Migrations of Striped Bass Occurring in Tomales Bay

Plant, Richard

Data from a study conducted during the 1960s. Contains a map of SF Bay and San Pablo Bay showing the results of where the tagged fish were caught. The objective of this study was to learn about the migrations of striped bass, Roccus saxatilis, found in Tomales Bay, California. Between December 1963 and May 1966, 94 striped bass were caught on sport tackle and tagged with disk-dangler tags using methods de-scribed by Chadwick (1963). An additional 113 bass were caught in gill nets and tagged in December 1964 and February 1965. Tag return data from 65 fish were received as of July 1968. Forty-six (70.7%) of these fish were caught in Tomales Bay. Fifteen (23.0%) were recaptured in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system and San Francisco Bay. Four fish (6.3%) were caught in the ocean near Pacifica. The times of recapture outside Tomales Bay varied widely, but eight bass, almost half the outside recaptures, were recaptured either in San Pablo Bay or upstream during April and May of different years. Also, four striped bass tagged and released in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system in the springs of 1958, 1960, 1961 and 1966 were recaptured in Tomales Bay. (Figure 1). Thus, at least some of the striped bass occurring in Tomales Bay participate in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta spawning migration described by Calhoun' (1952).

Migrations of Striped Bass Occurring in Tomales Bay

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