The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-27
WILD ABOUT STURGEON.
LONG ISLAND FISHERMEN sTRUCE
BY A NEW FEVER.
They Have Just Discovered That There IL BiE
Money In the fish They Have Becp Despis-
ina for Years. and SO There IL n Rush TO 60
into tho Busiuess-nig Catches Reported.

Ina for Hrnra, and SO There II u Rush TO GO
into tho Hsusiness-Dig Catches Reported.
Occasionally, In each summer season for
many years past, the Long Island fishermen
who have set their nets far out at sea have
found in the nets sturgeon Of great size and
strength. When such captures have been made
1t has not been the custom of the fishermen to
10 into ecstasies, for n sturgeon In a bluefsh
not Is as undesirable as the proverbial bull In the
china shop. A young sturgeon In o catch has
always meant q savory dish for the fishermen
and their families, and that has been tho usual
disposition Of those wayfarers when they have
allowed themselves TO DO shared In traps laid
for others. But to pamper the appetite at tho
! expense Of delicate nets has never been a prao-
tice in favor with tho ocean fishermen, and tho
sturgeon has for oil those years been practically
an outcast and a wandercr, so far az the waters
of Long Island were concerned.
Looking Mt 1t now, with q full knowledge Of
the presence at this season Of sturgeon in great
numbers along the Long Island coast, and Of
tho tremendous profits TO those with enough
capital TO rig out tho proper gear, II seems
strange that tho men Of Long Island, whose
whole lives have been devoted to fishing, and
whose fathers and grnndfnthcrs before them,
did not take up the catching OF sturgeon before,
for the sake Of the expensive meat and even
moro costly caviar. There Is no reason to
doubt that the sturgeon have run along that
coast in great numbers for many years. Never.
thelcss, 1t didn't occur to the Long Islanders
that they had great quantities OF tho valuable
fish at hand, until " calculating landsman sug.
gcstcd that they make a try for them.
The Long Islanders tried, and now the stur.
gcon foyer has coine on them in the same way
that the gold fever struck the West in 10 and
the South African Investment fcvcrs have hit
London timn and again in a decade. With no
experience to figure with. the fishermen cannot
tell now long the %stureeon will run. They arc
plentiful now and each day sees big catches. far
any of The woiI-known sturgeon grounds IN tho
last few years. The falling oil ot the catches
nj tho other places has been directly responsi.
ole for the experimenting on Long Island. and
be the mos, prolific sturgeon iieEiIns Froinnd in
fish. to say nothing of innumerahle Kegs Of tho
precious caviar, have been already taken Off
the catch, when cleaned and ready for the mar,
ket, which means that about a third Of each fsh
That days haul was the biggest yc. made 10y
the Long Islanders; still they hope 70 beat It
ten boats, were engaged, and they, alone and
u%naided, brought the $50 tish ashore.
and is a brief one. Nevertheless. II is interest
ing; The smoking and canning OF sturgeon
tically confined to one concern here in the
East. During the past few years the catches
psr1 i Hsri;'f as s' resaris "a the F Peina H,'fap pb, Mhi4fhi
are the NOR" valuable on account Of the roe.
About one roe in a dozen is III to use, and so the
Gamers have had anything but a satisfactory
supply. Last years catch is said To have beer
80 poor that the concern which monopoiizcs the
to Long Island TO look over the ground. The
exGeTt went 70 Am,gansett. made i%nlnir.es,
Islanders when they told him of the occasional
captures Of sturgeon in the blucfieh nets. -,
dom A&fd Ghy ! &Sm : yOt th sS for more lnS 'i moSey in 1t It
than in blueish.'
they hadn't gone for sturgeon before. The fact
was, they didn't know anything about the mar.
ket for stursenni They we're willing, to make
q try for the fish, however, and while a num-
canning concern, olbers risked their own money
III the purchase OF gear, prrfcrrIng 10 make tho
profits themselves, If there were any to be
made.
of a special pattern, they are expensive, and
few OF the Long Islanders cared to puruha7 Is
msas to S2 e sip Ginning w sDmDo1 The r HIhsH tbs a.hsr.
men 1t employed was to pay; them & cents u
taking the roo at that rate, III payment for the
they should not sell their eaten 10 anybody else.
1t was on May 10 that the fishing began, and
the catch that day was very successful. Dur
ing the rest OF the week it was very large, and
then it began to be whispered about among tho
residents OF the Island engaged in other trades
than fishing, that al the tishermen were on the
road to wealth. The catches were greatly cX-
aggerated and about 50 cents tackled on 10 the
actual prices paid for the meat and roe. The re.
s suit ,b w1 n,r quite ~ ,S |" 'I n,aE S STG,I bsa .1tr and ion. rush h
fishing before in their lives, to get nets from
the canning company. The company had
perienced men any way.
All the competent men had been gobbled up
by the company or by those who had gone into
lie business without The aid Of the company, and
many farmers with money which they were
unable TO 20 ahead owing to the lack of crews.
The season has gone on up to The present time
without any additions to the fishing force, al.
though the catches are increasing right along,
and everybody in West Hampton, QuoRuc,
Amngansett. and other place. along the coast
put out nets of his own.
In small places like those named it takes
very little 10 stir up the whole population. and
ju-t at present sturgeon is the one topic, II
you go into West Hampton, which is really the
central, point and from which place two.thirds
talking OF much else than the sturgeon catch oi
the day before and that day. The fishermen
themselves arc the onIy ones who are not doing
much talking. They are satisfied that they
have struck a good thing, and they mean 70
that only losses await the farmers who are
talking Of going into sturgeon fishing. because
perienccd men. 1t Is no easy matter for old
Fishermen, they, say, to haul sturgeon weighing
in a heavy sea without cupoizing the boat; For
inexperienced men, they say, II would be I'M
BB SSn ncces l@rSo to S5nS load enS sd ss.sS OF G The Sar Il ha -
hca lily that they have come near TO going over,
and on one occasion Capt. J.. f.. Tuthili, who
operates his own ncts, had to seEd n dOry to the
assistance Of an incoming. boat on account OF
the tremendous weight Of the catch.
The average daily eaten s.ncc the season
opened has been about four Nah 10 n boat
Very few Of these have been less than a hundred
pounds in weight, and most of them have beer
over two hundred. On Saturday, II week ago
Charles Graham caught one that weighed 400
pounds, Prior to that the biggest catches had
been one OF $40 pounds, caught In Capt. Tut
hills nots, and one OF $50 pounds, caught by
Capt. Frank &. Rogers.
The great catch Of n week ago was princi
palIy landed by the West Hampton men. vii
nam Ntcho!s, win two boats aud two crews
brought in iitty-lwO Nh, Capt. TUthills boa
had twcnty.cignt, VIII" nc OF Capt. ~ltYgcrs,
boats caught fourteen I'D the other aixtCcn
the remaining forty were caught or QuOsu,
by William Gilmore. Out OF this entire catcl
there were not ton good rocs, but tho iisher
men were satia fled to send iitty-tnrcc barrels
with an average OF over 200 ponnds 10 the bar
rel, of tho meat to this city on Tuesday, TO say
nothing OF IA half dozen kegs Of caviar.
A sun reporter who went 70 West Hampton
the sturgeon fishing. lIlo boarding house mis-
trees explained that II had more than made vi
f-. IA. AZ .tt.t. IN lar tn rf pIl - Ind ~ -