind makes the striped 
bass more numerous in the main river. The explanation of this phenomenon — which 
appears to be well recognized — is that the relatively shallow water in the sloughs and 
ponds is made roily or is too much agitated by the wind, and the fish seek the deeper 
water of the river. 
Striped bass are taken in the Sacramento River, but, as elsewhere mentioned, in 
much smaller quantities than in the San Joaquin River. Hood fishing is at times 
done between the mouth of the Sacramento River and San Francisco, in Suisun and 
San Pablo bays, and the northern part of San Francisco Bay. 
