The paper discusses the spatial variation of the small yellow croaker (Larimichthys polyactis) fishing ground annual changes in production and the dominance of fisheries according to the capture production of fishing in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea and East China Sea from 1971 to 1982. We also compared the locations of historical fishing grounds with the present locations and time, and we explored the spatial variation and the changes in fisheries. The results shows that there are three types of small yellow croaker fishing grounds, that is the spring spawning grounds which were mainly located in coastal waters, summer feeding grounds which were concentrated on the south of Yellow Sea and the north of East China Sea, and the wintering grounds which were concentrated on the central and southern offshore of Yellow Sea and northern nearshore of the East China Sea. The capture production of small yellow croaker in Bohai Sea had declined significantly since 1974 and the capture production in East China Sea was dominant since 1979. In addition, two kinds of distribution patterns of small yellow croaker were found. One is wintersummer (Dec, Jan.-Feb. & Jul.-Sept.) pattern, composed of highquality small yellow croaker fishing grounds for the stable locations located in the central and southern offshore of Yellow Sea and northern offshore of the East China Sea in winter and in the southern nearshore of Yellow Sea and the East China Sea in summer, intensive fish and concentrated production. The other is springautumn (Mar.-Jun. & Oct.-Nov.) pattern, which was characterized by the low capture production for the small yellow croaker in the migratory period and it was not the predominant target species for capture. The spatial distribution pattern fishing grounds for small yellow croaker in 1971-1982 resemble the current, but it has important reference value to research on small yellow croaker in the characteristics of fishing grounds, fishing season and the contribution of fish distribution pattern mode.