CXLIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



spawning time ; after that the fish are of poor quality. The largest shad 

 taken in this vicinity weighed 8 pounds, and 5 to 7 j)ouud lish are not 

 rare. The fish-dealers of Sacramento obtain all the shad they can 

 handle from salmon fishermen, in whose nets the shad are snagged by 

 being caught by their maxillary bone, the mesh of the nets beiug too 

 large for the shad to gill. Shad now ascend the Sacramento as far as 

 Chico, about 120 miles above Sacramento. They were caught there in 

 large numbers in dip nets in June, 1896, and it is probable that they 

 have pushed their way for a considerable distance beyond Chico. 



In the Columbia Eiver the shad is extremely abundant, and was per- 

 haps more numerous in 1896 than in any previous year. Its move- 

 ments in this river conform with those on the Atlantic coast; that is, 

 there is a definite run into the river for spawning purposes. The fish 

 are in greatest numbers in May and the first half of June. In the 

 region of the Cascades but few are caught in July, and none in August. 

 Here, in the season of 1896, the fish was more abundant and larger than 

 ever before. 



Shad are taken in salmon wheels in the vicinity of the Cascades. In 

 May, 1896, 200 were caught in one wheel in a single day. The largest 

 ever seen here weighed 7 or 8 pounds, the usual weight being from 4 to 

 6 pounds. 



Near the mouth of the river shad are taken in salmon traps from 

 early spring to the end of the fishing season, probably more being 

 caught in June than in any other month. Examples weighing as much 

 as 7 pounds are not infrequently taken, although the average in trap 

 nets is only about 4 pounds. Usually only 3 or 4 are taken at each lift 

 of the net, but sometimes 30 or more are obtained. A great many shad 

 too small to mesh are seen in the traps. In May, 1896, 7 of the largest 

 brought in by the Ilwaco trap fishermen on one day ranged in weight 

 from 7^ to 11 pounds. The 11-pound shad was the largest ever observed 

 on the Columbia of which any record may be had. 



In a salmon seine at Wallace Island, Columbia River, in May, 1896, 

 from one to two thousand shad were sometimes caught daily in six or 

 eight hauls, and in another seine operated 15 miles below Mapledell, 

 Oreg., 15,637 pounds were caught and marketed in the same month. 

 In 1895, between April 25 and July 13, a salmon seine at Quinn, Oreg., 

 took 25,791 i30unds of shad, that were shipped to Portland, and in 

 the following year, between April 13 and June 17, the same seine took 

 22,792 pounds. 



The monthly catch was as follows: 



Months. 



1895. 



1896. 



April 1.304 



Mav 14.0'0 



June 9,307 



July 1.110 



2,639 

 15, 335 

 4,818 



Total ! 25,791 



