The times., 1900-12-23
FISH OF THE CHESAPEAKE
A Wide Industry Ever Present in
the Great Southern Bay.
Methods of shippers in Capturing
Gnmey Members of the PiscntoriaI
FamiIy-Sturseon and Turtle Free
quentIy Fall Into the Nets Spread
for Anything Supplied With Fins.


shipped from Norfolk or Old Point Com
fort. and when cne realizes that the Gov
ernment pie: at the latter place is the
largest on the Atlantic Coast, and fur
I nishes accommodations for the landing OF
| seven large steamers at one time, some
/ idea may be obtained of the possibilities
/ of such a shipping port adjacent to such
: important grounds as are furnished by
the bay itself, Hampton Roads and the
! Atlantic Ocean off Hatteras in the vicin-
ity of the Gulf Stream. When it is re-
membered further that the vessels give
I direct and rapid transportation to Rich
mond Baltimore. Washington. Philadel-
phia, New York, Boston, and other cities.
one cannot deny the commercial impor-
tance of the fishing industry Of the Ches-
apeake.
Early in March the bluefsh feet Starts
out from New York-from thirty-two TO
fifty schooners or "smacks." OF from
twenty-five to one hundred tons burden.
A few, more hardy or daring than the
rest, lead the way. They stop at Old
Point to try the temperature of the water,
for bluefish cannot live in water colder
than As degrees Fahrenheit, and then
after taking on ice and twenty or thirty
thousand menhaden, or "bunkers," for
bait, the smacks proceed to cruise off
Hatteras.
That skipper who Immediately finds a
warm spot where the hluefish will bite,
is lucky person. for the first bluefsh
fetch as much as dollar apiece. An ex-
pert fisherman has been known to catch
thousand six-pound fish in seven hours,
a good average catch being three hundred
in five hours. When a warm spot is found
from fifty to a hundred feet in diameter
and the fish are seen to be plentiful, the
dories, of which every smack carries
seven or eight, are sent out, each manned
by two men. Some bunkers are thrown
into the bait-mill and ground into small
ter. making a greasy place called
Slick" and tempting the fish within reach
of the hooks which are baited with larger
pieces of bunker. AS soon as fish fas-
tens himself TO hook, the fisherman, by
dextrous twist of the wrist, throws
the line over an unhooker tan arrange
ment like bootjack fastened to the seat),
and the fish falls into the boat. The cap
tain of the smack, who is watching his
dories through a glass. sends boat 10
relieve them of their loads, so that the
busy fishers need not stop work. The
fish are Immediately dressed and stored
with shaved Ice in boxes prepared for
them in the lower hold. When three or
four thousand are obtained, the smack
weighs anchor and sails for Norfolk or
Old Point, where the fish are repacked in
barrels and shipped to their destination
by fast freight, thus avoiding the long
sail to New York The wholesale price
of biuefsh varies from 4 to 10 cents
pound according to season and abund-
ance.
The bluefish travel north as the warm
weather approaches, at the rate of about
three miles a day. and the smacks fol-
low them to the New England coast, fish
ing along the way and shipping from the
nearest port They return with the fish
in the fall the season ending about the
middle of December. Many OF the blue
fish on their way north detect fresh
water between Cape Henry and Cape
Charles, and follow their noses. so TO
speak, into Chesapeake Bay and Hampton
Roads, where they are caught with other
fish in the pounds or wers that every
where extend out from the shores.
The pattern of the ChesaDeake Bay
pound is most ingenious. The fish are
directed into the bays" by the long
straight hedging, and when once in the
pounds are unable to get out. The pound
is enclosed by a net from thirty to fifty
feet in diameter. The weirs are "fished'
between and 3 o'clock in the morning
by colored men in oilskins who go cut
with lanterns to the various pounds, and
-
net which has a rope fastened to its.
bottom passing over kringles at the base
of each post. They then bail out the
fish, finding sometimes much variety,
though fish usually run in Schools and
there is likely to be a large number of
one sort. A pound yields upwards of fifty
barrels q day and in March and April
shad are very abundant. These well
known and highly esteemed fish hiring,
at the beginning of the season, a dollar
and a half pair, but the price soon falls
to forty-five cents, the roe shad remain
Ing twice as high as the buck. Trout,
croakers, and the little menhaien, or
bunkers, are also abundant throughout
the season, and sheepshead also come to
the nets.
Chesapeake Bay is especially noted for
hog fish and spots, both of which are
length, and of very delicate flavor They
bring. in the home market, from so to 70
cents a dozen. The rare and delicious
Florida fish, the pompano, is sometimes
caught in July, and il the highest-priced |
fish on the peninsula. always bringing
90 cents pound Occasionally a sturgeon |
appears in the nets-a great fellow five or |
six feet long and weighing three or four
hundred pounds A mallet is usually car |
ried in the boat for such emergencies, and |
is used to stun the big fish so that he will |
not break the net. Huge turtles also find |
their way into the pounds. and may be |
seen lying on their backs on the wharf |
ready for shipment with the address |
painted on the shell on the under side of |
the body. When the FISH are brought |
ashore from the pounds they are serted |
and strung together in punches with |
white OAK withes, and are then loaded on |
wagons to be sold at daylight in the |
nearby towns Or they are taken by !
water directly from the pound to Old |
Point, and there packed in ice to be |
shipped by the evening beats, from fifty |
to five hundred barrels being sent from |
hat point daily during the season.
Menhaden are sometimes caught in
purse net. 4 school of three or four hun
lred thousand having been sighted-and a |
5retty sight they are as they rufIie the |
Eater with their silver fns-the fishing
BOAT sends out two boats with the net. one
lal: In each boat. Beginning with gterns
ogether, they gradually row apart, letting
he net out. grounding it by means of a
'tomweight," and surrounding the fish
rhe men then purse up the net and made
I fast to the side of the sloop, into which
he fish are dipped from the net. They
re used in large quantities III the manu-
acture of fish oil. In the factories. sew
.ral of which are to be found on the
the menhaden are first boiled
u large Xafs and then smhinctnd a fhn |