WFN - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

FishermanTim · 10-19-2009, 10:17 AM

Ain't evolution a gas?
As the fish expand their horizons, they will gradually adapt to the cooler water. It may result in an expanded range for the fish, and an expanded season for us. The drawback might be a slower growth rate, but I can't say for sure since I'm not a biologist.
(I'm just using existing knowledge compiled from studies of freshwater bass comparing north vs. south growth rates.)

I do know they have found spawning bass in the Mystic River, so it is possible.

MakoMike · 10-19-2009, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FishermanTim

I do know they have found spawning bass in the Mystic River, so it is possible.

Where did you read that?

FishermanTim · 10-19-2009, 01:55 PM

It was "reported" last year that a survey done in the Mystic River to gauge the water quality found young striped bass as part of the sample population.
Juvenile stripers don't migrate until they reach a certain age/size limit.
The fish that were caught in the Mystic River were very small, too small to have migrated from southern waters.
The river runs down from the Lower Mystic Lake, where there had been reports of stripers being taken from the ice, so there is the possibility that the bass may have been holding over and spawning there. I wish I had documented proof, but unfortunately most of what I have heard was via this website, so it must be taken with a grain of salt.

There was a story in On the Water magazine about the author catching a striper there on Thanksgiving, so I may be correct to some degree.

MartinD18 · 10-20-2009, 05:19 AM

Actually that fishery in the St. Johns is nothing new - I've seen pics of 20 lb. fish taken through the ICE on the upper part of that river. There is definitely a spawning population there and in a couple other rivers along the Bay of Fundy - also (and this is amazing) an entirely separate population, though not what it was decades ago, in some of the rivers that flow into the mouth of the St. Lawrence in upper New Brunswick. There was a time when the salmon fishermen in the famous rivers of that area were very concerned that the stripers were eating too many baby Atlantic salmon in the lower parts of the rivers. I think OTW did a story with some cool pics of fishing in St. Johns and other rivers north of Maine a few years ago, written by a local up there.