Evening star., 1936-05-02

anglers, who well know the species
fighting qualities.
They are caught still fishing, TROLL
ing and cumming. 1t makes little
difference in what manner they are
hooked, they put up wonderful fight.
In the opinion Of the writer, the best
method used to catch them is chum-
ming, or throwing ground alewives in
the water to attract the fish to the
surface. When trolling. it is neces-
sary to use a comparatively heavy
sinker to get the lure down to them.
and this, coupled with the speed of
the boat. takes away large part of
the sport in landing them. With the
cumming method, using large hook
and a big piece of cut alewife, allow
ing the tide to carry it away from
the boat, not even adding the weight
of swivel to your line, when one of
these fighters strikes, unless you have
your rod grasped firmly. it may be
taken completely out of your hands.
EOR the past several years these fish
have appeared in Chesapeake Bay
in large numbers. Some of those
landed weigh 9 pounds. with an occa-
sional one tipping the beam to 13
pounds.
A striking fish of Chesapeake Bay
and the Lower Potomac. striking in
its appearance and its manner of at
tack, is the striped bass or rockfish.
1t has a range reaching from the ST.
Lawrence River to Mobile Bay.
These gamesters ascend fresh water
to spawn and are particularly com.
mon in brackish bays and rivers,
where they may be found throughout
the year, as in Chesapeake Bay and
the Lower Potomac. There is diff
ference of opinion concerning the
migration, if any, of these fish in our
nearby waters. Many anglers, includ-
ing the writer, claim they never leave
the bay and its tributaries, where
they are found through the Winter
season. Some claim the striped bass
is a migratory fish, and this question
is now being investigated.
There are records of individual
striped bass being caught that tipped
the scales at 125 pounds. Heavy fish,
ing, however, has changed all this. so
that weight of IS pounds is now
rarely made. Most of the catches
weight between l and IS pounds. The
Maryland law prohibits taking of this
species under II inches and over Is
pounds.
Fish culture as applied to this
species has richly justified itself. A
number of small rockfish, as striped
bass. were taken from the Atlantic
to the Pacific and placed in West
Coast rivers over a quarter of cen-
tury ago. Today there are many mil
lions of them in Pacific waters.
For some unknown reason, perhaps
overfishing, rockfish have been more
or less scarce in the bay for the last
several wears. However, last season
an unprecedented hatch occurred, so
that at the present time there are
millions of small rockf1sh in the bay
and Lower Potomac River. These fish
are now on their Spring mission OF
depoSiting spawn, anu Hndhy soou
specimens are being landed by an
glers in the Potomac around WASH
ington. The name striped bass Is
derived from the seven stripes along
its sides, no matter how large OF
small the fish.
A FISH best known to the largest
"A number of anglers is the hard
head, or croaker, now biting IN tne
bay and Lower Potomac River
Geographically. this species is dis,
tributed on the Atlantic and Guil
Coasts from Cape Cod to Texas. II
the Spring these fish run very large
some weighing as much as 5 POUNDS
They may be called fierce hitters' ou'
when they have taken your bait tneS
let down, do not run as game ns.es
and soon give UP the battle. Tne'