The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-04-17
YARfETIEs or sHAD.
An, Old Fisherman ON, Fishing.

Il T q
| .'Yes,'' said an old fisherman at Glou-
cester, ssTm an old shadder or Wouldn't
| be here lawaitin' for shad fies. The
seasons d commencin' and we're git.
tin 'em from Caroliny now, $11.50 q
piece and 80 ON up and down. accordin'
1 to size Shad don't git up here afore
the last of April. You'h know it by
the shad flies. just IS soon IS you ses
them buzzin' around you'll smell the
fried roe Yes, used to be regular
professional shaddef. Why, bless you.
I've been a-snaddin' up the Amazon
River, but. the regular shad business is
ON our coast, and If you'll git on the
old Dominion steamers bound for Flor
Ida ia the Fall you'll find the steerage
fall sbf shadders goin' down for the
| season-rough lookln' men To- see, but
the solid grit OF Jersey, Philadelphy
and Connecticut, and. though they go
half rates, thoy often have thousand
dollars worth Of seins and shad nets
aboard. They divides up generally,
some goin' to tho ST. Marys and the
rest to the ST. Johns ]. This is about as
far South as they git. AS just below
| there Is no regular way OF shippin'
North. Shad tisnin' in the st. Johns
commences about December l, and /
team tell yea It's lively there fora few
months ~ ~ ---a SO &-s I
| ..Shad are a curious fish and hard to
git at but I've seen 'em rise to fly
1 Just like front The Government has
spent good many thousand dollars in
trying TO introduce 'em into Connccti-
cut watcrs, where they are, of course.
found to some extent, but mills and
factories, OF various kinds drive 'em
fott. There's one kind of shad called
tho Gizzard, that the first / ever caught
nearly scairt the life out of me. 1 got
u little seine round about 200, and the
minute I got 'em above water there
commenced the durndest whirrin' and
whizzin' you ever heard. First l
thought somethin' was aAyin' over
head, but it was them fish. every one
of 'em talkin' away for dear life. l
fclt more like chuckin' of 'em back
You can tell 'em by the spine OH their
backs. But the finest shad in the
world" continued the old man. getting
up and opening box. lis the jew
fish. There is one of the scales" he
added. handing out magnificent scale
as large as the open. palm and gleam-
ing like q new silver dollar. "rhere
amt one man out of ten but what
reckons that the silversis poured on to
it; but it ain't. and is as natural as
life. But the tish-why just imagine
fish six to eight feet long, shaped like
shad and blazin' all over with them
silver scales. When they jump out of
the water thcy'r re like a streak of MOON
/ light coming through kcyhole.
They're SO powerful. that there's only
one man in the United States that has
ever shown the spirit to catch one with
rod and line. His name is Jones and
he lives in Philadelphia. In the St
Johns, when jew fish takes hold,
why, you want to haul in the anchor
and let go, and he'll haul you for all
Ihc's worth. I've seen one tip over
small boat. And jump! Why, they
jump into the air twenty feet. No,
they ain t up to a shad In way of taste,
the flesh bein' little coarser, but you
wouldn't call jew flesh bad, can tell
YOU ~ - @ .@
South American shad were a shad.
The natives call EN- Picunras and they
shoot them with bow and arrows. Tho
4 first time ever saw 'em was up the
lAmazon on tradin' schooner, and
Iwhen we worked up into o narrow
tbranch of q river we came to q sort of
Ia village of fishermen. Seein' one of
the boats goin' out asked ii couldn't
go along. They didn't have II sign Of
a hook-nothin' but bow and arrows.
They pulled or padded for about an
hour, bringin' the boat into a large
shallow lake, and it wasn't long afore
they sighted fish by the ripple on the
water. In another minute one of the
men had put an arrow into 1t, and q
fish that ''ll take my aftidsvy- was
Involve foot long slept into the air and
came down with such a crash you'd
thought the waves would have tipped
the canoe over. but Oft 1t Went, we af-
ter it. aud the chap in the bow a send
in in arrows whenever he got chance,
until four or i've was q stickin' out OF
the water. After while we got along
side and they put spear into it and
held on by the rope, and the way that
fish towed us wasa caution. / thought
tho cuss never would give up, but at
last they got him into shoal water.
And how do you suppose they got him
into the .boatP Why, all hands tum-
bled out, got overheard. and the canoe
was sunk and the fish tloated in and
then she was bailed out. That beat
all the labor saving machines l ever
see. Them yeller chaps was actually
Itoo lazy to lift the fish. 1T was rouser,
though, and weighed nigh on to 500
pounds. with scales like steel armor.
They never git up this way-it's too
Ifar-but United States shad is good
enough for me-" he added, in COZ
! GlusiCs. ~ Phiiddetphid Times