﻿XIX 
  

  

  tribute 
  the 
  falling 
  off 
  to 
  the 
  setting 
  of 
  pound 
  nets 
  in 
  the 
  lower 
  

   Choptank 
  and 
  to 
  fishing 
  after 
  the 
  ripe 
  shad 
  begin 
  to 
  spawn. 
  

  

  7. 
  I 
  catch 
  mostlj 
  shad. 
  Perch 
  and 
  cat-fish 
  are 
  also 
  caught. 
  

  

  8. 
  Have 
  kept 
  no 
  account 
  of 
  number 
  and 
  kinds 
  caught. 
  

   Used 
  to 
  keep 
  an 
  account 
  of 
  what 
  each 
  boat 
  caught 
  five 
  years 
  

   ago. 
  They 
  averaged 
  then 
  2,000 
  to 
  a 
  boat. 
  Last 
  season 
  

   the 
  average 
  was 
  not 
  above 
  500 
  each. 
  Last 
  season 
  shad 
  were 
  

   twenty-five 
  cents 
  a 
  piece, 
  three 
  years 
  ago 
  they 
  were 
  ten 
  cents. 
  

  

  9. 
  Have 
  never 
  caught 
  a 
  ripe 
  female 
  rock 
  and 
  have 
  had 
  no 
  

   opportunity 
  of 
  observing 
  the 
  habits 
  of 
  rock-fish. 
  

  

  10. 
  Have 
  had 
  no 
  experience 
  with 
  ripe 
  rock, 
  male 
  or 
  female. 
  

  

  11. 
  Sixty 
  pounds. 
  I 
  know 
  nothing 
  of 
  their 
  growth. 
  

  

  12. 
  The 
  female 
  is 
  short 
  and 
  thick, 
  the 
  male 
  is 
  long 
  and 
  

   slender, 
  but 
  fully 
  as 
  large 
  as 
  the 
  female. 
  

  

  13. 
  I 
  do 
  not 
  consider 
  the 
  rock 
  a 
  very 
  destructive 
  fish. 
  It 
  

   is 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  profitable 
  fish 
  in 
  our 
  waters, 
  as 
  it 
  can 
  be 
  

   caught 
  in 
  all 
  seasons. 
  It 
  would 
  be 
  well 
  to 
  have 
  our 
  waters 
  

   filled 
  with 
  them. 
  

  

  Andrew 
  Towers. 
  

  

  1. 
  Ten 
  years. 
  

  

  2. 
  Choptank 
  Iliver. 
  

  

  3. 
  Yes. 
  

  

  4. 
  From 
  1st 
  to 
  lOtli 
  of 
  May. 
  

  

  5. 
  Sixteen 
  hundred 
  shad 
  in 
  thirty 
  days 
  ; 
  winds 
  box 
  the 
  

   compass. 
  

  

  C. 
  A 
  decrease. 
  Cause 
  — 
  lake 
  fishing 
  in 
  time 
  of 
  spawning. 
  

  

  7. 
  Shad. 
  

  

  8. 
  Shad 
  average 
  15 
  cents, 
  herring 
  average 
  75 
  cents, 
  rock, 
  

   -5 
  cents 
  per 
  pound. 
  

  

  9. 
  Yes. 
  

  

  10. 
  The 
  male 
  predominate?. 
  

  

  11. 
  Seventy 
  pounds. 
  

  

  12. 
  Yes. 
  

  

  13. 
  No. 
  

  

  