Seasonal Movements of Striped Bass, Roccus saxatilis (Walbaum), Tagged and Released in the Potomac River, Maryland, 1959-61

Abstract

During 1959–61, 8,793 striped, bass,Roccus saxatilis (Walbaum), were tagged and released in the Potomac River, Maryland. Of the 3,344 (37.3%) recaptured, 98.0% were taken in the Maryland part of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, 0.5% were recovered in the Virginia part of Chesapeake bay and its tributaries, and 1.5% were taken outside Chesapeake Bay along the Atlantic coast from Delaware to Nova Scotia. In the wintering season (November–March), the tagged fish were concentrated in the lower river and were very active, traveling several miles a day. In the spawning season (April–June), they mostly moved upstream to the spawning grounds where the tagged fish remained for most of the season, and then dispersed downstream to the lower river and into Chesapeake Bay. In the feeding season (July–October), tagged fish were scattered throughout Chesapeake Bay and tributaries. Some striped bass which overwintered in the Potomac were recaptured during the following spawning season in other Chesapeake Bay tributaries, and fish from the Potomac contributed materially to the stocks of striped bass along the northeast Atlantic coast. Spawning striped bass return to the same spawning grounds in successive years. Recaptures of tagged fish by date and location during the wintering, spawning, and feeding seasons, and the miles traveled and days at large by individuals, are tabulated.