News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-06-18
JERSEY SHAD FISHERS.
HOW THEY TAKE THE FISH FROM
THE WATERS OF THE DELAWARE.

HOW THEY TAKE THE FISH FROl
J THE WATERS OF THE DELAWARE.
. The Mode of Hauling a Net of 1,200 Fee
Long and 80 Feet Deep-The GlOuceste
, Fishermen and their Planked Shad Din
ners.
d A crowd of men and women stoot
upon the sandy beach and watched ,
, score of oarsmen pull an immense flat
! boat out into the Delaware River.
great wooden windlass lowered upward
from the beach. One end of a rop'
! was made fast to it. The other wa.
aboard the boat, and the rope was paid
out over the stern as the men pulled
e away from the shore. The boat was 6
curious-looking object, shaped very
much like the mud scows that attend 8
! dredging machine. The oarsmen were
nearly all colored men, and they pulled
with the regularity of a man-of-war's
crew. The boat was very heavy, and
the progress made was slow. Half a
mile or so from the shore it stopped,
and the men rested on their oars.
While the crowds on the strip of sand
were watching the boat an ancient
mariner sat in little hut hidden from
sight around bend. He was bent and
wrinkled with age. He wore an old
tarpaulin upon his head and oilskin
trousers encased his legs. There was
little pool of water in the hut which
trickled in from the river. The old
mans eyes were intently fixed upon a
little splinter of wood that was stuck in
the ground at the waters edge. 1t was
tide marker, and from many years OF
experience the man in the tarpaulin
could tell the instant that the current
had ceased running up the river. When
the water no longer climbed up the
splinter he rushed from the hut, seized
flag and waved it frantically.
The men in the boat had been wait
ing for the signal, aud the moment it
was given twenty oars fell into the
water with a splash. They gave way
together, and the old scow circled and
headed up stream. The rope running
out over the stern gave place to a net,
and its progress was marked every few
feet by great corks, which bobbed up
and down upon the tiny waves. 1t was
a shad net, the largest on the Delaware
River, and 2, 100 feet of it ran out before
the end was reached. Sinkers carried
the lower edge fifty feet below the sur
face. The net covered a surface of over
100, 900 square feet, and the fish between
it and the shore had but slim chances of
escape.
When the immense net had all run
out the scow was headed in shore again.
The boat was much lighter now and
progress faster. 1t few minutes it
touched bottom. Two or three men in
oilskin suits jumped into the water,
caught the end of the rope, and ran
with it to another great windlass long
distance up the beach from the first
one. Then the fun began. Horses
dragged each windlass around to the
continual crack of the whip and the
jeers of the fishermen, and at each turn
the ends of the net were brought nearer
the shore.
1t was a long and tedious task, but
the great crowd on the beach watched it
intently. The moment the ends had
touched the shore, many rods apart, the
fishermen waded in and walked out with
them. The moment one man had
reached dry land he let go his hold and
jumped back into the water to get a
fresh start The line of merry negroes
was like an endless chain-it was never
broken.
The hardest work of all was Juggling
the great net ashore. 1t described an
immense semi circle, reaching from one
windlass far out into the river and back
to the second windlass. All fish within
this semi circle were now hopeless pris-
oners, for the net reached from the
surface to the liver bottom and dragged
over it. Gradually the curved line |
fpY cd Inv no hnl
in size and the men at either end slowly |
approached each other as they dragged
the net upon the sand, inspired by negro |
melodies. Some old fishermen, with |
sticks in their hands, pranced up and |
down the beach, knocking clam shells |
and stones from the meshes. The quick |
eye of the net member caught every tear |
or break, and his nimble fingers caught |
up the loose ends in a twinkling.
The excitement on shore grew as the
bulging net was dragged in. After an
hours hard work the two lines of men
had nearly met in a bunch, and the |
spectators crowded about to see with |
their own eyes the result of the haul. |
Now and then there was flash in the |
sunlight and a splash as a shad threw |
himself out of the water and fell back |
again. The bottom of the net was |
hauled upon the land, and what little |
remained in the water formed scoop, |
in the narrow confines of which the fish /
were darling back and forth in their
efforts to escape. A curious boat, decked |
over and sunk SO that but few inches
were visible, was towed up to the net.
Anger holes through the sides allowed
the water to circulate freely. Then the
fishermen waded in, caught the slippery
fish in their hands and threw them into
the boat in pairs. Some of the shad
went to the hotels on the beach, but the
greater number were towed up the river
to Philadelphia, where, still alive, they
supply the markets.
Nowhere is planked shad better than
at this quaint old New Jersey town.
First of all, the waiter ushers you into
room overlooking the water, and steam
ers and sailing vessels, dragged by puff
ing and shrieking tugs, go by within
rifle shot. Then he brings in piece of
plank, perhaps two feet long and three
or four inches thick, upon which the
split shad is nailed. The fish has been
cooked upon this plank, which is charred
and black from long use, while standing
before bed of live Goals. There is no
grease about this fish. There is no oil
to soak into it and make it fat and
soggy. All that has been tried out by |
the process of cooking, and the piece
which the waiter cuts and puts, smok-
ing and steaming. upon plate is such
a dainty morsel that the Gloucesterians
have perfect right to boast of it. With
the shad come hot waffies, vegetables,
fruit. and coffee, and this is
what is known as planked shad dinner.
The experience costs you S1.50, and it is
worth the money. The hotels coin
money while the season lasts. 1t Is
over on the 10th of June, and then the
big net must be put away, according to
law, until next April.
The nets are hauled on the turn of the
tide day and night On Sunday alone
there is no fishing, and one day out of
seven the shad have a chance for life.
From midnight on Saturday to midnight
Of Sunday fish wardens patrol the river
in boats. If the shad escape the big
net at Gloucester they must run the
gauntlet atsthe fishery above Camden
and at smaller ones up the river to
Trenton.
The Length of Human Life.