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Periodic fluctuations in abundance
Nothing regarding bass is of greater interest to commercial fishermen and to anglers than the
great fluctuations in its numbers that have taken place in our Gulf within historic times.
The bass was a familiar fish when New England and the Maritime Provinces were first colonized, all
along the coast from Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy; plentiful and easy to capture, because of its
large size and its habit of coming into the mouths of streams and creeks; it was also an important
food supply for the early settlers.
Wood[2] for example, tells us that in what is now a part of Boston Harbor:
The basse is one of the best fishes in the country, and though men are soon wearied with other
fish, yet are they never with basse. It is a delicate, fine, fat, fast fish, having a bone in
his head which contains a saucerfull of marrow sweet and good, pleasant to the pallat and
wholesome to the stomach . . . Of these fishes some be three and four foote long, some bigger,
some lesser; at some tides a man may catch a dozen or twenty of these in three hours . . . When
they use to tide in and out of the rivers and creekes the English at the top of an high water do
crosse the creekes (page 401) with long seanes or basse nets, which stop in the fish; and the
water ebbing from them they are left on the dry ground, sometimes two or three thousand at a
set, which are salted up against winter, or distributed to such as have present occasion either
to spend them in their homes or use them for their grounds.
He also describes[3] how "shoales of basse have driven up shoales of mackerel from one end of the
sandie beach to the other," near Salem, and mentions them in the Merrimac. In the earliest record
the chief centers of abundance for them within the Gulf were Cape Cod Bay and the shore of Cape
Cod; the neighborhood of Boston Bay and harbor; the vicinity of the Merrimac River; the Kennebec
River and vicinity, and the larger rivers that drain into the Bay of Fundy. Inexhaustible,
however, though the supply seemed, a decrease was reported as early as the last half of the
eighteenth century. At first this was apparent only locally. For example, fewer were seen in the
Piscataqua after about 1792, and very few were reported there from about 1880 down to 1936 or
1937, when the young fish, that were hatched in southern waters in 1934, appeared in our Gulf in
such numbers (p. 402).
They seem to have continued moderately plentiful in Massachusetts Bay and around Cape Cod during
the first half of the nineteenth century, when bass were still being netted in abundance along the
beaches between Boston and Cohasset; 300 good-sized fish were taken in one seine haul at the mouth
of Barnstable Harbor in July 1829; while 700 were taken at Provincetown in a day in October 1859.
Fishing for bass from the rocks with hook and line was a well recognized sport then around
Massachusetts Bay. But Freeman wrote as long ago as 1862 (in his History of Cape Cod) that the
bass were much less plentiful in Cape Cod waters then than they had been of old. And the catch for
Cape Cod Bay and the outer shore of the Cape, combined, reached 2,000 pounds in only three of the
years of record during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th.[4]
Bass, in fact, had so nearly vanished soon thereafter from the Massachusetts coast north of Boston
that no commercial catches were reported there for the period 1876 to 1883, though an occasional
fish may have been caught.
There may have been a few more bass along the coast of northern Massachusetts during the next 17
years, for yearly catches ranging from none up to 441 fish (1892) were reported for Essex County
between 1884 and 1900, while a number were seined in the Merrimac River in 1897. But this was
again succeeded by a period of scarcity so extreme that no bass were reported for the
Massachusetts coast north of Boston during the next 30 years.[5] And the capture of a single fish
in the inner part of Massachusetts Bay by any method was so unusual an event then that one of 44¾
pounds, caught near Brant Rock on the southern shore of the Bay, in November 1930, was given wide
publicity in the newspapers.
The bass of the coasts of Maine fared no better. They had practically gone from the Androscoggin
by 1860; the reported catch for the entire coastline of Maine (already only about 27,000 pounds in
1880) had fallen to about 1,600 pounds in 1902, 4,200 pounds in 1905, to 600 pounds in 1919. And
no commercial catches at all have been reported from Maine in any subsequent year,[6] except for
537 pounds in 1932.
It seems that the bass population of the St. John River system shared with those of Massachusetts
and of Maine in the general decline in abundance during the first half of the nineteenth century,
for they were reported as much less plentiful there by 1873 than they had been in the early 1800's
when they were a familiar sight rolling and splashing at the surface in June[7] But neither the
St. John population, nor the population at the head of the Bay of Fundy, nor of the Annapolis
River, seem ever to have fallen to as low an ebb as has happened along Maine and Massachusetts. In
1919, for example, when no bass were reported from the Massachusetts coastline of the Gulf (p.
401) and only 600 pounds for Maine, 2,700 pounds were reported from the Nova Scotian coastline of
the Bay of Fundy,[8] 1,600 pounds for the St. John River system.
