^6 SHAD nt;ai:i!Y LOMnmawx 



ago ievcral tons were shipped to Boston. There are nets above set across the river 

 completely, and they touch the bottom. Up there is where the harm is done. It has 

 always been considered that this is the natural spawning ground for shad for the bay. 

 It has always been considered that all the fish that come up the river are fish from 

 the Bay of Fundy; the opinion of old residents for 30, nay for 50 years, is to tli.u 

 oSect. 



BuRCHELL Fulmar said he was born at Five Islands, and to a small extent helped 

 in shad lishing. and had seen i',000 taken at one time out of a weir. They were not 

 the shad seen in the Shubenacadie, which are the mother shad, and are softer the 

 longer they are in the river. In May and June here they are loaded with spawn and 

 are no good for food. They have not the taste of the salt water shad, but are larger, 

 beiuET twice the size of the bay shad. In Miuas basin and Cobequid bay a 7-pound 

 ishiid is rare, though a 9-pound shad has been taken. I never saw a male shad in this 

 river, aud there are no small shad. The large shad keep out in deep water below. 

 Spawn shad are large and soft : you can tell Ihem as you take them out of the net. 

 Bay shad are hard and firm. Thirty-six years ago excessive fishing was carried on, 

 everybody having a net and boat. From Milford up there is ten times more fishing 

 than below and more fish caught, nets being right across the river, which is narrow, 

 and the nets are deep. At Highland village in 1872 there were six weirs, and 1,800 

 to 2,000 shad were taken at a tide, but in 1907 only three or four shad, and I bought 

 them. At my home (Five Islands) they had seen no shad when I visited there except 

 the three or four, I mentioned. They still put in gear in the hope of catching some- 

 thing. The Five Islands people made their living shipping shad and potatoes, and 

 got winter supplies from their earnings, as very little lumbering was done then. All 

 the way along the coast from Economy that was their mainstay for Ihe grratcr pari 

 of the people, aud some made a pile of money. As a remedy I suggest shad fry being 

 put in the river. For this side of Cobequid bay it is the best spawning ground, as from 

 Great Village to Parrsboro the rivers are short, rapid and unsuitable. In this river 

 there is no dead water, but all running water, which is host for breeding shad. Small 

 striped bass stay in the river, and immense quantities, car-loads, are taken, late in 

 Xoveaiber, when 3 inches of snow are on the ground. Plenty of them occur near the 

 old lock, as well as lanky ' slinks,' spawned fish which they put back, as they are not 

 fit to eat. Grayling, like a long salmon, are plentiful in Grand lake, and are caught 

 with line baited with pork. The salmon up to September are fine, none to equal to 

 them, ranging from eight to fifteen pounds in weight. 



JoHX .\ndrews said he had known the river all his life and though a farmer had 

 fished gaspereau, shad, salmon and a few bass. AH were scarce but shad were scarcest 

 of all. This year salmon were scarce here but a good many were taken down below. 

 High tides and freshets give the fish a chance to ascend. I have fished only here and 

 I noticed the gradual decline. Formerly nearly every farmer had a boat, caiioe or 

 dug-out and used a short length of net. The gear cost $6 or $7, viz., boat $4 or $5, 

 twine $1.50 and rope 50 to 75 cents. The net had a stafi at each end but no float, and 

 -was 40 to 60 meshes deep. It had little loops and stones were attached as sinkers. I 

 fished for salmon but got shad like others. All the old people are unanimous in saying 

 that the shad went up this river to spawn on the gravelly bottom. As shad travel on 

 the surface it would be wise to make the nets shoaler and allow a few shad to get up. 



Mark As'thoxy said when sawmills started up on all the streams and sawdust 

 went in the shad declined from that time. On the Kennetcook you see the shad on 

 the top of the water and oftener we'd see the wake of them, and I made spears and' 

 speared them during the summer, the water is muddy. Shad were got this spring 

 above Grand Lake and gaspereau got beyond Fletchers. A good shad pool was up 

 Gao^s river at the last of tide, and in Xine-Mile river, 'Mr. Donald Sutherland and 

 Sir, Peteh were great salmon fishermen but failed to get our salmon to ri^e to the fly. 



