GULF OF MEXICO: WESTERN FLORIDA. 



schools 1 to 3 miles long and 400 to 500 yards wide. As soon as one of these large hauls is made 

 all hands are busy cleaning and salting. The fish are first beheaded, then split down the back, 

 scored under the backbone, and, finally, washed clean, all blood, fragments of entrails, &c., being 

 carefully removed. They are then packed in pork barrels, kept for the purpose, with plenty of salt 

 sprinkled over them, and are thus allowed to remain several days, after which they are taken out 

 and nicely packed in the packages, described below, with an abundance of boiled pickle over them. 



Any roe of good size found when splitting is carefully saved and packed up in pickle in quarter 

 barrels or kits. In this way a great many barrels are put up in a season. The heads of the mullet 

 are also saved and boiled for the oil which they contain. In 1878 two barrels of oil were obtained 

 in this way at Pickett's fishery. It is, however, said to be of poor quality, and therefore is not 

 valuable. 



At'the end of November, by which time the fall run is over, the crews carry their fish to town, 

 and, having sold and settled up, scatter until the ne,xt season. It is seldom that any other fish are 

 so abundant that they would sufficiently remunerate these crews were they to remain at the fish- 

 eries after the mullet season is over. 



From 200 to 500 barrels of mullet are caught by one gang in a season. In 1878 the catch 

 amounted to 300 barrels. The value of this quantity was $1,275, selling at the rate of $4.25 a 

 barrel. As soon as the catch is turned over to the dealer a settlement is made. First of all he 

 deducts the amount of his bill for salt and provisions, and then gives each man his share in money, 

 or, as is usually the case, in provisions for his family. The boat and seine have an equal share 

 with the men ; therefore, if there are ten men in a crew, there must be a division of that which is 

 left, after said deductions are made, into twelve equal parts. The men engaged in these fisheries 

 clear from $50 to $100 in a season. Those crews which have no regular station get what they can 

 out of the mullet run and then fish through the mouths of December and January for bluefish, 

 sheepshead, redfish, &c., which they put up in the same style as mullet. In April and May one 

 or two crews fit out for the poinpano fishing, and go to Saint Joseph's Bay (a large bay 25 miles 

 farther west) for that purpose. The pompano are salted, as are the other varieties. There is 

 always good sale for the pompano, and the supply falls short of the demand. 



FISHING SEASON. The last of May is the extreme limit for salting fish. It is affirmed that 

 fish cannot be prepared with salt in summer so as to remain sweet any great length of time. 



In order that no mistake may be made, we here state that the same crews are not fishing 

 throughout the entire fishing season, from October until May. Those who fish at the regular sta- 

 tions are through their work by the 1st of December, after which, as stated above, the men scatter 

 and work at various occupations until the following October. The small cruising gangs, already 

 alluded to, fish for mullet only as long as there is any chance of success, and then break np, only, 

 perhaps, to form another crew in a few weeks, when they start after some other kind of fish that 

 may be running at that time or may bo unusually abundant in the vicinity. February and March 

 are the poorest mouths for the fishermen, and very few who fish then have any success. The only 

 kinds then found are small schools of redfish, bluefish, and sheepshead. The fishermen, of course, 

 prefer a mild season, as then, especially if there is a prevalence of light southerly winds, all kinds 

 of fish come into shoal water in abundance, and also the migratory kinds appear some weeks earlier 

 in the spring. If, on the other hand, the season is stormy, the fish are, for the most part, driven 

 into the deep waters of the sea and bay. 



GILL-NETS. The gill-nets are used by men who stop in town. They use the same kind of 

 boat as the seiners. Two men can handle one of these gill-nets and cure all the fish which they 

 can catch. But little can be caught in them until the water becomes cold (which condition may 



36GRF 