The year 1921 seems to have marked the "turning of the tide" for the bass in Cape Cod Bay waters,
for 4,784 pounds were taken that year at (page 402) Sandwich, near the Cape Cod Canal, through
which they may have come, while some, that did not find their way into the official returns were
taken in the inlets along the outer shore of Cape Cod during that summer or the summer before. And
the commercial catches for Barnstable County rose to 8,060 pounds for 1928, to 18,665 pounds for
1929, and ran between about 27,000 pounds and about 34,000 pounds[9] for 1930, 1931 and 1932.
Surf fishermen, too, did better along the outer Cape shore from 1930 through the next couple of
summers than they had for many years; (a 33-pounder was taken in the surf on Cape Cod, and one of
44¾ pounds on the south shore of Massachusetts Bay, p. 401). And it appears that the bass spread
northward to the estuaries north of Cape Ann during these years (unless a small stock had
persisted there through the poor period), for some were taken in the Parker River in the late
1920's while 8,700 pounds were reported thence in the winter of 1930, when net-fishing was
allowed, temporarily.
This upswing was brief (the reported catches for the entire coastline of Massachusetts were only
4,500 and 5,100 pounds, respectively, for 1933 and for 1935).[10] But at least it gave a foretaste
of what was to come, for the waters around Cape Cod were invaded during the summer of 1936 by
countless schools of little bass, weighing about 2 to 3 pounds. These (as is now known) had been
hatched in 1934 (i. e., 2 years previous) in the Chesapeake Bay-Delaware Bay region (p. 393), and
it is interesting, not only that they came from so far away, but that this was the largest year's
brood that has been produced in Chesapeake Bay for as far back as any record is available.[11]
Unfortunately, there is no knowing in what numbers they reached the outer shore of Cape Cod and
Cape Cod Bay in 1936, for no record seems to have been kept of commercial catches of them there in
that year.
But they (chiefly) comprised the catches which were some 5 to 16 times as great in 1936 as in any
of the 8 previous years[12] along the coast of Rhode Island. And considerable numbers of them were
reported from as far north as the harbors and rivers along the southern part of the coast of
Maine, where very few bass, large or small, had been caught for many years previous.
In 1937, having now grown to an average weight of about 3 to 5 pounds, they not only reappeared in
such numbers that a commercial catch of something like 80,000 pounds was reported from the Gulf of
Maine coast of Massachusetts,[13] but so many of them spread north past Cape Ann that the catch
from the inner part of Massachusetts Bay to the New Hampshire line (about 55,000 pounds) was
perhaps three times as great as that for the Cape Cod Bay-outer Cape region (in the neighborhood
of 19,000 pounds). And more of these little bass were caught by anglers in the river mouths and
estuaries of New Hampshire that summer, and of Maine as far as the Penobscot region, than had been
the case the year before, but not enough to figure in the official statistics.
The fish of the 1934 year class averaged around 6 pounds by 1939 (many had reached 7-9 pounds);
and the bass seemed so well established all along from Cape Cod to southern Maine that anglers had
largely forgotten the preceding lean years. And the growth of the individual fish as they advanced
in age, combined with fresh increments from the south seem to have more than balanced the death
rate (natural or from fishing) for the next 5 or 6 years, for the coast of Massachusetts as a
whole.[14] And a good part of the fish of the 1934 year class (still swimming in good numbers)
grew meantime to 18 to 25 pounds, to the delight of the anglers.
Bass fishing improved so much in the Hampton region also, and in the Piscataqua River system that
about 19,000 pounds were reported for 1943 in the commercial statistics for New Hampshire, where
bass had not been mentioned in the fishery statistics for many years. But it is evident that
depletion in numbers outran renewal along the coast of Maine during this same period, for there
were many fewer fish there in the season 1940 then there had been in 1939 or 1938, though they ran
larger, averaging about 8-10 pounds according to local reports.
Small bass (apparently spawned in southern waters in 1940, 1941, or 1942[15] and now large enough
to be included in the commercial statistics) again entered the southern part of our Gulf in 1944
in such numbers that the commercial catch for Massachusetts as a whole was nearly twice as great
for that year (about 191,000 pounds) as it had been the year before (about 99,500 pounds).[16]
But it seems that very few of the fish of the 1942 year class, if any, spread northward much
beyond the Merrimac River, for the reported catch for New Hampshire fell from about 19,000 pounds
in 1943 to between 10,000 and 11,000 pounds in 1944, and to about 9,000 pounds in 1945, though the
proportion of large fish was greater, while occasional bass, only, were reported in Maine waters
in these years, or in the later 1940's.
