THE NEUSE EIVEE, NOETH CAEOLINA. 



629 



Below is a statistical summary showing the number and value of the haul-seines and boats 

 tending the same in operation on this river, and the number of men employed : 



SKIM OR BOW NETS. On the Neuse, and many other southern rivers, " skimming" is a common 

 and very effective mode of fishing, especially in the upper reaches of the river where on account 

 of the contraction of the banks the fish are compelled to ascend in almost single file. The frame of 

 the skim-net is a bow of tough, light wood, bent and secured. 



The shape of the bow is a long oval, the longest diameter of which is 10 to 12 feet. The mesh 

 is of hemp twine, about No. GO. The cost of the net complete is from $2 to $2.25, and the canoe 

 costs about $5, making a fishing outfit complete, $7. 



Two men are required to fish each net ; one sits in the stern of the boat and guides its motion ; 

 the other stands in the bow holding the net in a vertical position, the shoulder-block resting 

 on the thwarts of the boat. A trip-string, attached to the bag of the net and held in the hand, 

 signals to the bow-man the slightest touch of any foreign object in the net. A dexterous twisting 

 motion secures the fish (if it be a fish) and delivers it in reach of the free hand. At dusk the boat, 

 equipped for fishing, paddles out into the current and drifts noiselessly with the bow down-stream. 

 The man in the stern uses the paddles only to guide the boat. When several boats fish in the 

 same reach they follow each other in single file. Sometimes as many as five or six may be seen 

 in a line. 



Skim-nets are used to the best advantage when the river is running high, at which stage the 

 seiners are driven from their beaches, and the fish, by reason of the turbid waters, are easily netted. 

 During the season 1878-'79 one boat and skim-net at Cowpens took eight hundred shad, and 

 catches of three hundred and four hundred to the net for a season were by no means uncommon. 

 In the estimates, however, one hundred has been used as the average catch for each net. Skim- 



