Where Do Striped Bass Live? 

If your fishing bucket list has a line on it for catching a trophy striper, you might be wondering, where do striped bass live.

The striped bass is the signature fish of North America’s east coast. If you take a boat from Newfoundland down to the Carolinas, you could fish striped bass the entire trip depending on the time of the year. 

It’s such a common and popular fish in this area that some of the states on the Atlantic coast claim it as their state fish.

That’s not where the striped bass stops. It also swims right into the Gulf of Mexico, populating the strip of ocean between Florida and Texas and migrating the Mississippi River.

Today you can even find striped bass on the west coast.   Striped bass were transplanted in the Pacific Ocean in the 1800s and are now one of the most popular species for surf fishing enthusiasts from California up to Washington.

Where is the Best Place to Fish Striped Bass? 

While the fish is relatively common in all of these locations, professional fishermen usually recommend locations on the Northeast Coast. They recommend it not only because a lot of the bass swim there but also because of the area’s scenic beauty.

You can follow the striped bass up the coast as they migrate from the Mid-Atlantic bays and rivers up to the Northeast states like Maine in the Summer.

Land locked striped bass can be found throughout the United States in major lakes and freshwater estuaries.

What Type of Water do Striped Bass Like?

You can generally catch Striped Bass only in North American waters. The critical difference is Striped Bass prefer the rocky bottom lakes and the open ocean.  You’ll usually find them in deep bodies of water that rest at temperatures below 70℉.

If you want to catch a sizable Striped Bass, they usually swim in schools and will feed both on the surface and on the bottom.