The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-16
ANB FISH.
The Blooming OF the Former Marc tke
Coming OF the Latter.

u W AK - -
Coming or the Latter.
According TO the fahermen Of the
Long Island and New England ooasts,s'
said q man who has dwelt among than.
spring vegetation has q great deal 70 Do
with the coming and conduct OF certain
fish. 1t is a saying among them as old
as the coast settlements that .y.
When chestnut leaves are as big as . thumhnAl.
Then bite blacknsh without fan:
But when chestnut leaves are long as . span.
Then catch BLACKLIST II you can. "
when the dandelions appear above
ground in the spring the New England
coast folk who follow fishing for q hvel-
hood say, Now the hatfah are running
They don't care much for the coming
Of the fiatfish though, for these fsh have
small market value, but the fishermen
watch the dandelions.
when the buds are swollen full and
are ready to burst into bloom The AshAr-
men rejoice and Gay. Now soups CONS"
and they put in their traps for this abund-
ant, profitable and universally popular
fish. for soup is the porgy Of commerce.
Besides the first dandelions bringing
SOUP, soup bring the bluehsh, the tautoK
anQ OtneT UuDy uouiIoub pbot wang WIN
to the fishers till. "
aAs the going OF the Blacklist Is signalled
to the fishermen by the full growth OF
the chestnut leaf 80 have the soup 2
sign for their departure. The fishermen
say that as long as the dandelion Is IN
full vigor of flower the run OF soup h.
composed of large and siivery white nah'
AS the dandelion begins TO chsnge
from flower to the downy seed tuft the
run of SCUM becomesn oticeably Of smaller
fish of a darker hue, This run ia a market
able fish, but OF less value than the first
run. As the seeding stage Of the dande-
lion progresses the scup come in scattered
schools and are called mixed fish, being
of various sizes and little value. r.
when the seed is formed and ripe
on the dandelion stalk soup are Of run
that it doesn't pay. to spend m in
trapping, and when the dandelion seed is
scattered by the wind over the land. the
last soup has departed for the mysterious
waters that no one knows, to remain there
until the dandelions bloom again. r, D..
when the wild high bush blackberry
bushes are in bloom 10 another time tho
fshermen watch for, because .hsn me-
and always the big fellows come with the
blackberry blossoms-the lusty fish that
will run from ten to twenty pounds in
weight. The scoot bass. a run OF small
striped bass, have thelr innings Wnen inc
blue violet is a-plenty in the fields and on
the hillsides.
From the time OF the earliest settlers.
when shad could be hauled from the Con-
n~ecticut River with a hand rake from the
shore. as they jammed and crowded their
way in myriada toward the spawning
beds OF Gls upper river. fishermen have
SCI Gown the beginning Of this annuala had
hegira as not until the shad flower y in
bloom in the damp. dark places OF tts
choice. Hence the local name OF this
fragrant early spring floral beauty. known
politely as trailing arbutne. '~
-The early settlers in the Delaware
and S~usouehanna valleys we're from Con-
necticut, and they carried that token with
them, so in those valleys to this day, ~ IN
the Connecticut valley, the b fiower
is held to rule the time before the coming
of which 1t will be useless to haul the
seine in the upper waters for that migrat-
1.-THE shad flower has become exceed
inely rare in the localities where It was
once abundant. Why? Folks in general
say because it has been ruthleesly plucked
and uprooted every spring for years ~
persistent invaders Of it's haunts, but old
! time shad fishermen insist that it Is because
the shad have year by year grown soarcer
and scarcer in the rivers she