The sun., 1908-05-10
FISHING IN GRAVTSTND BAY
THICH FORMERLY THE SHAD
CANE N GREAT NUMBERS.


for first Time In the Bays History.
ror The Arst time in its history there was
,., year no shad fishing in Gravesend Bay,
esers fishing had been carried on regularly
,e,r after year dnce the time when the
n.E, 0rst settled on it's shores, now more
,hau 80 years ago
Tcerc was a time when this bay was one
n The best shad fishing waters around
\cy York when there we're living around
.,,eds- 200 fishermen who made business
~, fshng. following II the year around
,rd setting their nets or hauling their seines
,or shad in the spring In those days there
we're farmers whbse lands came down to
mo bay who thought more OF their ishing
rights in ts waters than they did Of their
farms. because they got more profit out OF
their spring fishing than they did out OF
heir wears farming
And there we're farmers living back
,rou the shore who had no waterfront, but
asd acquired fishing rights in the bay and
,.s, followed fishing for shad in the spring
and ~ IN those days, and up to as recently
OIL. INV years ago, there might have been
,een three miles back from the bay farmers
ornng their fishing nets and getting ready
ior their fishing when the shad came.
In those days farmers living still further
tsc. nom the hay. oultivating farms on
and that is now cut up by streets and ave-
rues and covered with many buildings,
prmers who had no fishing rights, used
n come down TO the bay in the spring fish
.rg season to buy hundred or two hundred
,gad 10 salt away. Sometimes when the
s,res we're hauled there would be seen
m the beach fifty or hundred wagons
dryen m by farmers who had come to buy
..sd 10 salt
Aud the 5had then we're plentiful, There
are said 20 have been caught In one big
han. the cove At the south end OF Graves
saI Bay 10000 shad.
81 in those old days II was not only a
gshIng community that dwelt on the shores
ofrhe bay but the fishing interests and the
interest in fishing extended for miles back
among the neighboring farmers, and every
loiy old and young, wEl lived in the old
owns around the bay was interested in the
hay and the fishing. Then came time
when the fishermen living along the shore,
vh, followed fishing at all seasons gradu-
uaIIy bought up and absorbed the land
along the water and the old days Of farmer
f,nlnr we're over, and thereafter the fishing
10 the bay was continued by men who made
business Of il. by men whose forefathers
nav have been fishermen in these same
waters hack through many years Here,
ts faVvN lVr
rnn'nuously on the shores OF 0ravesend
Bay for 200 years where IL still remains and
II each succeeding generation OF which at
east one man has been fisherman.
When the earlier fishermen came they
took m as their own, for the purposes OF all
The year round fishing, convenient locations
Under water in the bay, and later comeB
In like manner took up still other locations
'ne fishing grounds thus selected being
1odnCd by ranges on the land or oy Poles SET
p the water. The right to a plot thus
seInctad was always respected, and such
plot was always considered as perma-
nontly belonging TO the fishermen locating II.
Fsther left such locations TO their sons,
and nobody questioned the sons right OF
possesslon; and II a fisherman retired and
sold his fishing outfit the location that be
had held would go to the man to whom he
sold his nets whose use OF ii would be un-
disputed.
{hout fifty years ago, when the waters
II the bay nshore for such fishing as was
lone in them we're in this manner pretty
voll occupied there came a time when II
vas thought by some people that the fisher
mon Of the old town OF GTavesend, which
borierpd on one part OF the bay, were en-
croaching on the waters Of the other part
which was bordered by the old town OF New
Utrecht. and when some people thought
that the fishermen Of New Utrecht were
rncroachinR on the waters fronting the
town Of Gravesend; and then the fishermen
NJ both towns called a joint meeting on the
reach 10 continue out the dividing line
leiveen the towns in line that could be
defined by ranges extending across the
,ulfacn Of the bay.
10 decide where this imaginary line
should run there was chosen by common
consent citizen who had the respect and
confidence OF all, and he set up compass
Al the dividing line on the beach and de-
cded that the line should run out west by
north a little westerly, and turning 10 the
New Utrecht men he said:
Are YOU satisfied with that line?'
And they said they were. Then he turned
10 the men OF Gravesend and asked them
the same question and they we're likewise
sati fled. and thus was his decision ac-
cepted and il was always respected. There
after no New Utrecht fisherman sought to
stake out an under water plot south OF the
line nor did any Gravesend fisherman
seek to stake out plot north OF 1t.
The great shad fishing in the spring
vas carried on in a different way. lhls
was done commonly further OF shore OF
outside Of the established under water
rlots and often with drifting gill nets OF
with great seines that were hauled,
In the old days shad nets were often
hauled around Coney Island Point, and
then when the shad came In the fishermen
u Gravesend Bay used to race for Coney
Island Point TO see who should have the
fret haul, which was conceded TO the men
n the first boat 10 reach the point, and the
rest hauled in the order Of their arrival.
Often set nets were placed in the bay
extending out in long lines for great
distance beyond the established all the
year round fishing grounds. Ten men
ilr example, might get together and run
out such a line a mile into the bay. Now,
the nets in some parts Of this line might
rroye TO he Of much more value than otherf
did. whether the shad would come vel
inshore or stay well out might depend on
he season and the weather and the water
and so in the nets Of some parts OF this
lne many shad might be caught, and alonp
utnar parts Of the line few, and nobody
could tell from season TO season Just
what would happen.
So before the shad came these ten men
would divide this long line into many
numbered sections, and write these num-
bers on as many lots and shake these lott
together in hat, and then each man would
draw a number AZ time until all the lots
had been drawn. A man might draw
sections in one part OF the line one year
and IN another part another, and IN any
wear he might draw sections punched oI
scattered and sometimes after the draw
inc the mon would trade actions among