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of controversial restrictions on striped bass catches
in the Chesapeake Bay and along the East Coast have
paid off as fisheries officials recently declared that
rockfish stocks are fully recovered from their depleted
levels of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
A member of the perch family (Percichthyidae) the striped
bass can be found on both the east and west coasts of
the United States, although western stocks do not support
a commercial fishery. On the East Coast the species
ranges from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Nova Scotia
south to the Florida/Georgia border.
The striped bass was introduced to the West Coast in
1886, with fish from the Navesink River in New Jersey
transported via rail to San Francisco Bay. The West
Coast range of the species is from Los Angeles north
to the Columbia River on the Oregon/Washington state
border.
The striped bass is a classic perch type fish, predominantly
silver in color with seven to eight dark lateral bands
giving the species its name. It's proclivity for reproduction
is surely what brought the striped bass back from the
verge of extinction. According to McClane's New Standard
Fishing Encyclopedia, four-year old females produce
65,000 eggs; 13 year-old females produce nearly five
million.
Most striped bass along the Atlantic coast are involved
in two types of migrations: an upriver spawning migration
from late winter to early spring, and coastal migrations
that are apparently not associated with spawning activity.
Coastal migrations may be quite extensive; striped bass
tagged in Chesapeake Bay in winter and spring have been
recaptured during the summer in the Bay of Fundy and
fish tagged in the Hudson in spring have been recaptured
off the coast of North Carolina during the winter.
During spring and summer New England offers some of
the finest striped bass fishing on the East Coast. During
the month of June fish swarm like bees in coastal waters.
The northern neck of Virginia, lying between the Potomac
and Rappahannock rivers, produces the most Stripers
during the fall and winter months. The best quality
fish are caught by hook and line or in pound nets, a
traditional American Indian method of fishing whereby
fish are entrapped in a net or stake corral then harvested
by hand-brailling with scoop nets.
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© 2001 Monterey Fish
Market, Inc. All rights reserved.
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