remainder. The drift net fishery extended from 

 Mathias Point to Alexandria, Va., a distance of 

 60 miles. Drift nets ranged from 300 to 1,000 

 yd. long and 30 to 90 meshes deep, depending 

 on the width and depth of the reach in which 

 they were operated. The stake gill net fishery 

 was of little importance since it consisted only 

 of a few nets operated in the lower half of the 

 river. Each spring a few bow nets were fished 

 at Great Falls from the last week in April to 

 the first or second week of June. 



Shad were believed to have ascended the 

 Potomac to Great Falls before 1948, but since 

 then a 9-ft. dam erected on Little Falls, 10 

 miles below Great Falls, has been a barrier 

 to further upstream nnigration. A vertical, 

 baffle-type fishway was completed in the dam 

 in 1959 (fig. 21). Resident fishes use the fish- 

 way, but shad do not ascend the river beyond 

 a point about three quarters of a mile below 

 the structure. 



The major spawning ground in 1960 was 

 from Fort Washington downstream to Occoquan 

 Bay, a distance of 20 miles. 



Fishing began in the Potomac in 1960 in 

 mid- March and continued through the end of 

 May. The estimated catch was 169,176 lb., of 



which 81 percent was taken by Virginia fish- 

 ernnen and 19 percent by Maryland fishermen. 

 The catch was marketed in Washington, D.C., 

 and Baltimore, Md. The amount of gear used 

 and catch by each State are given in table 32. 

 In 1960 pound nets, stake gill nets, and drift 

 gill nets were the major gear used for taking 

 shad. The pound net fishery extended 56 miles, 

 from the river mouth to Highway 301 bridge 

 (Potomac River Bridge). The nets produced 

 76,183 lb. of shad, of which Virginia landings, 

 in turn, accounted for 96 percent. Stake gill 

 nets were fished in about 26 miles of river, 

 from Potomac bridge to Occoquan Bay. The 

 nets were 100 to 200 yd. long and 35 to 45 

 meshes deep and had 3 l/2- to 5 l/2-in. mesh. 

 This gear caught 83,718 lb. of shad, of which 

 Virginia landings accounted for 67 percent. 

 Drift gill nets were used, from Occoquin Bay 

 to Alexandria, about 20 miles. They ranged 

 from 150 to 300 yd. long and 45 to 75 meshes 

 deep and had 5- to 5 l/2-in. mesh. Drift nets 

 took 7,305 lb. of shad, of which Virginia fisher- 

 men accounted for 85 percent. Haul seines and 

 fyke nets were used throughout the fishery, 

 but the shad catch was small and incidental to 

 the catches of other species. 



Figure 21.— Little Falls Dam, Potomac River, Md. Fishway between dams was completed In 1959. 



57 



