The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-04-17
FISHERMEN ARE
NOW QUITE HAPPY
Season Opened With a Good
Run of Salmon.
INDICATIONS FOR GOOD YEAR
Market Opened With Prices Ranging From
Six to Seven csats-4Large Fleet
on the River

The opening OF the fishing season
Sunday proved a welcome surprise to
the dealers on shore and to such OF the
fishermen as waited for the legal time
before. laying their nets.
The run of fish was OF the kind gem
orally found in the river on February
of each year. They are a smaller sal
mon than the Chinook, averaging from
is to 25 pounds in weight. Mixed with
the February fish. however, are a num-
ber Of genuine Chinook. or spring sal
mon. and this fact. the fishermen say.
indicates that the usual spring run will
follow in and mix with the belated
February fish, thus giving a greater
catch than usual
The catch reported Sunday, accord
ing TO reports received Ly the secre-
tary of the Fisherm,ns Union, vas
much larger 'han any opening day
for the past four years. Individual
boats merely from noon Sunday TO
Monday morning averaged only ten to
AA4kCGAl lcAA BNA bNcAAr WIN q NgNeAA ave-
age weight of from $50 to 500 pounds.
But offsetting this full score OF boats
came in whose cargoes averaged all
the way from 1000 to 1900 pounds.
These fishermen had undoubtedly been
at work before the time fixed by law
for fishing, but owing to the fact that
there was a general misunderstanding
IN ha. aRFnallV fNgn Tnr fhsa
opening of the season, and as there is
no direct evidence OF any violations Of
the law other than the big catches
brought in, the fish commissioner viii
take no action in the matter
Large cargoes of fish laid the fish
ermsn bringing them in open TO The
suspicion of having worked over
time" on the legal limit and for this
reason il was very difficult to obtain
exact figures as TO the largest catches.
AS reported by a competent authority
the following list of boat loads is prob
ably correct, although it is by no means
complete, the fish being delivered on
Saturday night, Sunday night and on
Monday morning: Martin and John
Stanovich, two boats, 3,l60 pounds,
'Curley," l,5OO pounds; Cons tantine,
1900 pounds; Andersen, $50 pounds;
Jensen and partners. two boats, 1850
pounds; Jams" l,50O pounds. and
number OF partnership cargoes Of over
ton.
The price paid for fish was generally
cents, although 612 and even Z cents
was paid by the cold storage people
for several fine lots OF fresh chinoOks
that ran well up in weight The
smaller fish, while excellent, barely
commanded the cent figure and there
was some grumbling over it by buyers
but not enough to cause any uneasi-
ness, as the big fish are looked for from
this time on in RAPIDLY increasing
numbers. Meantime the little ones will
fill in very handily.
But two canneries were working
yesterday and both with small forces,
namely, ElmOre's and Kinney's estab-
lishments. II is expected other Gamer
les viii open today but the Gamers are
going slowly until they can get some
idea as to what the present run Of
fish will amount 20. If the weather
continues as IL is there Is every rea-
son to expect a steady and constant
ly increased run Of fine fish. The only
seining grounds reporting was divers,
which caught about 800 pounds in the
one haul made.
Yesterday a number of fishermen
took out smaller meshed nets, believ-
ing that the run of the smaller fish
will continue for several days, but the
majority stuck to the regulation ret,
prefering fewer fish of greater size to a
net full of smaller ones. This is due
to the fact that the big chnooks de-
mand a substantial advance in price
whenever offered.
Az Iafa hour 1aCt uipht fepdpr
that had made partial rounds, report
ed the catch for the night as much
heavier than that of Sunday. The
men on the tender also reported a num-
Der of fishermen as working well down
towards the bar, although mo 6sh"
was the report from that locality on