Table 18. — Shad catch, by area and gear, Winyah Bay, S. C. , and 

 tributaries, 1960 



Area and gear 



Quantity 



Length 

 fished 



Catch 



Number 



Winyah Bay: 



Stake gill net 



Waccamaw River: 



Anchor and set gill net . . . 

 Drift gill net 



Pee Dee River: 



Anchor gill net 



Great and Little Pee Dee Rivers 

 Anchor and set gill net . . , 



Drift gill net 



Bow net 



Haul seine 



Lynches River: 



Set gill net 



Bow net 



Submerged trap , 



Black River: 



Set gill net 



Bow net 



Total . . 



120 

 35 



25 



125 



35 



1 



450 



150 



18 



32 

 15 



Yards 



2,000 



4,900 

 5,125 



350 



1,000 

 6,000 



50 



5,850 



1.280 



Pounds 



29,836 



28,560 

 48,008 



881 



2,700 



33,330 



1,051 



550 



17,378 

 5,825 

 6,400 



9,863 

 1,530 



185,912 



has decreased greatly since 1896 and has 

 changed fronn drift gill nets to stake gill nets. 

 The Bay channels used by drift net fishermen 

 during earlier years have been dredged to an 

 average depth of about 27 ft. and wind through- 

 out the Bay in a manner that prevents drift 

 net fishing. 



In i960 the coastal fishing area extended 

 from the river nnouth through Bull Creek, and 

 the inland fishing area extended to the North 

 Carolina-South Carolina boundary. No ob- 

 structions to the passage of fish existed, and 

 shad ascended the river at least to Freeland, 

 N.C., 130 nniles from Winyah Bay. The ripe 

 females in the catch indicated that the major 

 shad spawning ground was near Conway, S.C, 



The section fished in I960 was from the 

 entrance of the Bay to the Highway 17 bridge 

 at the mouth of the Waccamaw River. The U.S. 

 Army Corps of Engineers designated the fish- 

 ing area so that shipping lanes were unob- 

 structed. Stake gill nets, the only gear used, 

 were 100 to 400 yd. long and 25 to 70 nneshes 

 deep. Two thousand yards of net caught 29,836 

 lb. of shad. The catch was sold to dealers in 



Georgetown who retailed some fish locally, 

 but shipped most to northern markets. 



The catch in the Waccamaw River in I960 

 was 76,568 lb., of which drift gill nets took 

 63 percent and anchor and set gill nets 37 

 percent. Drift gill nets, 60 to 300 yd. long and 

 40 to 65 meshes deep, were the principal com- 

 mercial gear, and fishing was concentrated 

 near Sandy Island. Anchor gill nets, 40 to 100 

 yd. long and 25 to 45 meshes deep, were used 

 from Sandy Island to the mouth of Bull Creek. 

 A few anchor nets fished at the junction of 

 Bull Creek and the Pee Dee River are included 

 with the Pee Dee fishery. Most of the catch 

 was sold to dealers in Georgetown and Murrells 

 Inlet, S.C. 



Set and anchor gill nets, 25 to 50 yd. long 

 and 25 to 35 meshes deep, were the principal 

 gear used in the inland area in I960. A few 

 smaller set gill nets and bow nets were fished 

 between the North Carolina-South Carolina 

 State line and the upper limit of the run, 

 but the catch was negligible. Most of the 

 catch in the inland area was marketed in 

 Conway, 



32 



