Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-02-06
FISHING ON THE POTOMAC.

FISHING ON THE POTOMAC.
a letter from Comorn, King George
county, to the Richmond Dispatch says
Rain, hail, shine, or blow,' the first
week in February finds many a Potc-
mac fisherman overhauling his seines,
nets, boats, and other paraphernalia,
preparatory to the spring fishery. And
to thus set things in order is no trifing
undertaking. Many miles of seine
must be mended and tarred, many nets
repaired and hung" and the boats,
from the lookout mans tiny skiff to
the huge seine boat. which is propelled
by twenty-four able-bodied men, must
all be inspected and put in perfect order
for the season 80 soon to open.
Fishing On the Potomac is business
of no inconsiderable magnitude, and
affords lucrative employment for q
goodly number of men and boys, who
know but little about teamwork and
who would be idle but for this import.
ant enterprise. However, many of the
seine fisheries are not now operated on
as extensive a scale as they were in
years gone by. Several dozen strong
men and half dozen horses, with
well-equipped outfit, now successfully
operate the average small fishery.
Years ago from rs to 100 picked
men and couple of dozen horses were
required to operate frst-class Po-
tomac spring fishery. A seine two
miles long was placed on platform in
49, of l,,uo hoof nna and
of the seine was attached to huge ropes,
"made fast" on the shore, and twenty
seven to thirty men would start out
with the boat to clay the seine out. " AT
ter circuit of several miles the boat
and crew would return to point on
the shore, some distance below the
starting point. Ropes attached to the
last end Of the seine we're then made
fast" to capsten, a machine to whose
levers number of horses were attach
ed. For hours and hours the horses
tugged at this machine, steadily wind
ing in the great net laden with thou
sands, sometimes millions, of fish of
nearly every variety in the Potomac
waters. The intense excitement and
wild hurrahs at the moment when the
immense seine and its burden would
first come in sight may be better i'm
agined than described.
When the railroad facilities were
meagre and imperfect it was common
custom for the people of Piedmont and
the Valley OF Virginia to come down
here every spring in large covered
four horse wagons to buy their annual
supply of the proverbial Potomac
herring" Then it was no uncom-
non thing for train Of these
mountain wagons" to camp all night
near the fshilg shore, and while the
jovial Piedmont citizens waited for
their turn" 10 come, or for "haul''
20 be made in order to fill their orders,
the proprietor of the big fishery would
feast them not only on the ''fat of the
land" but the best that the water con-
tanned, and cold ryen in abundance. Of
course, in many respects the habits and
customs have changed, and the Poto-
lnac fishery of to-day is not what it was
twenty years ago, hut even now it's
"monstrosity" to people living far away
from the Potomac. The outfits of to-
uay are noU as larSe as tney were Wneu
Potomac herrings sold readily for SO
per thousand, and when it was not un
common to catch rock fish weighing
from thirty to fifty pounds. The largest
seine on the Potomac several years ago
was said to be eight miles long, and
was drawn onto the shore by means of
steam engine. The largest in this
section now can be drawn ashore, when
full of fish, by perhaps thirty or forty
men and few horses. The past fall
and present winter fisheries have not
been very profitable. The low price of
fish prior to Christmas discouraged
many of the fishermen, and the busi-
ness was suspended until the time
arrived to make preparations for the
spring fisheries.