Anglers' reports in general, and our own observations, are to the effect that few young bass
appeared in the Cape Cod Bay-outer Cape region during the four years 1946-1949, or farther north
along the New England coast. While this prevailing scarcity of baby bass caused widespread fears
that the striper might be facing another serious decline, anglers welcomed an accompanying
increase in the numbers of bass weighing upwards of 20 to 25 pounds. Thus, a larger number of fish
heavier than 26 to 35 pounds were landed along the outer shore of the Cape, in Cape Cod Bay and in
northern Massachusetts waters in 1950 than for many years. We saw one of 45 pounds that was caught
by an angling companion in the inner part of Massachusetts Bay that September, and one of 51½
pounds, caught in the surf, was reported from the outer shore of Cape Cod that August, while
others, doubtless in the 50-pound class, were taken of which we did not chance to hear. A few very
large fish were reported, that summer, in the surf at Old Orchard Beach, Maine. And hundreds of
bass of 25 to 45 pounds, with a few running up to 52 or 53 pounds (few smaller than 25-30 pounds)
were caught in the surf on the outer beach near the tip of Cape Cod during the summer of 1951,
many up to 30-45 pounds in Cape Cod Bay that July; a few as large as 20 to 30 pounds in Duxbury
Bay; at least two (to our knowledge) weighing a little more than 50 pounds in the inner part of
Massacbusetts Bay; a few in the 30 to 45 pound class on the northern Massachusetts coast.
It is almost certain that most of these large fish belong to the abundant year classes that were
spawned in the early 1940's or even previously. Hopes for the future depend, therefore, on renewed
replenishments of the stock. A year ago (in 1950), prospects seemed good in this respect, for
great numbers of little bass (many smaller than the legal length in Massachusetts, 16 inches from
snout to fork of tail) were reported that summer and autumn from various localities along southern
New England, and northward as far as Plymouth and Duxbury Bays; from the North and South Rivers in
Marshfield; from Boston Harbor; from the Parker River (Plum Island Sound region); from the lower
Merrimac River; and from Hampton Harbor, N. H. Many "school" fish of 2 to 8 pounds seen (and some
caught) in the Saco in July and August of 1950, and a few landed every day from the York and
Mousam Rivers late that June, point similarly to a fresh influx of bass to southern Maine waters,
either that year or the year before, for it is not likely that these fish had been spawned in the
streams along that part of the coast.
And reports that Pleasant Bay, on Cape Cod, the Massachusetts Bay end of the Cape Cod Canal, and
Duxbury Bay, have all been "loaded" with small bass at times during the present summer (1951) and
also of many too small to keep, off Wollaston Beach in Boston Harbor, are promising at least; so
is the fact that a good many fish in the 10 to 15-pound class have been caught at various places
along the coast.
An interesting aspect of the bass situation is that the young bass that invaded the water of
Massachusetts and of Maine in 1936 and 1937 seem not to have spread to the St. John River system
for while commercial catches ran larger there during the 1930's than they had during the 1920's,
the increase may not have been greater than can be accounted for by an increasing demand for bass.
And, in any case, it had taken place by 1932, i. e., two years before the fish were spawned that
replenished (page 404) the Massachusetts stock in 1936 and 1937 (p. 402).[17]
Some of these that reached Massachusetts in 1944 may have spread to Nova Scotia, also, for the
average catch was larger there from 1944 to 1946, than it had been for many years. But the
increase was not great enough to suggest than any large recruitment had taken place from the
south.[18]
Additional evidence that the bass of the Bay of Fundy region do not intermingle to any great
extent with those of the western side of the Gulf of Maine is that the fish ran so small in the
Nova Scotian streams in 1949 and 1950 (p. 397) when there were so many very large ones in
Massachusetts waters (p. 403). And the fact that those caught in those years ran considerably
larger in the Annapolis River than in the Shubenacadie River (p. 397) emboldens us to suggest that
the populations in the several Nova Scotian streams are more or less separate; and separate also
from the bass of the St. John.
It would, of course, be of the greatest interest, to commercial fishermen and to anglers alike, to
know what determines that an abundant brood of bass, or a poor brood is to be reared in any given
year. All we dare say is that the largest brood on record (that of 1934, in Chesapeake Bay) was
produced when the parent stock was at a very low ebb, which may prove a general rule, and that
studies by Merriman[19] and by Tiller[20] suggest that very large broods are raised only in years
when the temperature of the water is lower than normal, both before the spawning season and after
it.
