2TO FISH-CULTURAL ASSOCIATION: 
Bow nets are used in water ten or more feet deep, two men 
occupying the boat, one using the paddle, the other holding the. 
HCE, : 
At times great numbers of fish collect here, and within fif- 
teen years past as many as three hundred of these fish, weigh- 
ing upward of thirty pounds, some reaching seventy, have been 
taken on a slide or trap (another minor fishing contrivance used ° 
there), in a single day. 
The quantity, however, has greatly fallen off of late years, 
owing to the greatly increased fishing operations below. 
It is stated on good authority that on many occasions, when 
these fish were very numerous at this point, that in their spawn- 
ing movements they have been so abundant that great quanti- 
ties of blood were extracted, owing to the contact with each 
other, conveying the idea that the water was literally over- 
crowded with them, causing them to come into abnormal con- 
flict with their sharp spines, owing to the lack of space. 
The bloody appearance of the water has been popularly con- 
sidered the bleeding consequent upon an actual fight between 
those fishes, but was probably only the result of overcrowding 
where dorsal fins were frequent, 
Some few thousand of striped bass are still taken at this place. 
The place has appeared favorable for the work of collecting 
eggs for artificial propagation, and after investigation of itscap- 
abilities the following results may be enumerated: 
In the year 1882, in the month of May, I sent an expert among 
the fishermen by way of investigation, and had reported back 
from him the sale during his stay of something less than a dozen 
spawning fish. 
He was there but a few days, and made no attempt to fecun- 
date or hatch the ova. Previous experience in the propagation 
of the striped bass at Avoca, in 188-, led to the inference that the 
discovery of this many fish in a ripe condition at Weldon, would 
ordinarily afford material for a limited hatchery. 
Consequently, I established at Weldon, quite late in the season 
of 1883, an exceedingly crude establishment, containing sixty- 
five McDonald jars, equipped as if for very rude shad or white- 
fish hatching. 
