536 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



dragging the net to the beach and with it whatever fish may have been caught in its meshes. As 

 soon as one net is taken in another is hauled out to take its place, unless, indeed, owing to the 

 presence of daylight or other causes, it should not be necessary to continue fishing any longer. 

 The same result is arrived at in a different manner by the fishermen at Lewes, who make use of 

 an anchor instead of a stake for fastening their block to, but who haul their nets to and from 

 the beach iu precisely the same manner as here described. According to Mr. Morris, of Milton, 

 the men fishing at Slaughter Beach with gill-nets join together in gangs of two for mutual help. 

 When fish are abundant one of the men spends a considerable portion of his time in peddling the 

 catch, which he carries iu a wagon to the rural districts and villages, while the other man stays at 

 the beach to prosecute the fishery, which he carries on night and day if circumstances are favor- 

 able, though, generally speaking, but little is done in the daytime. The nets are set on the fall of 

 the tide, being put out three times before low water, on an average, but if fish are plentiful they 

 are sometimes set as many as four times; if a scarcity of fish prevails, not more than once. The 

 spot during its season is the principal fish taken, though at the same time bluefish, perch, aud 

 several other varieties of fish are caught, but usually in small quantities. At Lewes the fishermen 

 generally form themselves into parties of four or five for mutual assistance. During the night 

 they will go back and forth along the beach, from station to station, hauling in regular rotation the 

 nets of each one of their number. When the net at one station has been drawn ashore, another 

 set in its place, and the fish removed from the first and cared for, the men then move on a short 

 distance to the next fishing berth, where the operation is repeated. When there is good fishing, and 

 it is possible to do so, the nets are hauled every half hour or thereabouts. It frequently happens, 

 however, during the month of August, that large numbers of crabs get entangled in the meshes 

 of the nets, compelling the fishermen to spend hours in clearing these crustaceans from the fine 

 twine, which is often much injured during the operations. 



According to Mr. 0. T. Burton, the best results are obtained immediately after easterly winds, 

 which usually disturb the water sufficiently to make it thick and turbid with mud and sand; when 

 it is in this condition the fish can be more easily captured than at other times. The fishery with gill- 

 nets is carried on even when there is a strong wind and considerable surf on the beach. The nets 

 are set chiefly at night ; the first of the ebb tide being a favorable time for putting them out. 

 The fishermen, having no camps or shelter of any account on the beach, when not busy in hauling 

 and setting their apparatus, generally build a fire on the sand and lie down beside it. When the 

 tides are not favorable for fishing or when the fish are scarce, the fishermen sleep by their fires, 

 awakening whenever the proper time arrives for prosecuting their labors to advantage. Each man 

 is provided with two nets for the '-'fleet," one of which is set in the water while the other remains 

 on the shore to take its place at the proper time. 



Some seven or eight of the Lewes fishermen, after spending the night in fishing for spot on 

 the beach, frequently go to the breakwater and other parts of the bay where they catch blackfisli, 

 sheepshead, trout, and occasionally bluefish, with hook and line. For these fish they usually 

 obtain a high price. South of Cape Henlopen the common method of setting gill-nets for spot and 

 other species of fish is to " stake them out" ; that is, to fasten them between stakes which have been 

 driven into the muddy bottom of the bays and rivers. The nets are usually separated 15 to 25 

 fathoms from each other, and are set parallel to the course of the stream or current. They are 

 overhauled each morning and the fish removed, though they may be left for days or weeks together 

 to continue fishing. Excepting at Lewes and Slaughter Beach this style of setting gill-nets is 

 quite general throughout the lower part of Delaware, from Dover down to Fenwick's Island. 

 Nearly the same result has been obtained, so far as fastening the net is concerned, by the method 

 adopted by the spot fishermen, though the details of handling the net differ very radically. 



