Evening star., 1921-04-03
Famous Fishing Shores
Of the Potomac River

that the goose has been killed in too great
the river Is over -ished hardly expresses the
truth il is unders,ocked Nature only
plenishes her own waste and when man draws
upon her treasures he must deposit in return
have his draft dishonored. The farmer
gardener expects TO return TO the soil lib
orally for his takings from it. or soon 20
, have only barren acres. and the fishermen will
in time learn that il they constantly ply their
calling without artihcinlly increasing the sup
ply of fish they will land only empty seines.
This artificial propagation has been so long
practiced that its results can be as confidently
counted on as the planting OF corn or cotton.
and few Thousand dollars in the hands Of a
man skilled in the business would soon supply
every reasonable demand.
Perhaps there are still living a few
men who can remember seine hauling
near the point where the Aqueduct
bridge crosses the river. In the early
part of the nineteenth century seines
yielded rich returns there. Jonathan
Elliot. an old Washington printer.
who published a Guide to Washing
ton, in 1890, wrote the following
para graph about the fish of the Po-
tomac river:
About four years ago there was taken at
one Of the fisheries on the Virginia side Of the
rver-Sycamore NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Gen
eral Mason-at one draft OF the seine four
hundred and hfty ro.k hsh averaging sixty
pounds Is well attested and recorded
in the newspapers OF the day. There vast
shoals Of migratory fish which Providence in
| his fnunlncenCe 10 mHn kinQlf seuos periO0-
icaiy from the sea TO the fresh water Of
many of our rivers TO cast their spawn, and
SO. while they are obeying the dictates OF
na ture in providing for the multiplication OF
their species. they oner to the adjacent coun-
try prodigious supply OF delicious and
wholesome food, as well while fresh for im-
mediate consumption. as when cured for pres
ervation and for trausporta tion into the in
terror abroad
Mr.. Elliot treated of three of the
fish tribes which ascended the Po-
tomac in vast numbers. These were
the white shad, the herring and the
sturgeon. Hed said Is The shad and
herring make but, one annual visit
between the first of March and the
first of June, but the last; mentioned,
the sturgeon, comes up twice a year
in the months of May and August.
He presses uD to the very foot of
the first falls and is taken in great
quantity within the district. espe-
cially in times of freshet in the
strong waters between Georgetown
and the falls"
The sturgeon have almost disap-
peared. generation ago they were
so plentiful that they were but light
lily esteemed. 1t often happens, as in
other things, that the value of farors
is not know until they are with
drawn. A few generations ago. ter
rapin and the canva shack and NAL
lard duck were articles of food so
cheap that the poorest man in the
Potomac country could have them on
his table. These foods have become
rare and costly. In the days of early
settlement along the Potomac river
all our native and migratory species
of fish were SO plentiful that the
whites disdained shad, dismissing it
as Indian food 1t was so plenti-
full and common that it was despised
by the white people of the region.
The number of species of fsh in
our home waters and that visit, here
has been set down as ninety-four.
Fourteen of these species have been
introduced as food dishes, these. being
the spotted and forked-tail catfishes.
carp, goldfish. tench, ide, two species
of crappie, one OF more species of
sunfish, the goggle-eye, the war
mouth. the large-mouth and small
mouth black bass and the wall7eyed
pike.
Among the true saltwater fishes
chat stray far enough up the Potomac
for scientists to include in theirt list
of District fauna are the shark the
menhaden, an anchovy, the silvergar.
the pipefish. pigfish, spot. whiting,
and sole. Among the fish which run
up from salt water to fresh water to
spawn five go up as Tar as Little rails,
these being two species of sturgeon
species pass the Little Falls and keep
on up the river to Great Falls, these
being the shad. herring. striped bass
and white perch. Among the other
fishes recorded by the Biological So
ciety of Washington are twenty-four
species Of the minnow family. twelve
species of sunfishes and basses, eight
species of perches and darters. seven
species of catfishes, five species of the
sucker family and five species of the
shad. The eel. which spawns in salt
water, ascends the river and reaches
nearly all bodies of water. The lam
prey runs into many of the small
streams to spawn, and the brook
trout has been found in Difficult run,
which enters the Potomac on the Nir-
ginia side about three miles below
Great Falls. Twenty-p pound catfish are
caught at Great Falls.
1t is recorded that an Atlantic SAL
mon was caught in the Potomac near
on June 10, 1885. and
there is a credible report that a school
of porpoises was seen in OccoQuan
bay, about twenty-five miles below
the city. Several species of shark have
been caught in the river. and it is not
to find shark teeth among
the pebbles on the shores of the lower
Potomac