The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-06-22
A Big Fish Story.

A good fish story is always in season
and the following big yarn which thu
Springfield Republican took from the New
York Sun we seek to give broader HON,
circulation to:
''There are not as many shad caught
nowadays in all the fisheries On the Sus
quehauna river in an entire season az
were caught in one single haul of a seine
that Capt. Tom Stump made at his Havre
de Grace fishery in the spring of 1897, y
said an old Susquehanna fisherman. at
isn't likely that the size of that haul will
be believed by any one who hears of it,
but Capt. Stump's son John lives at that
same spot to-day, and he will substanti-
ate all say about it. That fishery, in
the days of it's first owner, was the largest
shad fishery in the United States. Enor-
nous catches Of shad at single haul
| were common to it, but the particular
haul l refer to was something simply
without parallel.
capt. Stump used seine at least five
miles long. 1t was stretched across the
| mouth of the Susquehanna, and extended
| down the shore below Havre dc Grace
One day in the middle of April, 1927.
| after this immense net had been stretch
| ed, a terrible gale began blowing, and for
four days and nights 1t was impossible to
do anything toward pulling the seine in,
as all the power that could have been put
on the windlasses couldn't have drawn
the net against the tide that the storm
shad could get past that net. and when
on the fourth day the wind changed and
blew up the bay, and the windlasses were
put to work hauling in the seine, it be
dened with such collection of shad as
had never got together in one net before.
''1n those days the farmers of lower
Lancaster and Chester counties used to
go all the way down to Stump's fishery
with wagons to fetch back shad, which
they peddled around the country, and
also sailed down in large quantities for
winter use. The news that the big seine
at Havre de Grace had been staked by
the gale spread through the region, and
on the day the fishermen began to haul it
in there were hundreds of wagons lining
the shores, waiting for what the farmers
felt would be an amazing haul, out of
which they could get their supplies of
shad at very low price. Usually they
had paid from $50 to s25 per 100 for the
fish. When the first instalments of the
big catch began to come in Capt. Stump
sold the shad, thousand after thousand
for "a per 100, but as the mountain of
fish began to accumulate on the Shores
he was glad to give them away by the
wagon load to all who would come and
take them off his hands. He sent mes
sengers out through all the surrounding
counties, notifying the farmers of the
situation, and soliciting them to come
and cart the fish away. The whole agri-
cultural area of Cecil and other counties
was fertllized that year with loads of as
fine shad as ever came out of water Be-
sides the shad there were herring, rock
fish, and sea bass by the ton The lowest
estimate that was made of the number of
shad that were taken in that great haul
has placed it at 10000 100.
sit doesn't seem so long ago when that
haul was made, and yet to-day there are
no shad caught on that shore. There is
no shad fishing in the Susquehanna above
Columbia any more to speak of. The
dam across the river at this place, built
to carry the Pennsylvania canal across
to the York county side destroyed the
fisheries above it so years and more ago,
as the shad could not get above it."
Now there are several points in this
story which every dweller by the noble
Susquehanna will especially appreciate.
Fifteen million shad taken at one haul at
Havre de Grace and the most of them
carted out for manure is a poser. Old
inhabitants recall many years long ago
aud even recently. when the super-abund
ance of herring, has been applied to agr-
cultural uses. Herring manure has en-
riched Cecil soil, but we call upon that
'old Susquehanna" fisherman referred
to, to rise aud say when that other rich,
grand and succulent visitor of the Sus
quehanna has ever been so wantonly de.
based. Capt. Jno. Stump, grandfather of
of Judge Fred'k Stump did take one and
a half millions of herring at one haul at
Havre de Grace in 1882. This was even
then thought ''bIg haul" and no fish
ing shore record, story, or tradition since
has excelled it. But when it comes to Is
millions shad, the mind is bewildered,
belief is staggered and the reason stun
ned. 1t has been reserved for Mr.. Chas.
A. Dana of the New York Sun, to cap
the climax of his greatest editorial
achievements by putting in print the
Jttshiest story, that the prolific genius OF
New York reporter has yet conceived.