Jenn and Chris,
They are indeed lean "racers" that are the predominant type of fish we find in RI and MA waters. These fish should weigh in at 35 - 40 pounds, but they are more likely to be 20 to 30 pounds.
Note the square tales, big heads (now you know where there nickname "Old Green Head" comes from) and shoulders that don't fill out very much...and no big bellies.
Here is an excerpt from a Discovery article:
Bryan Taplin, an environmental scientist in the Atlantic Ecology Division of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has witnessed the destruction of all the large schools of menhaden by purse seiners in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. During the last two decades he has also studied changes in the diet of striped bass in the bay by analyzing the carbon isotope signature of their scales. What he has discovered is a steady shift away from fat-rich menhaden to invertebrates that provide considerably lower nutritional value. That has been accompanied by a loss of muscle and a decrease in the weight-to-length ratio of striped bass. The bass that remain in Narragansett Bay, says Taplin, are "long skinny stripers" that have been forced to shift their diet because "the menhaden population has crashed to an all-time low."
For the full article, check out
http://www.discover.com/sept_01/featfish.html
Anyone care to guess where these fish were filmed? It's a famous spot...can't you tell
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