Importance
Striped bass have not been plentiful enough in the Gulf of Maine at any time during the past 100
years to support a commercial fishery of any great magnitude. Even in the good years 1944-1946 the
reported value of the commercial catches for Massachusetts as a whole was less than $50,000
yearly.[21] But this does not take into account bass used for home consumption or those sold in
small lots. In the seasons of 1937 and 1938, when the yield of the year class of 1934 was at its
peak, about 30-40 percent of the reported commercial catch was made by hook and line, about 40-45
percent in pound nets and traps. But with the development of increasingly efficient methods of
trolling with hand lines from small craft, the hook and line catch increased in importance to
about 63-65 percent for the seasons of 1939, 1940, and 1943,[22] and to about 89-91 percent for
1944, 1945, and 1946, while the pound net and trap catches decreasing correspondingly.[23]
The striper is the leading game fish in its periods of plenty all along our coast, from the outer
shore of Cape Cod to New Hampshire waters. The number of anglers who cast for them in the surf
along the beaches of Cape Cod and northward from Cape Ann to the mouth of the Merrimac and at
scattered spots elsewhere certainly is in the thousands. Many party boats troll daily for bass in
Cape Cod Bay, some also along the Plum Island shore and at the mouth of the Merrimac, while many
are caught by trolling, by live line fishing, and even by still fishing in the various inlets.
So far as we know, Shubenacadie River and Lake, and the Annapolis River are the only waters on the
Canadian shores of our Gulf where the striper attracts attention as a game fish (p. 397); anglers
visiting the St. John are far more interested in salmon.
So much has been written about the techniques of surf casting, trolling, choice of lines, and
baits, that we need not delay; but it is interesting, in comparison, to read, in Wood's New
England's Prospect, published in 1634 (p. 37), that "the way to catch them is with hook and line,
the fisherman taking a great cod line to which he fasteneth a peece of lobster and threwes it into
the sea. The fish biting at it, he pulls her to him and knockes her on the head with a sticke".
We should point out in conclusion, that the recreational value of the striper is high; its money
return to the seaside communities where bass are plentiful is much greater than the price the fish
bring in the market, if the amounts spent for tackle and bait, boat hire, lodging, guide service,
and the patronage of service garages, and gasoline filling stations are taken into account. - END -
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[2] New Englands Prospect, 1634, p. 37.
[3] Wood, New Englands Prospect, 1634, p. 47.
[4] 1878—4,974 pounds; 1897—4,820 pounds; 1900—6,450 pounds.
[5] Statistics have been published for 1903 to 1910, 1919, and 1928-1930.
[6] Statistics published for 1929-1933, and 1935-1947.
[7] See Adams (Field and Forest Rambles, 1873, pt. 3, Fishes, p. 248), who described the Indians
of the Melicete Tribe as still spearing good-sized bass from their canoes in the St. John, in
1873.
[8] 2,000 pounds from the Cobequid-Shubenacadie region (Hants County), 700 pounds from Annapolis
County.
[9] To the nearest 1,000 pounds.
[10] No data for 1934.
[11] Tiller, Publ. 85, Chesapeake Biol. Lab., 1950, p. 24.
[12] For details, see Merriman, Fish. Bull. No. 35, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service,vol. 50, 1941,
p. 10, fig. 4; p. 13, fig. 8.
[13] Assuming that about two-thirds of the catch of 28,700 pounds for Barnstable County came from
the outer shore of Cape Cod and from Cape Cod Bay, probably an under estimate.
[14] Reported catches for Massachusetts as a whole were about 62,500 pounds for 1939, about 75,700
pounds for 1940, about 99,500 pounds for 1943, no data available for 1941 or 1942.
[15] the broods of 1940-1942 were large, in Chesapeake Bay, though not as large as the brood of
1934 (Tiller, Chesapeake Biol. Lab., Pub. 85, 1950, pp. 13, 24-25).
[16] the minimum legal length for bass (snout to fork of tail) having been set in Massachusetts at
16 inches (fish 3-4 years old).
[17] Maximum reported catch for St. John River system for period 1922-1943, was 21,200 pounds in
1932.
[18] Average yearly catch, Nova Scotian rivers and coast of the Bay of Fundy was about 3,355
pounds for 1922-1930; about 12,600 pounds for 1932-1943; about 18,300 pounds for 1944-1946.
[19] Fish. Bull. 35, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1941, vol. 50, p. 14.
[20] Pub. 85, Chesapeake Biol. Lab., 1950, pp. 18, 28.
[21] 1944, $29,173; 1944, $34,643; 1945, $48,748; 1946, $34,643.
[22] No data are available for 1941 or 1942.
[23] About 15-35 percent for 1939, 1940, and 1943; about 5-11 percent for 1944, 1945, and 1946.
 Bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus) 1758
Striped Bass Roccus saxatilis (Walbaum) 1792
Summer flounder (fluke) Paralichthys dentatus (Linnaeus) 1766
Weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Bloch and Schneider) 1801
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