The Cecil Whig., 1881-05-21
A Few Hours on the FISHERY.

Having hrc'l engaged III The :i-hery hu,i-
hess some fit. years ago, sill feel an III
'er"sr in revi>iIing the Bulls Mountain fish
,ries, and renewing my recoilrrtinns OF ih.
tents Of earlier wears. aud .mrrllau"e II
| meeting some actor in the events OF hos
| lays. Tn Thursday last went 20 the Noun
ain, and visited the fisheries OF ". J VIII
| son X Go. and j. {. Crothers.
| There has been much chang since r!shed
there, and indeed was puzzled to point out
the location OF the former buildings on the
| Mountain fishery the present ones being
| much farther down the stream. Fish are
nos so plentiful as formerly, bur the Seines
IRE much longer, ana horse power is applied
| To assist in drawing them ashore.
! used TO think that the day would come
! WHEN steam power would be used in haul
ing in the seineS, and also for laying them
| ont, hut have not heard that any trial has
| been made. There was objection to steam
| IN the account that the noise would frighten
the fish away, but one OF the greatest her.
| ring fisheries in former years. WAS the In
! 'iian Cabin on the Elk river side of Turkey
| Point, where steamboats, We're passing and
! repassing daily. This shore was tishea nany
wears by Harlan & Lakeland.
The fishermen say that the run of herringS
| has been better this season than for several
years, but tie price has been so low that
there was no money in the business, and in
deed there is 4 great falling off from one
dollar per hundred to thirty or forty cents
The method Of sailing aid curing herringS
is the sam" As formerly; but Baltimore
which was, at one time, called the greatest
market for salt fish in America, and where
| one hundred and twenty-five thousand bar
relS OF herrings We're inspected in one sea
son, has now very limited supply of salted
herrings.
No corn songs We're heard among the
colored hands; their inspiration has been
seriously affected by local option; no jigger
is carried around. The fisheries used to he
Il prolific source of drunkenness. Formerly,
when sucln multitudes of men about the
head of the bay were engaged in fishing,
farming was much neglected in the spring
of the year. which is an important season,
and once lost cannot he repaired that wear.
| foand one old fisherman ut Mr.. Will
sons, Perry Thompson, who had tiShed for
my father at the Mountain fifty years ago.
Perry said he had heer fishing every season
since that time but of the old hands few
remain. | know of but two besides Perry
Dick Thompson, of Galena, and John Pen
mock, of Elk Neck
The day was on the shore j. {. CrotherS
caught 900 shad at Il haul, and the day be-
fore Mr.. Wilson caught 1900 at one haul.
This is doing very well. The largest haul
ever saw at the Mountain was $500 Shad,
which, l think, was in 1881. The price OF
shad. when fislIed there was six dollars
per hundred. They are now selling at ten
dollars per hundred, which is lower than
usual of late years, and the run of the Shad
is better now in size than formerly, when
the Mountain shad were generally small.
The boat of the Fish Commissioners was
lying off the Mountain and three of the
men came ashore in their professional cos
tune, carrying galvanized pans, and made
straghtway for the shad when the haul was
landed, and selecting three slad, carried
them of to the pans, and mixed up some
spawn and milt in a pan, dipped in little
water filling the pan an inch deep, So that
young shad may increase and fill the great
waters, producing such an amount of brain
food that the people may lie enlightened
enough ~ appreciate the incalcuable benefit
of the Fish Commission. NJ.