THE SHAD 



of the shad artificially. He was the first American 

 fish-culturist to succeed in doing so. 



Nets of various kinds are used in the capture of 

 the shad. Some twenty years ago a Scotchman 

 who worked in one of the paper mills at Holyoke, 

 Massachusetts, demonstrated the fact that shad 

 would rise and take the fly. May was the month, 

 and at this time the shad were on the run. Small 

 flies were better than large ones. The mouth 

 of the shad is tender, and it is with difficulty 

 that they can be taken to the boat, where they 

 require a long-handled net. The sport was most 

 novel and interesting. The fish were fairly large. 

 It was of common occurrence to rise a three- 

 pounder and once in a while a five-pounder. 

 To give an idea of the number of shad that fre- 

 quented this particular body of water at the time 

 mentioned, the largest haul on record showed 

 some thirty-eight hundred fish at one sweep, 

 and often two thousand were taken. This made 

 the business most profitable. They were sold 

 for ten cents, or less, apiece. Unfortunately these 

 days have long gone by, and the angler of the 

 present one would, I fear, have but scant success, 

 if any. 



However, there are probably plenty of places 

 where fly fishing can be tried. A light rod, 

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