Some History/Some thoughts on fish from the north!/Migration.

[LINESIDES]

When I was 13, 1958. I had already been fascinated with stripers. My brother brought them home from Boston harbor. I started seeking them out then. I did all right from the summer street bridge in South Boston. We would climb around the barbed wire restrainer and get down on the pilings. We did 6 to12 pounders. Or so, great size considering a keeper was 16 inches. I was hooked. This was something that got into my blood, like drug. I could not get enough of these. My brother was hooked also but not as bad. In 1962 my brother took a trip to meet his new relatives in Inverness Nova Scotia, Canada.
On our way through Calais, Maine, I saw a bait shop. I love these places. Like to see what the locals use, and still do! I asked the owner, do you get Stripers up hear? He told me they don’t come this far.
I put that in my memory banks. Then in Mid 70s, I believe, I could be wrong on the year, I read an article, about Stripers, that they had caught a striper in Nova Scotia. The fish was loaded with eggs, however no sign of spawning at that time in any rivers. This turned a light bulb for the fishery department up their. I know the started to look. I put it out of my mind until 1985, when I started fishing with my current trainer. He started talking about this theory. Fish from up there coming down here! I had this guy I used to work with. He lived in Nova Scotia; he was telling me that they catch them all the time where he came from in Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia, Canada. He caught my ear. Being dedicated the way I was to the fish, I tell my wife, when we go on vacation this year we are going to Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia, Canada. She loved the fish also.
In 1987 we go, sure enough we I get up their, I start by trying to find a tackle shop. Believe me they are far and few between up their. I tell the owner who I am, and what I am looking for. He verifies every thing. We have them, they hatch here. He says we love your blue fish also. I said really! He tells me they have been coming for three years now, but not steady. I am amazed. In the fifties blue fish would not make it to Boston harbor. It was this next statement out of him that got my ear. He told me this. We catch them through the ice! Some stay some go; they do not know where they go. I said what size are we talking about. He says we do thirty and forty pounders up here prity regular. The record at the time was about 50 or so pounds. I like that number! We catch them all year long he says.
He still has my ear. He begins to tell me that there are these fish that come here in December. They stay until March, and then they are gone again. I ask what kind of fish are you talking about. He says, Quote: GOD AUFULL FISH! I asked whadoyoumean? He says, we hook em through the ice, and we can’t control them. They are just too big, when we do hook one of these fish, the holes are too small. He says, the men that have seen them, claim the exceed sixty pounds! And some are larger. Folks, I see large fish in my area, north of Boston in second week of April when the water is around 48 degrees, when they are just starting to show up on the Vineyard, and Nantucket. They can hang around as late as June, and then they are gone again. Than we see them again in late November, than it’s over. I have taken two stripers in the thirty pound range. Thou four or five years apart in June loaded with eggs. I have more, however I don’t want to be boring! Does any one find any interest in this sort of stuff?