137 



Balmon, for their eg^ are exceedingly adhesive. They 

 ascend the rivers in early spring. In the neighborhood 

 of New York they are caught largely in the Raritan 

 and Passaic rivers. 



About five miles above the city of New Brunswick 

 there is a dam which blocks the river, and which the 

 smelt cannot surmount. The fishing grounds, extend 

 from the old wooden city bridge down the river for two 

 or more miles; very little, if any fishing being done 

 above the bridge, on account partially of the little depth 

 of the water, pairtially because the smelt appear to pass 

 down the river again, after being impeded in their on- 

 ward course by the dam. The smelt are caught entirely 

 with seines, which include in their sweep, nearly the en- 

 tire breadth of the river, averaging about thirty rods. 



The seines vary from thirty to sixty fathoms in length, 

 one hundred and eighty to three hundred and sixty feet, 

 and are about fifteen feet in breadth, with meshes one- 

 half inch square. The time of working the seines depends 

 much upon the state of the weather and the water, but 

 as a rule, the fishermen are engaged early in the 

 morning and again in the afternoon. 



The smelt spawn throughout the month of March, the 

 eggs are small and so adhesive that they must be deposit- 

 ed upon the trays where they are to remain. There are 

 about forty thousand eggs to each medium-sized fish, 

 and they will hatch in about a month with a temperature 

 of water of from thiity-five degrees to forty degrees, or 

 in the ordinary water in the river in about eighteen days. 

 The spawning fish, as fast as captured, should be placed 

 in tubs, or, if not ripe, they may be kept in ponds till the 

 eggs mature. When they are to be handled a tray 

 dipped in water should be placed in a tin pan without 

 any water in it. The eggs are stripped directly on the 



