Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-03-01
Netting Salmon In she Columbia
River.

From the San Francisco ChronIcIsl
The vessel was the ordinary trim fishing
boat. and three people and an immense net
filled It pretty well In short time we
reached the place where the net was to be
thrown out The ish run with the tide,
90 the men must work when the tide q
right, be 1t day or night, and we could see
boats all around us. some just getting the
nets out, others pulling them up and kill
ing the fish caught Ia the meshes, while
still others were coming swiftly out from
the island to begin work. As each man is
paid for the fsh he catches there Is no law
about turning out, but each starts when
ever he chooses. A smart man will be en-
the ground at the turn of the tide to make
sure Of getting the very place be considers
the best fishing ground, while an idler will
be half the tide in getting out and at bis
work. IL t-lls IN tie dsy's catch II 3 msu
is early or late
Our boat uss rei;her among the frst
nor the lat. We still hai fair choic- Of
ground, ard 10 few minutes the fsher-
man was Tossing the net over the t!de,
AID thu bnatmsu wEs rowing up tide TO al
low of the net bring spresd out as fast as
possible
The net was over one hundred feet long
and was fitted with sinkers on one edge,
while the other was supplied with line
of floats By this means l: was held In
position In the water, and formed q sort Of
fence against which The fab dashed ss they
SWAN up the stream The meshes were
rather large, and tbs small f.h were able
! to swim through and continue thsir way
up the tide, willis large ores were caught
| by the gills.
In few minutes the net was all paid
/ out, and the fshermsn sat down TO wait
| for the first fsh to get entangled In the
meshes- The boAtmsn pulled leiszrely up
! the stream and the row of bobbing hoats
I strung out behind us, looking like little
bubbles on the surface of the calm water.
Suddenly one of the bubbles was ierked
down, and In an instant the boat was
headed for the place where IL had hoated
q moment before. The fshermsn stretched
=, out over the aide of the boat and caught
: the net by the float next to where the
sunken one had been, and pulled In the
net hand over hand. A splash, furry Of
foam, and the steel-grAy head of big sal
mon appeared above the surface. The
man caught MP queer weapon, which
had noticed and wondered about, and
struck the fab q blow with the knob Of
iron on one end of the bar; then turning
IL, he thrust the hook on the other end
into the gills of the half stunned fab and,
with pull, landed his struggling captive
inside the boat Jerk freed the net,
, which sank back into its place. The big
| f.h was Hopping viciously about, and the
Z. man struck it again and agzin with his big
| iron club before 1t succumbed to Its fate.
| We often speak of eyes as having mo
| more expression than fsh's eye" but
never saw hate and anger more plainly ex-
| pressed than In the eyes Of that irst sal
mon.
Meanwhile the boat had been pulling
| rapidly down the net TO where another
loat had been dragged under. This time
the tish was nearer the surface, and the
water WAS boiling around the edge of the
net as the salmon plunged and tore around
In his efforts TO free himself from the I'M