FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWARE. 539 



The season at which these fish are most abundant is from November to May, though there 

 seems to be a considerable difference in regard to this between Delaware Bay and the region south 

 of Cape Henlopeu. 



We are told by Mr. Tomlinson, of Dover, that rock and perch are taken there chiefly in the 

 season from the middle of November to the 20th of March, but only few perch are caught in the 

 early winter. 



According to Mr. Houston, of Millsborough, the season for rock and perch begins in Indian 

 River about the last of November and continues until the first of March, at which time, or soon 

 after, herring " strike in," and the fishermen turn their attention to their capture. He says that 

 rock and perch can be caught only during the most severe winter weather, at which time they move 

 in bodies up the rivers and creeks; and, in consequence, the fishermen take them in considerable 

 quantities. 



Mr. D. B. Wilson, of Magnolia, says that perch come about the first of November and "school 

 up" the creeks as soon as the weather gets cold. 



2. FISHING GROUNDS AND FISHERMEN. 



FISHING GROUNDS. The fishing grounds for rock and perch are along the shores of Delaware 

 Bay and the numerous streams emptying into the same below Dover, the waters of Rehoboth Bay, 

 Indian River and Bay, and Isle of Wight Bay. 



THE FISHERMEN. As a rule, the majority of the fishermen are semi-professional, men who 

 are employed in agricultural pursuits during the greater portion of the year, and who find time in 

 the winter season to engage in this fishery. One authority tells us that the fishermen are nearly 

 all farmers, who are engaged but very little in fishing during the spring and summer, simply to 

 obtain a supply for their own use, but in winter they are more steadily employed in catching rock 

 and perch, and also herring in the early spring. Mr. D. B. Wilson, of Magnolia, says that when 

 there is a good prospect for catching fish the farmers go out on the river with their seines and nets, 

 which they set as circumstances may determine. At other times they are idle or employed in 

 working on their farms. 



Five professional fishermen from Lewes go to Rehoboth Beach in the winter and fish in Reho- 

 both Bay for rock and perch, as well as eels, shipping the entire catch to New York. 



3. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING. 



BOATS. The boats of the ordinary flat-bottomed type employed in the rock and perch 

 fishery are the same as those which have been mentioned in the preceding chapters. 



NETS AND SEINES. The nets and seines in which rock and perch are taken having been fully 

 described in the notes on the fisheries for spot and trout, it seems unnecessary to repeat the 

 description here. It need only be said that rock and perch are taken in the same apparatus that 

 is used for the capture of various species of fish which frequent this region. 



METHODS OF FISHING. The methods of setting and hauling the seines described in the notes 

 on the trout and spot fisheries are essentially, in almost all cases, the same as are practiced in 

 fishing for rock and perch. There seems, however, to be sometimes a slight difference made when 

 the fish are found in narrow streams. In such cases the seine is stretched across the creek, from 

 bank to bank, one end being somewhat farther up the river than the other; the ends of the net 

 are then fastened to stakes on the banks of the river, and the fishermen go up stream, " whip- 

 ping the fish" down by splashing with oars, and using other means of frightening them. When 

 they have succeeded in driving the fish down against tho seine the end farthest np stream is 



