If we have hold over bass in most rivers around here which we do, does that meen that these fish spawn in our rivers or do not spawn? I tend to think that they are spawning in our rivers also!

I asked a PHD (pronounced FUD) in the fishy world about this after I saw some micro bass one morn & he said not at all likely. He said certain conditions must be met, blah blah blah. I said where I found them those conditions are... He went on in condesending attitude about he so smart cause he's a FUD blah blahblah. Those guys suck, know everything and you dont.

Greg IMO they do :humpty: around here just not as prevalant as down south. The fud said the Merrimac is the only place that meet the Bass's conditions to.....

A non fud sends

You better get their early.

It must happen... dont they spawn in the hudson and even in the CT river?

I bet they do. Ive read that they used to spawn in a bunch of rivers up and down the coast in New England. Thats until all the dams they put up, all the industrial waste got pumped into the rivers, and not to mention all the raw sewage that flowed in the rivers made them to polluted.

what cheferson said.
stripers weren't a migratory species untill the late 1800's to early 1900's-they must have spawned in these northern rivers before then...

The HUDSON is one of the biggest spawning grounds for stripers along with the CHESAPEAKE BAY. Trust me,while the HUDSON is cleaning up, if they have the right conditions to spawn in the HUDSON they can spawn in any New England rivers.:d
just mho.

They may/ They may not....Pull the petals off a Daisy and maybe you get an answer.
However, it is my understanding that the 'urge' to spawn is patterned into the Bass like into the Herring and Salmon and all androminous fishes by the Creator. These fish don't just swim along and one day find a nice sunny spot and do their thing. The are drawn by nature to their special place and that is where they do their thing.
Kind of like us when we were young, we all had the mattress in the back seat!
Anyway. All fish do not spawn every year. It takes a young fish a few years to mature, he is then ready, so his urges bring him to his place to do it. Same with the females. They don't go every year. When they are at the right age and the urge hits them then they go to their river of birth and do their thing. They do not get the urge every year.Maybe they have a headache or a back ache or what ever, but I have been told by several competent persons that they do not spawn every year. If it happens to be a year for them not to spawn they may Winter offshore in the deeoer waters and come in from sea in the Spring. Or they may go down the coast but not enter the spawning grounds but will come up the coast with those that did spawn and end up here full of ripe roe with no place to go. I have, and maybe you have as well, caught fish with green roe, orange roe and black roe. Some is ripe others are next years roe and others is last years that is rotting away inside the fish.
Things gotta be right for them to do there thing,and accordingly there are only two major known areas that is the Hudson and the Cheasepeak Bay areas.
They way the scientists prove this is the hatched stripers, the baby ones. The only places the baby ones are found is in the Hudson and Cheasepeak Bay nursery areas. These are tiny baby stripers.
So, if youse guys that are eeling or crabbing start finding any little baby stripers in your traps you better get the fishery bioligests in on it right away. These babies are little, I am told and hang around the birthing places for a couple years maybe more, before they start to get the urge to go down the rivers and into the sea. They come and go and grow and grow and when they get old enough they get urges to do their thing and the great circle goes round and round.

well said:)

I believe they've spawned in our waters....I'm pretty sure I've seen them while snorkeling in our estuaries.

I know for a fact that they spawn in the kennebec river in maine.

Well, one April I caught a nice fat holdover male in the Acushnet River (way inside the harbor) that was loaded with milt. If he didn't successfully breed, he sure tried to!

I know how he feels!!!!!

I don't know most the rivers you guys are talking about, but the stripers have to get into fresh water to successfully breed, so if there are dams on the river its very unlikely that they are breeding there.

I read that also bspice13.

i read some where they need like 7 or 9 miles of fresh water b4 they hit the salt water
cant remeber it was in the 80s when I was reading on this stuff.

I wonder about these rivers: the Lee and Coles, the Providence, The Taunton, The Wareham/Weweantic, The North and South, the Back river in Duxbury, The Westport


I bet stripers spawn in all the rivers in Massachusetts


I also wonder about Plamico sound

Im really trying to remeber. I use to do alot of reading in falmoth before the blabbernet But. Just say that the fish lay eggs. They need atleast 7 to 9 days of fresh water.
if they hit the salt there Junk.
I dont think that bass spawn around here.
or they would have.

After a hurricane a couple of years ago, I found a dead striper on the beach (Bayside in Truro) no more than 3 inches long. If he wasn't born locally, he sure was a great swimmer at a very young age.

Originally posted by bassmaster
i read some where they need like 7 or 9 miles of fresh water b4 they hit the salt water
cant remeber it was in the 80s when I was reading on this stuff.

going with what dave said, you think the water the herring run to would do??

both branches of the westport rivers end in dams, now the Taunton river looks like it has potential

If I remember....I'll take a picture of a peanut sized striper this season....will 2" prove anything to the non-believers? Could a 2" striper make it's way ALL THE WAY up here?...

I'd think if peanut bunker, spike mackerel, baby herring and rainfish (bait) can make it up here, a 2 inch bass probably could also.

Bloo,
Yes a 2 incher could get here from the Hudson. If you do take a pic make sure its a striped bass and not a striped minnow.

I'm by no means an expert but I have read about a small resident spawning population in Maine, maybe the Kennebunk as someone else already said. It seems to me that the hold overs must at least try to spawn since reproduction and the passing on on ones genetics is the primary goal of almost all species. I am not saying that they are successful but it just doesn't make sense to me that they would stay here if they knew they wouldn't be able to reproduce.

Striprman all the fish you listed SPAWN in this area thats why we have them here:smash: :smash:

Originally posted by MakoMike
Bloo,
Yes a 2 incher could get here from the Hudson. If you do take a pic make sure its a striped bass and not a striped minnow.

Can you show me a picture of a "striped minnow" ??

...should I have said, "I believe anythings' possible"....??

...do you guys think we could introduce Stripers into fresh water??

Bloo,
Sorry don't have a picture, but they look like a killy (I think you call them mumichogs up here?) with very pronounced stripes, but the background is almost white, not light green like a striped bass.

I'm not positive on this, but I'm pretty sure the fins matched those of a striper......not a mummichog (killifish). Hopefully I can either prove or disprove my belief this summer/fall.

I've searched for Striper Fry pictures.....I can't find anything decent.

Help??

Bloo,
Once they reach about an inch or so they look just like the adults, only smaller :)

here (http://www.fisheries.vims.edu/trawlseine/sbmain.htm) ya go bloocrab.

Bloo, ..Once they reach about an inch or so they look just like the adults, only smaller

:) Not according to the picture...where are all the stripes?..and why isn't there a plug hanging on the lip?...:p

Thanks Mako, for making me do a little research, now I'm not sure anymore :D....

The eyes definately appear to be larger on those specimens than on the fish I seen. But the shape of the body and the jaw-line are pretty close...it's been a-while since I popped a tube. I'll just have to bust out the mask again.

For now, I stand corrected. Thanks for your help Eben......you now owe me twee plugs :D