548 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



POUND FISHING AT TAMPA BAY. Statements made by Mr. Jones on certain points connected 

 with fish and fishing in Tampa Bay will now be given. He has the only pound owned on the Gulf 

 coast. It is a small, crude affair, but does duty for cast-net and seine in providing Mr. Jones with 

 all the fish he requires for his own consumption, and leaving some for sale. The pound is made 

 from piles, boards, and small poles. The piles are driven as near as convenient to each other, the 

 spaces being filled with boards, strips, or poles, this making a strong, solid wall. The " leader" is 

 100 yards long, running out over a sand-shoal in only 2 feet of water at ordinary tides. The 

 "bowl" or "heart" is V-shaped, and is 20 yards across the arms and 30 yards long, and is set 

 in water only a few inches deeper than the leader. The entrance to the heart is a foot wide, and 

 in the outer corner of the heart is another partition and entrance leading into a small pocket where 

 the fish are supposed to finally stop. When this pound was first set, fish would not approach it, 

 but when the stakes had become covered under water with barnacles and oysters, the fish collected 

 about it in considerable numbers. He states that all the common fish in the bay now enter his 

 pound; and small red-snapper and small jew-fish have occasionally been found in the pocket. The 

 largest catch made by him consisted of 300 mullet in one night; all of them were in the pocket. 

 An average night's catch brings him a dozen or two fish of various kinds. Sheepshead, rcdfish, 

 and salt- water trout seem to enter this pound more readily than any other fish. 



Many old fishermen have stated that mullet would not enter snch an arrangement, but will, 

 when they strike the leader, turn away. It is thought that if Mr. Jones was in a position to exper- 

 iment in deeper water the results would be very satisfactory. Mr. Jones does not attempt to bar- 

 rel any fish, but sells them kench-salted to any who come for them. He sells annually from 2,000 

 to 3,000 fish, for each of which he receives about 3 cents. He also thinks, with Mr. Deshong, that 

 many fish, and among them mullet, are yearly decreasing in numbers. He makes particular men- 

 tion of the white perch, saying that they will not take the hook in Tampa Bay. 



198. THE FISHERIES OF HERNANDO AND MARION COUNTIES. 



TAMPA BAY TO CEDAR KEYS. The coast between Tampa Bay and Cedar Keys is but thinly 

 settled, there being no large towns, and is, on that account, not remarkable for its fishermen. In- 

 deed, the native fishermen are so few and so unsuccessful in their attempts that we have con- 

 fined our remarks on the fisheries of Hernando and Marion Counties to those fishermen who come 

 there from other places for the purpose of fishing. It would be difficult from a passing glimpse to 

 learn who they were, whence they came, or how many fish they had caught, inasmuch as gangs are 

 constantly cruising along the coast engaged in fishing, here one week and there the next, just as 

 the abundance of the fish may warrant. They have complete outfits for their work, sometimes 

 living ashore in camps, but more frequently on board the vessel which brought them, which same 

 is used in taking away their fish. The number of these gangs varies with the season. Appalachi- 

 cola generally sends one or two vessels to this district; Cedar Keys one or two, with ice on board 

 so that the fish may be preserved fresh, and Key West usually sends several with the object of 

 salting the fish for the Cuban markets. It is here reported, as on the coast of Manitee County, 

 that smacks from Havana under the Spanish flag sometimes fish for mullet about Anclote Keys 

 and Boca Ceiga Bay. We could not find any such vessels or any person who is positive that the 

 vessels in question were Spanish. The amount of fish caught and cured on this part of the coast 

 by men from Appalachicola, Cedar Keys, and Key West, as well as the capital invested, &c., 

 appears in the accounts for those places. 



FISHING STATIONS OF BOCA CEIGA BAY. On the coast at the south of Hernando County is 



