620 HISTOEY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



river, and the shad must ascend above Augusta to deposit their eggs. Seven miles above Augusta 

 is the water- works dam, which prevents any further ascent; and the spawning grounds of this 

 river are therefore practically confined to the 7 -mile stretch from Augusta to the dam. Cooped 

 up, as it were, in this area, the shad are entirely at the mercy of the innumerable traps and cast- 

 nets that abound there. 



In a word, the gill-nets permit but a small proportion of the shad which enter the river to 

 reach their spawning grounds, and the appliances of capture in the vicinity of the dam take the 

 rest. Instead of being surprised, therefore, that the shad fisheries have fallen off so greatly, we 

 should rather wonder that the whole breed of fish has not been utterly extirpated. 



Many years ago the shad pushed their annual migrations as far up as the Falls of the Talulah, 

 a mountain tributary of the Savannah, where they were taken in some numbers. The height of 

 the falls prevented further progress. Thence down to Augusta they were taken in very consid- 

 erable quantities, and formed a very important food resource, being consumed fresh or salted 

 away for winter use. The unrestrained and destructive modes of fishing pursued made their im- 

 pression year by year upon the supply, which became greatly reduced, until the erection of the 

 water- works dam, 7 miles above Augusta, cut off the run altogether. 



Under the law authorizing the erection of this dam, sluices for the passage of fish were 

 required to be left and kept open during the running season of the fish. Some shad were taken in 

 1879, 80 miles above. These necessarily passed through the openings in the dam. The calculated 

 velocity of discharge through the sluices being upwards of 13 miles per hour, this fact furnishes 

 a surprising exhibition of strength and boldness on the part of this fish. 



THE SHAD SEASON. The shad season begins at Savannah in the first half of January and 

 ends about the last of March. It begins at Augusta in the middle of February and ends about the 

 10th of May, though shad are sometimes taken as late as July. This difference of more than a 

 month between the season at Savannah and Augusta 180 miles above shows an average rate of 

 progress up the river of 6 miles a day. At this rate shad would reach Tallulah Falls about the 

 1st of April, and the season there would extend into July. 



FISHING WITH TRAPS. Between the water- works dam and Augusta, where the river descends 

 by a series of falls or rapids a vertical distance of 45 or 50 feet, every favorable location is the site 

 of a trap fishery a mode of fishing which was formerly very productive, but is now considered no 

 longer profitable. The traps are of three kinds: (1) the "fall" trap, or "slide," such as is in use 

 in all our streams; (2) the "hack" trap, and (3) the square trap. The last two are essentially 

 the same in principle, the only difference in construction being that the "hack" trap, instead of 

 being square, has a V-sbaped frame with its apex pointing upstream. 



These traps are placed in strings or rows from six to fifteen in a row the intervals between 

 them being occupied by a rough cribbing of logs filled in with stones. In 1879 there were about 

 one hundred and ten of these traps between the dam and a point three miles below, and at several 

 places they almost completely obstructed the channel of the river, so that it seemed impossible for 

 a shad to run the gauntlet and reach the dam in safety. Fortunately, with a full river, which 

 is frequent in the shad season, the traps are submerged, and fish may pass over them without much 

 risk of capture. 



FISHING WITH CAST-NETS. Besides the traps in the rapids, a number of cast-nets are fished 

 immediately under the dam. With clear water, so that the fish may be seen lying in the pools, 

 this proves a very effective mode of fishing. I have seen six or eight shad taken at a single cast 

 of the net. There was in 1880 an average of twelve cast-nets fished in the vicinity of the dam, 



