THE STRIPED PASS. 
Marybones of Beefe. There are such multitudes that I have seene stopped 
in the river close adjoining to my house with a sande at one tide so many as 
will loade a ship of ioo tonnes. I myselfe, at the turning of the tyde have 
seene such multitudes passe out of a pounde that it seemed to me that one 
mighte go over their backs drishod.” 
Skeptical historians of to-day say that John Smith was a liar. I don’t 
believe it, and I quote in his support from the words of a “reverend Di¬ 
vine,” his contemporary : 
“There is a Fish called a Basse, a most sweet & wholesome Fish as ever 
I did eat, it is altogether as good as our fresh Sammon, & the season of 
their comming was begun when we came first to New England in June and 
so continued about three months space. Of this Fish our Fishers take 
many hundreds together, which I have seene lying on the shore to my ad¬ 
miration ; yea, their Netts ordinarily take more than they are able to hall 
to Land.” 
It is by no means strange that the Virginians believed it possible to es¬ 
tablish commercial fisheries which should rival those of Newfoundland. 
Indeed the bass fishery has, for two hundred and fifty years, been a very 
important resource of the coast states from Massachusetts to the Carolinas, 
and to the present day the annual captures in certain localities are enor¬ 
mous. The following are extracts from an old note book: 
In December, 1874, three fishing-gangs near Bridgehampton, N. Y., took 
over 18,000 pounds in less than a week, Captain Charles Ludlow securing at 
one set of his seine 1,672 Bass, or about three and one half tons. * Shortly af¬ 
ter this a New London fisherman brought in 419 Bass, 185 of which had been 
caught with a hook in three hours. Near Norfolk, Va., 1,500 have been 
taken at a single set of the seine; a few years ago 600 were thus taken 
which averaged 80 pounds each. The most successful fishery is on the 
plantation of Dr. W. R. Capehart, in Bertie County, N. C. At the ap¬ 
proach of spawning time, and during the continuence of the shad and 
herring fishery, the bass congregate near the head of Albemarle Sound, 
where they are taken in great numbers. Dr. Capehart writes: “We us¬ 
ually catch from 20,000 to 40,000 pounds of Striped Bass in a season of 
fifty days,—in March, April, and early May. Occasionally we make an 
immense catch. In 1858, I took about 30,000 pounds in one haul. Many 
of these weighed 75 to 85 pounds. On the 6th of May, 1876, we made a 
haul of 820 Bass, weighing 37,000 pounds; 365 of this lot weighed 65 
pounds, average, a great many 85 pounds, and a few 90 pounds. In the 
*In the first half of June, 1879, one fisherman near Fire Island, New York, caught and sent to New York 
the following quantities of Bass: Pounds. Pounds. 
June 2......... 1,222 
June 4. 1,137 
June 5. 913 
June 6........ 1,521 
June 8 ............... 1,298 
June 9. 1,255 
June 14. 1,258 
June 18. 1,560 
Total 
10,164 
