210 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



from G5 to 51 meshes deep, with 4§ to 5^ inch mesh. Each boat usually 

 carries two nets and requires the services of two men. The season 

 begins about the middle of March and lasts seven or eight weeks. 

 The drifting begins usually at 1 o'clock on Monday morning of each 

 week and on other secular days at 3 o'clock a. m., continuing until day- 

 light. The largest catch in one day by any one boat in 1896 was 316 

 shad, taken on Monday, March 23, near Vienna. In one drift of a mile 

 in length, with a net 165 yards long, 115 shad were taken. The total 

 catch by the 73 drift-net boats numbered 62,876 shad, of which 36,566, 

 or 58 per cent, were bucks. This catch was smaller than usual, the 

 prices being so low that many of the men ceased fishing by the middle 

 of April. 



Stake nets are used in the extreme lower end of the Nanticoke from 

 Roaring Point to Sandy Hill. The total catch in the 282. nets numbered 

 11,930 roes and 5,735 bucks, valued at $2,015. A very noticeable dif- 

 erence is observed in the proportion of roe and buck shad reported from 

 Sandy Hill and those reported from fishing stations farther down the 

 river. Of the total catch at Roaring Point, Jesterville, and Walterville 

 over 80 per cent were roe shad, whereas at Sandy Hill the proportion 

 that the roe bore to the total yield was less than 60 per cent. This is 

 due to the fact that the mesh of most of the nets at Sandy Hill was 5 

 inches, whereas at the former places it was mostly 5| inches. One boat 

 at Jesterville using 25 nets, with 5|-inch mesh, caught 1,083 roes and 

 165 bucks in 1896. 



While the pound nets in JSTanticoke River are not set especially for 

 shad, yet numbers of this species are taken therein. Of the 26 pound 

 nets in 1896, 4 were set between Nanticoke Point and Roaring Point 

 and the remaining 22 above Quantico Oreek. The 4 at the mouth 

 of the river were large nets, worth over $300 each, while the others 

 cost from $50 to $80 each. The mesh in the bowl of the nets was from 

 2£ inches to 3 inches, small enough to retain alewives, of which large 

 quantities were obtained. 



The yield of shad was somewhat larger than usual, the 4 nets at the 

 mouth of the river taking 8,596 bucks and 6,827 roes, the proportion 

 of the roe shad being greater than for several years preceding. The 

 remaining 22 nets took 8,680 roe shad and 11,200 buck shad, making 

 a total of 35,303 shad taken in the pound nets, worth $3,022 at local 

 values. 



The fyke nets set in the lower part of the river, below Quantico 

 Oreek, catch a few shad with other fish. They are operated generally 

 in sets of 2 nets each, in from 4 to 8 feet of water. In 1896, 143 fyke 

 nets were used m the Nanticoke, of which 82 were owned at Wetip- 

 quin and 56 at Sandy Hill. The yield of shad was 5,897 bucks and 

 3,440 roes, with a valuation of $795, the price being unusually low. 

 The Nanticoke River fyke nets produce over 50 per cent of the entire 

 yield of shad in all the fyke nets operated in the Chesapeake Bay and 

 tributaries, including both Maryland and Virginia. 



