The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-07
ENORMOUS HAULS OF FISH.
HERRING USED As FERTILIZER IN
VIRGINIA THIS YEAR.

Part of Virginia A Traditional
Terror.
Washington Letter in New York Sun.
L thought I had seen big fishing in my
time, said Western man who has spent
the spring months in Virginia, but it was
all amateur work and ehids play COM
pared with the fishing on Chesapeake bay
and the Lower Potomac. Few strangers.
al any rate Western men, can have the
faintest idea of what good fishing is until
they take in this bay and its tide waters.
I thought 1 had seen large catches of
white fish in Lake Michigan, but they
could not be compared with the hauls l
have seen lately. The white fish is a no
bic fish. 1t is 20 Chicago what the shad
is to New York, but shad fishing near
New York and fishing for the whitefsh
in the great lakes cannot compare with
any kind of fishing here.
MY first idea of big catches was form
ed twenty years ago at Geneva lake,
which is now a summer resort for Chica-
go people. II is IN Wisconsin, and is
known best as the size of the astronomical
observatory that contains the great
Yerkes telescope In this little body of
water in the first ten days Of every June
there is a run of cisco. This is a fish
that resembles the herring does not grow
large, and is regarded Is a delicacy. For
long time it was supposed 10 be conhn-
ed, in the Northwest, to Lake Superior
and Geneva lake, but now it is found in
the small lake at ConOmowoc. us pres
ence in the Geneva water supported the
! theory of a subterranean river from Lake
Superior-A river that formerly swept.
wide and strong, the full length of Illinois
10 the Ohio. The idea was that the cisco
came by this underground channel in
June and then returned, when not caught;
for it is almost Impossible to find a cisco
at any other time. His fancy for dark
places was supposed to indicate his under
ground habit. During his season howev-
er, the fish does not try to conceal him
self. The farmers for miles around leave
their agricultural pursuits for DAYS of
profitable sport. They back their wag-
ons into the lake and with hand nets
scoop up the fish. The cisco does not ex-
actly climb up the wheels, but he makes
no trouble about being caught. The line
nshermen who are a all sportive find him
| too easy.
AS there is d ready, even eager market
/ Ill Chicago and in Milwaukee for the fish
| the amphibious farmer makes a good thing
| cf 1t, besides having the fun The grangers
u lA4eaA IcSlOAi dI < gwen TO sac
anyhow, being impatient of the beaten
paths 10 wealth few years ago Wiscon-
SIN river pearls found q place in the Jewel
market and incredible finds were reported
wherever the gentle mussel reposed A
great rush was made for the streams of
the state On the banks of every river and
creek the farmers encamped with their
families and not a mGssel shell escaped. An
! occasional perfect pearl was found but
as a whole it was waste of effort and il
eliminated the mussel. But cisco fishing
pays for few days.
me Spectacle of a procession of wa
CONS loaded with the shining fish is i'm
! pressive, but II is tame an comparison with
the display made by a single haul Of
Chesapeake or Potomac seine in the her
ring season. The shad here is larger. firm
er, and more abundant than anywhere
else ms year, especially, the catch of
every KIND of fish has been great. After
the shipments are made to the larger mar
kets and the small fish dealers have flied
their SAL boats, one can buy a huge roe
shad for 10 cents al any fishery along the
river or bay, But ir is the countless tons of
herring that astoqnd the inland stranger
Many of the fishermen refused to draw
their seines this season fearing the enor-
nous mass of fish would tear them 10
strings. Those who managed to SCOOP up
boat-loads cf herring did not know what
to do with them. The near markets were
glutted. Finally the fish were disposed of
in an a way to break the hear of man
who thought about the poor that needed
them as food The large fresh, firm her
ring, glltteri1g like Furnished silver. were
sold al the price S. for every 100 bushels
TO be used to fertilizer the red soil of Viz
gsnia- The owners Of the few large. estates
along the river buried hundreds of bushels
iii great holes, intending to spread the
mass ever the fields in the autumn. The
small farmers including the negroes who
own their homes and a few acres plough
ed Their into the soil 1t is said this win
enrich the land more than any Of the fer
tilizere of commerce. There has never
been any lack of oyster shells for the soil.
as the only cost is in hauling them from
the shore.
The stranger is surprised not only by the
enormous number and prodigious size Of
the shad and herring caught at a single
haul, but quite much by the length of
the seines A seine a mile long is by no
means unusual. The man of sportive ten
denotes has his blood bounding in the
spring months, for the quack of the can
vas-back is forever in the air. Almost
from Mount Vernon TO the sea every bay
and inlet has Its blinds, from which the
duck hunter may knock over as many
birds as his weary dogs can gather in
Every farmer is also a sportsman and
has his breech-loader, hiss boat and his
decoy ducks which are painted every
season. The planting of mere crops is Of
ten suspended because of the quacks that
mingle with the petulant cries OF the gull
and the croak of the buzzard. There is
more profit in the sale of ducks than in
following the plough. Many Of the indus
trious negroes have their sailboatg in
which they go down TO the bay fisheries
where they load up with shad herring
and terrapin for the town market This
spring duck meat was cheaper than the
of az ho
sides shad and herring, an almost num-
berless variety of other fishes abound in
these waters. They include rockfsh. bass.
perch, sturgeon, sheepshead, club, spots.
Spanish mackerel, crabs. Holsters. and
other things unknown to the Western
man. The Potomac and the smaller fish
water streams are well stocked with many
fine varieties. The Potomac fishermen
however, think a grave mistake was made
when the German carp was planted here.
This fish was alleged to be nearly as good
as brook trout, but nobody along the
Il he