Prey and Feeding strategies

Striped Bass are opportunistic feeders eating whatever is available. Their diet varies with their developmental stage. Adults feed on many vertebrate species including fishes and on invertebrate species including worms, crabs, mussels, and squid. The composition of Striped Bass stomach contents depends on many factors including, age, size, habitat, time of year and the availability of a particular food source.

Feeding strategies

When small fish such as peanut bunker (small menhaden seen below) or silversides are threatened by predators such as the striped bass, they pack tightly together and form what is termed a “bait ball.” The use of drones has helped show that different fish predators use different strategies attacking the bait ball.

The following video shows some of the major striped bass prey in the northeast.

This drone video was taken by Simon Miner just outside “The Gut” and adjacent to Penzance Point in Woods Hole. Gulls and a boat converge on a large concentration (bait ball) of peanut bunker (small menhaden). The bait ball can be seen as a dark area that keeps changing in conformation as striped bass and false albacore feed on the prey. The sea gulls and terns congregate as the predators drive the menhaden to the surface. Focus on the splashes of the predators breaking through the surface and use the gulls as a guide to the greatest activity.