OXXXVIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



When Louisville was visited, May 16-19, the shad were running and 

 good opportunities were afforded for studying them. They were being 

 caught in seines at the Falls of the Ohio, chiefly on the Indiana side, 

 together with spoonbill cattish, shovel-nose sturgeon, and drum. It is 

 said that the shad from the Ohio first came under the observation of 

 the Louisville dealers in about 1876; the fish were at once identified 

 as "Potomac shad" by those dealers familiar with the shad of the 

 Atlantic coast. A good many were caught at the Falls of the Ohio 

 that year and met with a ready sale. A few were taken in some of the 

 succeeding years, but no large catch occurred until 1897, when a change 

 in the method of rigging the seines may have had some effect on the 

 number taken. In 1897 the run was large, and several thousand were 

 secured, the daily catch during the first three weeks in May being from 

 about 125 to 740. In 1898 the first shad was caught April 28; from that 

 time the number increased until about May 17, when the run began to 

 decline. The total yield in 1898 was about the same as in 1897. 



This species of shad has not, so far as known, been taken in large 

 numbers, except at Louisville, but it has been reported from various 

 places on the Mississippi, and at a number of places below Louisville 

 on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In March, 1898, a Louisville fish- 

 dealer saw 25 or 30 captured at Cahoma, Miss., where the fishermen 

 stated that a good many were taken, and thought they were a species 

 of skipjack. The same dealer has seen the siiad in the Ohio River 

 at Concordia, Ky., 90 miles below Louisville, and at Brandenberg, Ky., 

 40 miles below Louisville. About fifteen years ago they were reported 

 at Vicksburg, Miss., in 1884 at Hickman. Ky., and in 1886 and since 

 at Aurora, Ind. A fish-dealer at Evansville, Ind., reports that some 

 years ago he caught shad in the Wabash River near its mouth, and 

 that about twenty years ago, and also in 1897, he saw a few that had 

 been taken in the Ohio River. 



None of the dealers at Vincennes has ever seen any shad from the 

 Ohio or the Wabash, but one states that in the spring of 1898 he 

 received a few from St. Louis. None of the dealers and fishermen inter- 

 viewed at Terre Haute had ever seen shad from the Wabash River. 

 That shad have not been taken in this stream may be due to the legal 

 restrictions on all methods of fishing which would be likely to result in 

 the capture of such a fish. 



STUDIES OP YOUNG SHAD IN POTOMAC RIVER. 



The studies of young shad in the Potomac River, referred to in the 

 previous report, were continued throughout the fiscal year 1897-98. 

 The inquiries, which were in charge of Mr. M. C. Marsh, related mainly 

 to the movements, food, and rate of growth. While much has been 

 definitely established, further inquiries will be necessary before the 

 full history of the young shad is known. 



The observations have shown that shad hatched in the spring of one 

 year are abundant during the ensuing summer months throughout the 

 fresh portion of the river below Little Falls. They feed in the shore 



