Smyrna times., 1903-07-08
STURGEON FISHING ENDS
AFTER EXCITING SEASON
WEALTH COMES UNEXPECTEDLY TO MANY
AT CAMP OPPOSITE BOMBAY HOOK.
Oela"are Bay off Woodland Beach Becomes
Regular TOnOpah to Fishermen who Have
LabOred Hard For a Living.

tHlS spring JnfOugl the
unexpected return to their old spawn
ing grounds of the sturgeon-tb,
great hsh whose capture was once AZ
important industry along the Della.
ware but which had in recent wears
almost disappeared. Men who have
nshed several years for bare Gvino
Ut not that, are suddenly welI-to-do.
and now that the season is drawing TO
close there is general jubilation over
tne outcome. Several fishermen made
As much as a thousand dollars in q
single day, namely Briant Dolbow. of
0alem, ii. }. BlOhm and B. G. Wood
of Pennsgrove
IL was May Is that the vanguard of
the sturgeon poked their noses IN in
10 the Delaware. One or two. possi-
Dly halt a dozen, had been caught the
week before by the fishermen living
patiently in wait in Blake's Channel
down off the Delaware shore. The
day the big sch Dol arrived possibly
dozen boats were at work, their oc-
eupants patiently drifting with the
nets. Suddenly there were a number
OF strikes. All the nets had sturgeon
Instead of taking IN the infreouent
one or two fish, most of the boats that
night went in loaded. Henry Blobm.
former Salem County Assemblvman
and son of the original Blohm. who
founded the fisheries, made the biggest
haul. His two boats captured thirty
eight fish which yielded eight kegs, or
l,O8O pounds of caviar. The proceeds
OF the days catch for him were over
S1,lOO. Belford Woods boats brought
IN twenty-eight fish that netted four
Kegs of caviar. Ovid Davis boats
caught fourteen fish. Every had
something. Davis boats were on |
shares. The two fishermen who man. (
ned each made over $50 apiece for
their days work. That night was one
OF jubilatiOn in the fishing camp.
News Of the Strike Spread Rapidly.
AT once the news spread and there
was an immediate increase in Bav.
sides population. Some of the fisher
men took their families along for the
season. Buyers for American and
German caviar firms hocked to the
camp. Peter Feddersen, a veteran
buyer, who has bought caviar at Bav-
side for nearly forty years, hurried
from his Wisconsin farm to get part
OF the catch. Good hauls have been
the rule since. There have been no I
more OF the big catches. Not everv
boat gets a fish every day, but as stur-
5eon run from 100 to 400 pounds in I
weight, and big roe will turn out t
rom fifty to 100 pounds of caviar. a
latch of three or four fish a week
means big money for the lucky fisher t
men who get them, and most of them d
lave been lucky. ]
How the Valuable Sturgeon are Caught
There is excitement enough, of its
ind, in sturgeon fishing, but it isn't n
he kind of excitement that appeals to
be sportsman. It's more like hog
illing than fishing in many ways. n
out in the channel, usually d
n the food tide, the big net with it's l.
fteen-iGch meshes is dumsed over m
oard so as to lie across as much chan 81
ell as it will stretch oyer. Big corks il
r daubers hold it up. The the engine lie
shut down or the sails furled, and ds
le boat allowed to drift up stream. So
Ear the net, while the fishermen watch oy
r a strike. Here and there in the II
lannel the big fish are seen jumping tr'
I'd playing as they go up the river. ne
1ddenlv there is a commotion in tho CC
It, the corks go under and a fish CC
mps out of the water. If he has not trt
ngled himself in the meshes he may co
It away by diving uuder or jumping
er the net. The biggest fish, ac- th'
riding to the stories told in camp at sol
ght, usually escape in that way. AS Ioc
On as the corks bob up the fisher In
N get 70 work While one oets ~, $71
| or starts the engine the other with T.
harp, long-handled hook, leans over, Ly
lching toward the spot where the MI
tied fish is threshing the water. As w.
boat comes within reaching dis
ice hard blow is aimed with the
ok, the blood spurts, there is more I
eshing, the other fisherman also wal
8 a hook at work and the big fish is Ho
lied into the boat by main strength. ton
len the capture is roe, no time is moo
In getting in with the catch to the lars
*, so that the caviar may be taken the
while the fish is alive, as the eggs pfP
IN to deteriorate, grow soft and q
CONTINUED ON FOURTH PAGE.