178 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 



Kingston Point about one-quarter of a mile. ("Middle ground "is a 

 term used by the fishermen of the Hudson to denote a bank or shoal in 

 the middle of the river, with a channel on each side. The " Middle 

 Ground" is therefore in shoal water above Kingston.) He thinks that 

 if eggs are obtained here, they must be taken from drift-nets. They fish 

 here in from 30 to 35 feet of water. He has "any amount of spawn " after 

 May 1, and thinks we can get plenty of it. John Pindar, of Catskill, 

 says that the shad catch has fallen off for two years. He fishes with 

 ten seines and fourteen drift-nets, from the Narrows to Catskill, and has 

 taken 7,500 shad ; thinks that some ripe fish might be taken in the High- 

 lands, but not enough to pay, because the fish are all dead when taken 

 from the drift-nets. He believes that "Kingston Middle Ground" is the 

 best shad ground on the Hudson, although the catch was not large 

 there this year. Eggs might be got between Ehiuebeck (Kingston) and 

 Tivoli. From Catskill I took a row-boat some 3 miles up the river, where 

 Mr. Jonathan Mason was hatching shad behind an island on the east- 

 ern shore. He was having good prospects and had a fine lot of eggs. 

 On June 13 his eggs were obtained some 2 miles above, around the 

 northerly point of the island and 4 miles above Catskill, on the western 

 shore. He was getting eggs from Pindar's fisheries. 



Hudson. — At Hudson, Mr. Matthew Kennedy, one of the game pro- 

 tectors of the State, is a large shad fisherman. He employs from twenty 

 to thirty men during the season. He fishes with seines on "Hudson 

 Middle Ground," and the catch this season is the poorest in twenty 

 years. He took between 7,000 and 8,000 shad, but has taken as high 

 as 18,000 (in 1878). Last year's catch was 8,000; in the year before 

 (1882) it was 12,000. Mr. Kennedy thinks that Stockport is the most 

 likely place to get eggs. While here I accompanied Mr. Kennedy on 

 a steamer down to Rhinebeck and below, while he and his men removed 

 and seized twelve pound-nets which were set in the river contrary to 

 law. The fishermen above complained that these nets were injuring 

 the fishing, as no doubt they were, because they fished night and day, 

 while the seines and gill-nets were not in the water all the time. This 

 form of net is new to the shad- fisheries of the Hudson. The previous 

 year two were put in, and their success emboldened others. The raid 

 of Mr. Kennedy will, no doubt, end this form of illegal fishing, as each 

 of the twelve nets cost no less than $150, and some of them cost much 

 more. 



Stockport. — Tins small place lies on the east bank of the river, some 

 •1 or ;; miles above the city of Hudson. Walter Mann fishes here. For 

 nine years he fished with seines, and for the.last two has used drift-nets, 

 lie does well with the latter at night, and in fact all the gill-netters 

 claim to take the most shad at night ; and as this is the time that the 

 fish casts its spawn, it is possible that many eggs may be got from the 

 gill-nets, as is done on the Chesapeake by the United States Fish Com- 

 mission. Mr. Mann did not take as many fish this year as last, his 



