StripedLines

When do stripers migrate?

Striped bass move north in spring and south in fall. The first fish reach New Jersey and Long Island in April, Massachusetts in May and Maine by late May. Summer is spent from New York to Maine. In fall they leave Maine and New Hampshire first, in September and October, and pass Long Island and New Jersey from October into December on the way to their winter grounds off Virginia and North Carolina.

Exact weeks move from year to year. For where the run is today, see the striper migration map.

By state, Maine to New Jersey

Each strip is the share of that state’s striper catch in each month, 2017–2024, from NOAA’s angler surveys. A dash means the survey did not run that month, not that no fish were there.

Maine

––––4%27%25%22%20%2%––

The first stripers show in May. June through September holds almost all of the year’s catch, and it is close to over by October. Most of the fish here in summer were born in the Chesapeake.

NOAA angler surveys 2017–24 · Wojtusik et al. 2025

New Hampshire

––––5%24%37%16%18%1%––

The same calendar as Maine: a few fish in May, the season from June to September, and July the busiest month.

NOAA angler surveys 2017–24

Massachusetts and Cape Cod

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Fish arrive in May. June and July are the busiest months, and the catch tapers through August and September. In fall, Hudson-born tagged fish typically left in late September while Potomac-born fish stayed through October. In one Plymouth Bay study, half the tagged fish had gone once the bay’s weekly average water fell to 62°F. Fish pass the Cape both through the Canal and outside it.

NOAA angler surveys 2017–24 · Kneebone et al. 2014 · Secor et al. 2020a · Secor et al. 2020b · Hollema et al. 2017 · Mather et al. 2025

Rhode Island

–––18%13%11%6%5%12%13%21%–

Two runs. The spring push arrives in April, and the fall run builds from September to its biggest month in November.

NOAA angler surveys 2017–24

Connecticut and Long Island Sound

––5%12%13%13%8%5%8%7%14%15%

The most even calendar on the coast: steady from April to June, quieter in summer, then busy again in November and December. Some small bass tagged at Plum Island spent the winter in Long Island Sound.

NOAA angler surveys 2017–24 · Pautzke et al. 2010

New York and Long Island

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A spring run from March into May, then the main event in fall: October and November together hold about half the year’s catch. Fish that summered in New England typically pass Long Island from October to December. Some Hudson fish live here year-round.

NOAA angler surveys 2017–24 · Secor et al. 2020b · Callihan et al. 2015 · Waldman et al. 1990

New Jersey

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A sharp spring run in April, a quiet summer, and the biggest month of the year in November, often running into December. Roanoke-born tagged fish summered off northern New Jersey and New York, then moved south from October to December.

NOAA angler surveys 2017–24 · Callihan et al. 2015 · Ng et al. 2007

When do stripers migrate south?

From September in Maine to December in New Jersey. The run does not move as one wave: a single fish can cover 15–50 miles a day, but the group advances only 4–7 miles a day because departures are spread over several weeks. They spend the winter off Virginia and North Carolina.

Secor et al. 2020b · Callihan et al. 2015 · Rothermel et al. 2020

When do stripers migrate north?

From March and April. Fish leave the winter grounds and the spawning rivers (the Chesapeake, the Delaware and the Hudson) in spring; New Jersey and Long Island see them in April, Massachusetts in May, and Maine by late May or June.

NOAA angler surveys 2017–24 · Secor et al. 2020a · Secor et al. 2020b

Does water temperature decide it?

Partly, but no study has found the fish tracking one number. Hudson fish arrived to spawn anywhere from 43°F to 53°F depending on the year, and in the only Massachusetts bay where departures were measured, half the tagged fish were still there at 62°F.

Secor et al. 2020b · Rothermel et al. 2020 · Hollema et al. 2017

How to read this page

The strips are catch, not a count of fish: more anglers fish in summer, so summer months look bigger than the fish alone would make them. The survey does not run in winter in most northern states. Each state’s months add to 100%, so compare a state’s months with each other, not one state’s numbers with another’s.

Watch your own water on the striped bass fishing conditions map, and read when stripers leave Massachusetts.

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References

  1. NOAA Fisheries 2024. Marine Recreational Information Program: striped bass total catch by state, county and month, 2017–2024. NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology.
  2. Wojtusik, K.J. et al. 2025. Sequence capture analysis determines spatial and temporal stock contributions to a mixed coastal anadromous fishery. Journal of Fish Biology. 10.1111/jfb.70168
  3. Kneebone, J. et al. 2014. Movements of Striped Bass between the Exclusive Economic Zone and Massachusetts State Waters. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 34:524-534. 10.1080/02755947.2014.892550
  4. Secor, D.H. et al. 2020. Differential migration in Chesapeake Bay striped bass. PLOS ONE 15:e0233103. 10.1371/journal.pone.0233103
  5. Secor, D.H. et al. 2020. Multiple spawning run contingents and population consequences in migratory striped bass Morone saxatilis. PLOS ONE 15:e0242797. 10.1371/journal.pone.0242797
  6. Hollema, H.M. et al. 2017. Movement patterns of striped bass (Morone saxatilis) in a tidal coastal embayment in New England. Fisheries Research 187:168-177. 10.1016/j.fishres.2016.11.006
  7. Mather, M.E. et al. 2025. Integrated patterns of residence and movement create testable hypotheses about fish feeding migrations. Scientific Reports 15:5951. 10.1038/s41598-024-79627-1
  8. Pautzke, S.M. et al. 2010. Seasonal Use of a New England Estuary by Foraging Contingents of Migratory Striped Bass. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 139:257-269. 10.1577/t08-222.1
  9. Callihan, J.L., Harris, J.E. & Hightower, J.E. 2015. Coastal Migration and Homing of Roanoke River Striped Bass. Marine and Coastal Fisheries 7:301-315. 10.1080/19425120.2015.1057309
  10. Waldman, J.R. et al. 1990. Range Dynamics of Hudson River Striped Bass along the Atlantic Coast. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 119:910-919. 10.1577/1548-8659(1990)119<0910:rdohrs>2.3.co;2
  11. Ng, C.L., Able, K.W. & Grothues, T.M. 2007. Habitat Use, Site Fidelity, and Movement of Adult Striped Bass in a Southern New Jersey Estuary Based on Mobile Acoustic Telemetry. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 136:1344-1355. 10.1577/t06-250.1
  12. Rothermel, E.R. et al. 2020. Comparative migration ecology of striped bass and Atlantic sturgeon in the US Southern mid-Atlantic bight flyway. PLOS ONE 15:e0234442. 10.1371/journal.pone.0234442