534 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES 



1. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 



It has already been stated that spot occur in greater or less numbers along the Delaware coast 

 from Kitt's Hammock to the southern limit of the State, but the fishing grounds proper for this 

 species may be confined to narrower limits. Slaughter Beach, the beach at Lewes, the waters of 

 Rehoboth Bay, Indian River and Bay, and the Isle of Wight Bay, may be said to constitute the 

 fishing grounds where spot are taken by the residents of Delaware, though it may be here men- 

 tioned that the fishermen living in the southern part of the State sometimes go farther south, to 

 Sinnepuxent Bay, or even, perhaps, to Assateague Bay. The fishing grounds north of Cape Hen- 

 lopen have already been described in the discussion of the trout fishery. It needs, therefore, 

 only to add here that south of Cape Henlopeii the Delaware coast is composed of low, narrow, 

 sandy beaches, which inclose the shoal- water of the lagoon-like bays, the names of which have 

 already been given. But little fishing is done in Rehoboth Bay, though it is the largest in the 

 State, being about 4 miles in the direction of the shore-line, and having an average width of 3 

 miles. Just south of Rehoboth Bay, however, and connected with it by a channel, is Indian River 

 Bay, which is 6 miles long, east and west, and has an average breadth of 1 mile. A narrow inlet, 

 having a depth of 6 or 7 feet, connects these sheets of water with the Atlantic, and through this 

 opening large quantities of anadromous fishes and a somewhat smaller number of sea fish annually 

 pass to and from the shelter of the bays. 



2. THE FISHERMEN. 



The fishermen who engage in the capture of spot are generally the same men who have been 

 employed in the trout fishery in the spring, though the numbers are perhaps less. In the vicinity 

 of Lewes and Milton a considerable portion of the men are professional fishermen. This is espec- 

 ially the case at Lewes, while at Milton, we are told by Mr. J. D. Morris, that of the forty men 

 engaged more or less regularly in catching spot at Slaughter Beach one-half of them are farmers, who 

 fish only for their own use, as a rule, selling any surplus they may obtain, while the remainder of the 

 men fish rather irregularly, being employed alternately in fishing and other pursuits. The summer 

 fishermen, south of Cape Henlopen, are usually semi-professional, or farmers, the latter fishing, as a 

 general thing, only to obtain a supply for their own tables, while the former carry on their work in a 

 somewhat erratic manner, engaging in fishing once or twice a week, or perhaps for one or two 

 weeks in succession, and then being occupied the remainder of their time in other employments. 

 According to Mr. William J. Parkhurst, of Dagsborough, all of the fishermen of that place engage 

 in fishing at " odd jobs " during the summer, catching trout, spot, and other less common species, 

 which they peddle through the towns in the immediate vicinity. We are told by Mr. H. H. Hick- 

 man, of Roxanna, that many of the farmers of that town own small " wade-seines," and that when- 

 ever they have time in the summer they go down to Indian River and catch some fish for their own 

 use. If, however, they succeed in getting more than they need for themselves they load the sur- 

 plus on a team and peddle it through the rural districts. Although there is a considerable quan- 

 tity of fish taken in this manner by the twenty-eight men from Roxanna, who are thus occasionally 

 employed, nevertheless they can hardly be considered as fishermen in the strict sense of the term, 

 especially spot fishermen, since we are told that the latter species is not taken by them in large 

 quantities, but rather incidentally with other fish in gill-nets and wade-seines. The same may be 

 said of spot fishing at Williamsville, in the lower part of the State ; a few are taken during the 

 summer by the fishermen who follow gill notti'ng, and who are generally such men as depend 

 wholly on fishing. 



