BULLETIN OF TITE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 125 



ably ascend (lie livrr to near tliat point and anchor, while a tug would 

 perhaps be necessary to oi)era.te with further. It seems that the Little 

 Pedee is literally teeming with all kinds of fish. The country is poor^ 

 low, and unsettled, and the river seems to be a succession of lakes for 

 n long distance. It is said that rockfish are here in great numbers, and 

 are taken during April and May full of eggs. 



While the mouth of the Little Pedee is so excellent a place for getting 

 spawn, the Edisto also is a good stream for these fish, and so is the 

 Ogeechee Kiver, near Savannah. At the mouth of Black Creek, a 

 stream that runs by Darlington and empties into the Great Pedee, is a 

 favorite i)lace to fish for rock, and so is a stream on the opposite side of 

 the Pedee, in Marlborough County. Sometimes very large rockfish in 

 considerable numbers are taken, in the spring of the year, by the shad 

 fishermen in the Pedee and Waccamaw Rivers near Georgetown, S. C. 

 Up the rivers in the brackish water the tide extends inland a long dis- 

 tance here. 



It is a very gratifying fact that shad have been more plentiful in our 

 Southern waters this year than for twenty-five years before. If this is 

 due to the efibrts of the U. S. Fish Commission, the poor people here 

 (white and black) owe it a sincere debt of gratitude. 



Darlington C. H., S. C, May 22, 1886. 



46.-^ISII AIV» FI.SHIIVC} AT ABACO LSr.AIVD. 



By WII^LARD I\1E, Jr. 



At this island fish abound. From boats the islanders catch margot, 

 porgies, hogflsh, &c., in four fathoms of water, while the groujiers and 

 large blackfish are taken in water seven or more fathoms deep. The 

 men go to the fishing-grounds and with water-glasses hunt for a spot 

 where the fish are seen swimming around, which is generally found 

 away from the heavy growth of coral, and on some sand spot where a 

 fine grassy fern-like gorgonian is scattered. For bait, conch or craw- 

 fish is used ; the latter is most used, although the grouper seems to 

 prefer a piece of fresh fish. 



The fishermen generally fish with a water-glass in the left hand and 

 the line in the right, until they have hooked a fish ; this is because these 

 fish often take the bait into their mouths without the fisherman being 

 able to feel them with the line. I think a man would catch at least one- 

 fourth more fish with a water-glass than without one. For the same 

 reason (the light way in which the fish bite), a very short snood (from 

 2 to 5 inches long) is used on the hook and put on several inches above 

 the sinker, so that a very slight pull may be felt. Considerable quan- 

 tities of grunts, sailor's choice, &c.. are caught with hand lines by men 



